Search bots and redirects ignored

[GodsPrototype]

Hi guys *waves*, first post here.

My website has a javascript redirect on the index page that takes users to the home page. On the index page with the redirect I have lists of key words, a site index etc that I want a search engine to see. But I also want the search bot to follow all the text and links on this page so it can index the entire site. What I want to know is, how will a search bot react to the javascript redirect. Will it still index the page? I know search bots ignore Javascript but do they carry on down the page or will they just get to the code and exit? The javascript redirect function is called from inside the body tag.

There are 2 reasons why the home page isn't the index page.
1. The site structure is quite complicated and goes 3-4 folders deep and their are 4 different languages.
2. The home page is quite image heavy and used a large sliced image as the introductory menu.

[Ferre]

the search engine will most probably drop your site from their index because what you do is also known as a doorway page, or even cloaking. There is a program by the name of 'doorway page wizard' that makes exactly that kind of pages.

If you want your site to have any chanse at all in the long run I advice you to remove that page and the redirect before it gets spotted by those search engines.

[GodsPrototype]

It's hardly cloaking is it? I'm only redirecting to a page in a folder below, not to another domain or anything.

My site already has a PR6 and has been indexed by Google and other search engines for years now.

I just want to know how the bot will handle the Javascript redirect? Is it worth optimizing the index page or will the bot only be interested in the home page it's redirected to?

[Ferre]

Most bots do not read what's in the java script and will only read what's on that page. people get redirected, bots not, they just read what's on the page.

[GodsPrototype]

Thanks for your help Ferre.