Re: Search engines & database driven sites

(re-ordered to bottom-posting, for clarity) In article <LAELLIMIKJAPCBJIBELCEEBHCAAA.scotty@vinculandote.com>, scotty@vinculandote.com ("Scott Bernard") wrote: <snip> > I recently converted my sites from hardwired HTML to a PHP/MySQL > combination - with dynamic 'newsy' info held in a database, tailored for > each visitor. Unfortunately the 'hit rate' from search engines has gone > virtually to zero as Altavista, Hotbot etc. removed me from their indexes - > they don't index .php files as far as I can see, and also don't follow links > on php pages (I imagine it's the same for ASP, ColdFusion etc.). In contrast > Google and All The Web have no problems with the .php extension (and even > index my .pdf files!). <snip> > What you can do is create an html page blank, with meta-tags for the search > engines, but including the meta: > > <META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" > CONTENT="0;URL="www.yourpage.com/index.php4"> > at the first line. This is going to redirect to the indicated php page. > > I think its a solution, for the search enginges as for the users, because > the will not see anything. > Some search engines don't care, but not all view this in the same way. According to Search Engine Watch <http://searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/features.html>, AltaVista and Go.com are among those who treat a meta refresh as spam. And since AltaVista is one of those you're trying to improve ranking with... -- CC