Do Google crawlers read widgets differently from on-page text?

While webmasters may be worried that Google reads widgets in a different manner from on-page text, you'll find that Google crawls both the same way, checking for good and bad links to either reward or punish, respectively. The key is to make sure that widgets don't post bad links on your website that Google crawlers might detect.

Remove Bad Links

One solid strategy to prevent widgets from negatively affecting your site is to remove all bad links that they might post. This is normally only necessary if you have intentionally included links that were initially good and have turned bad, or if you have automated widgets that post bad links without your knowledge. Unnatural links are considered a violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines, making it necessary to remove them to avoid punishment in rankings.

Once you remove these links, you should see Google rankings for your affected websites improve.

Add a rel="nofollow"

If you would rather not take the time to remove unnatural bad links, you can choose to add a rel="nofollow" attribute to the widget that prevents Google bots from crawling them.

Either method can be effective in making sure that Google doesn't see bad links on your website, preventing any unpleasant surprises.