Getting dynamic generated pages indexed and problems with session IDs
Jill Whalen on indexing dynamic generated pages and session IDs "High RankingsT Advisor - Issue No. 149Today's search engines generally have no problem with dynamically generated pages. They don't scurry away as fast as they can when they
see a .php or an .asp or a .cfm extension in a URL. They don't even flee when they see parameters in the URLs. Question marks and equal
signs have no spider-repelling powers anymore. While I don't understand all the programming behind it, I do know for a fact that the search engines definitely index *most* dynamic-looking URLs just fine.
Notice that I said *most* -- not *all*.
Some believe that if you have more than 3 parameters in the URL, you may have less of a chance at getting those URLs indexed. I've seen some of those in the search engines' databases, however, so it's not a hard-and-fast rule.
Another problem for the search engines is when you require session IDs in your URL. The engines still try to avoid this type of URL because every spider visit to the site might create a completely different ID number and thus a new URL. The engines still prefer to keep hundreds of the same page out of their databases, so they have learned to look for the telltale signs of session-ID URLs in order to avoid indexing them. Because of this you should avoid using "SID=whatever" in your URLs if you want your pages indexed. Plus, Google has stated on their FAQ page for webmasters that they don't index URLs that have "&id" in them, so definitely stay away from those as well."
posted by Jen @ 7:45 AM
<< Home