How to Determine if a Site Uses JavaScript Redirects
Redirection occurs when a web page immediately forwards the viewer to another site right after loading. Some web masters use this technique because the content the viewer is seeking has been moved to the site the visitor is forwarded to. Spammers use JavaScript to trick search engines into indexing them higher in search results so that they can earn money on the redirects. This does not benefit users, and knowing how to detect these sites can save time and frustration. By looking at the page with JavaScript enabled and then disabled, it can be determined if a site uses JavaScript redirects.
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Instructions
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Open your web browser and navigate to the site you seek to investigate for JavaScript redirection. Take a screenshot or print out the landing page.
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Disable JavaScript according to the specifications of your browser. Visit the support page of your browser if you need information about how to do this. Disabling JavaScript will prevent the redirect code embedded in the head tags of the HTML web page from executing the redirect. This will allow the reader to see the page content and layout before it redirects.
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Revisit the site you seek to investigate and take another screenshot or print out the page. If the site is using JavaScript redirection, there will be noticeable differences in the appearance of the page after it loads. For example, spammers may have a pre-redirection page that contains key words associated with popular culture or current events to confuse search engine bots performing indexing of useful sites. The high ranking of the pre-redirection page may draw viewers. Once the site loads, however, it redirects to another site that has incongruous content from the first site.
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Search for differences in formatting, color schemes, the placement of auxiliary content and whether the main content of the original page appears on the redirected page. If the page remains the same after JavaScript redirect is disabled, the website is not using JavaScript redirects. If the page is a redirection and has no useful information or does not reflect the original intent or content of the first page, it is spam and you should close that browser tab.
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Turn JavaScript back on to ensure that web pages load completely for future browsing.
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