Do search engines process Javascript?

Question

According to this page it would seem like they don\'t, in the sense that they don\'t actually run it, but that page is 2 years old (judging from the copyright info).

Answer 1

The bots will certainly not run the Javascript code, but they might recognise some commonly used scripts.

You shouldn't count on it though. Clear markup, proper content and real links is still what counts.

Also, if the bots happen to recognise your script, it might not be in your favor. If the code is recognised as something that is commonly used to try to fool bots, it could even hurt your page ranking.