Smarter Googlebots?
As we’ve discussed before, the algorithms used by search engines change constantly. While SEO and analytics professionals are rarely told much about the exact nature of the changes, we can infer, experiment, and keep a close eye on the official Google blog. Mike King and Joshua Giardino even made some very interesting points based on the patents being taken out by search engines as an indicator of what they’re capable of, or will soon be capable of.
Their research (and that of a good many others) shows that Googblebot is no longer a simple text reader. Its ability to interact intelligently with Java has been well established for a while now, and official sources announced new capabilities for dealing with AJAX POST requests last month. There is no doubt that search crawlers can capture more than ever before.
So, what does a smarter Googlebot (and smarter crawlers more generally) mean for SEO? Search professionals are going to be a little more careful about the way they do some things, but the main take-home message is this: usability and design considerations aren’t just about user experience any more. They’re going to have an impact on organic search too.