Is there an easy way to make Statcounter's javascript on a website invisible to all search engines without making the entire site invisible to search engines as well?

I am pretty convinced that Google has a tendency to penalize a website for, essentially, using their competition(Statcounter).

I do, of course, have Awstats and Webalizer, but Statcounter, which I have used heavily on other sites, really provides the kind of comprehensive information I need.

Incidentally, I would rather not use Google Analytics for this particular project because I am also convinced that would disadvantage me by giving Google easy access to too much information about my site and about who I am. I do not have a gmail account for much the same reason.

I went into this particular project saying I would not concern myself about how Google ranks the associated website(s), but Google has returned my site(s) high on the first page and sent me traffic despite a tiny amount of content being on the site(s) and that has started me "salivating". So now I am concerned about Google.

I also do not want to turn a good siteadvisor.com report bad by adding traffic monitor javascript, although, based on what I have read, they might not necessarily need a good reason to give a site a bad report.

Check your PM.

dwmeso,

Thankyou very much for replying. Your answer was very helpful and enlightening; I am gratified.

No problem. PM me if you have any problems with it.

I agree with you on the Google analytics issue; I don't want them on my sites as well. But has anybody else experienced being snubbed by Google because of the use of Statcounter?

Originally Posted by dwmeso

PM me if you have any problems with it.

Thankyou. I will not hesitate to take you up on that.

Originally Posted by girlgeek

I agree with you on the Google analytics issue; I don't want them on my sites as well.

For one, it is, in my opinion, a huge "conflict of interest" that, somewhere down the rode, Google will have no alternative other than to use in a way that will not be beneficial to a certain, significant, "category" of websites. And, as for the cell phone number, I REALLY don't want Google with my cell number. It simply amazes me how the average person can complain about their privacy AND hear all about evil stuff companies do violating privacy and, THEN, eagerly hand Google their cell number.

Originally Posted by girlgeek

But has anybody else experienced being snubbed by Google because of the use of Statcounter?

I have been searching in an attempt to discover whether or not others have been "snubbed". So important is this issue, to me, that I am saving "notes" about what I find in a dedicated folder.

I found, pretty quickly, mostly in various forum posts, that, YES, there are web developers who have Statcounter on a site and have experienced peculiar decreases in their Google Page Rank or/and a dramatic decrease in the number of Google searches for which their website is returned. Based on the number of web developers that I have found in the aforementioned predicament I am not, however, able to say if their woes are purely because of the presence of Statcounter OR if their problems are because of the way they "implement" Statcounter.

For instance, I have found evidence pointing to what is referred to by some as Statcounter's "blind link" as the reason Google penalizes a website and not merely because Statcounter is present on the website. The problem is there does not seem to be agreement by those who use the term as to what constitutes a "blind link". Some say that a Statcounter "blind link" is merely when you choose to make your Statcounter "image" entirely invisible to visitors to your website, BUT almost as many others are not quite sure what it is OR they refer to it as something else SO I have not been able to extract a "consensus" that I am comfortable with.

On the one hand, I suspect the invisible Statcounter "image" is what Google will object to and, if you MAKE IT VISIBLE to your visitors, Google will not penalize you, but, on the other hand, there is a tremendous amount of evidence that makes me believe Google WILL certainly penalize a website that "hangs out" with their competition. There are many instances of Google, Microsoft, or whatever "Big Company" routinely doing just that sort of thing to extinguish competition. note: To me a visible Statcounter link also diminishes the professional appearance of my site; that is why I prefer it to be invisible.

Indeed, Microsoft has been and is being, apparently, accused of such things worldwide; I think they are currently battling a European court decision that may be related to "unfair business practices". Another recent example is the U.S. state of Illinois stamping out certain industry competitors by, in my opinion, being very, very, very, EVIL. cbs2chicago.com/local/illinois.wine.law.2.736416.html I don't even drink, but I think this is a recent example of such dirty tactics.

And Chicago Illinois recently passed a law which steeply taxes bottled water in which, to whatever extent, they benefit because, presumptively, the only alternative is to "pay" for more Chicago tap water to drink. Personally, this is one that would really bother me because I am an organic vegetarian. If Chicago politicians want to trash their bodies drinking that chemical and sewage laced, in my opinion, poison they call water fine, but do not try to force me to ruin my body as well.

ANYWAY, I AM convinced that, in the long run, using Google Analytics will come back to haunt a certain significant category of websites, even if it is some considerable time down the rode. So, I can not make myself feel comfortable using Google Analytics. So my problem remains... note: A recent article webpronews.com/topnews/2008/05/28/google-analytics-eats-the-internet indicated that a large percentage of a certain "rank" of websites are using Google Analytics. Maybe there will come a time when Google has monopolized the entire analytics market, leaving me with no alternative, but maybe that time is not today.

The log file analysis stuff, like Awstats and Webtrends, that I am using pale in comparison to Statcounter. I have been able to directly market to, usually, commercial businesses who visit site(s) I am involved with WHEN I use Statcounter BECAUSE Statcounter presents me with information that makes it EASY to identify those businesses. To some extent I have been able to derive the same information with the log file analysis stuff, BUT it takes a HUGE amount of time compared to Statcounter to "extract" such information. I need to get to such potential customers ASAP and I usually have significant other drains on my website management time that make me question the "return" when I spend time in the log files digging.

1 thing i like to statcounter is that you can block your own IP so even you open up your website many time, it will not count as traffic.

In analytics, i like it coz it is very comprehensive.

Originally Posted by francis84

1 thing i like to statcounter is that you can block your own IP...

Me to.

Originally Posted by francis84

...i like it coz it is very comprehensive.

Me to. I just hope I can get an answer, soon, as to whether I can use it without being penalized by Google or, even, siteadvisor.