surefire Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Question: Will putting certain headers in my <head>ers help Google index my site if some of my pages have session id's on the urls? What is the correct way to write those headers? example: no cache Background: Lots of folks use bulletin boards that append session id's to the url. I have read that this can hurt Google rankings because Google will see some pages as duplicates. Also, I use sessions instead of cookies, but I'm not sure whether googlebot sees session id's appended to the urls. Maybe I'm worrying about something inconsequential. Thanks for your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 Whoa! ... another thread that slipped through the cracks. Sorry. Bottom line: Google has worked very hard (and somewhat succesful) at indexing dynamic sites, but Google doesn't like SessionID's. Lots of folks use bulletin boards that append session id's to the url.Correct, and those boards are not indexed. Also, I use sessions instead of cookies, but I'm not sure whether googlebot sees session id's appended to the urls. Yes, I believe they would. You can alwasy look... try http://www.delorie.com/web/ses.cgi or http://www.wannabrowser.com/ And a lot of people like Same Spade Maybe I'm worrying about something inconsequential. I don not think so. Example, our board here is not indexed (and it should be!). When HG decides definitely which way we are going (InvisionBoard vs. phpBB) we (insert 'Jack' here; yes that is you ) here will be in charge of mod_rewrites. You may enjoy this thread for a preliminary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surefire Posted June 11, 2003 Author Share Posted June 11, 2003 Dsdemmin, I've done mod rewrites to eliminate dynamic url's so no problem with that one. But a couple other things that I'd mention. After posting this thread, I've noticed that Google does indeed index these dynamic urls, based on pages that I've seen Freshbot visit. Also, by Google PR bar indicates that TCH forums has a PR of 4 on most pages. So doesn't that mean that these pages are indexed? I've also noticed that Google freshbot doesn't seem deterred by sessions on my pages. Now, if I'm left out of next month's dance, then I'll have an idea why. But otherwise, early results would seem to indicate that Google doesn't care much about sessions stored as cookies, but maybe it has a problem with sessions appended to urls in dynamic fashion (as most BB scripts do). Oh well, I have to have access restricted pages so sessions seems to be the way to go for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 Also, by Google PR bar indicates that TCH forums has a PR of 4 on most pages. So doesn't that mean that these pages are indexed?No, they are not 'indexed' that is just PR being passed from pages that are. There are two ways to confirm that: the first would be to see that there are no backlinks associated with a particular page; the second is to search for a very particular (and extended phrase) which would be unique to one of these pages. Now, if I'm left out of next month's dance, then I'll have an idea why. Not necessarily, sometimes it can take two dances to be included. In addition, I truly believe things will change shortly so that a recognizable dance will not exist. I believe that we are approaching a time when PR will be continuously adjusted upon 'all' crawls. We shall see. I noticed you did not comment on my recruitment... I do want you to alter this forum. I need to talk with Bill and see where we are going (which forum) and when we 'settle' on one, I would like you to alter the URLs (mod_rewrite). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted June 12, 2003 Share Posted June 12, 2003 Sorry, I should have added one more thought... just because a page gets spidered does not mean it will be indexed. I can think of many examples of this, including pages with sessionIDs. For instance, a page with too many html errors will be spidered (and respidered) but it will not be included in an index until it gets 'cleaned-up'. Another example, penalty sites are spidered and respidered but will still be excluded from an index if the cause of the penalty is not rectified. I am not posting this to scare anyone, just would like to clarify assumptions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surefire Posted June 12, 2003 Author Share Posted June 12, 2003 I've done mod rewrites to eliminate dynamic url's so no problem with that one. I meant to say more... but that basically says I'm willing to help any way I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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