If we create certain pages dynamically by reading from some database rows, how do those pages (which do not exist as a file in our web directory) get indexed by search engines?
For example I have a ViewProfile page which is empty in design mode and all its controls and values get generated from database when requested. My question is do those pages still get indexed in search engines?
whether it exists on disk or not is completely irrelevant to search engines, they don't access your pages that way. They look at content returned at a URL. So as long as your URLs are consistent, and unique on your site, they can fetch it just fine.
Help those who have helped you... remember to "Mark as Answered"
Marked as answer by ricka6 on Nov 09, 2009 07:13 PM
Exactly! I would even recomend you to read more about xml sitemaps. This is a XML file the contains all the "navigation" or better, the sitemap, of your website. It helps the search engines go to the right places to "read" and index your site. And yes, it
will index the pages even if the content is dynamic and loaded from your database.
http://www.sitemaps.org/
http://xmlsitemap.com/
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
I hope it helps!
G
Guillermo Guerini
http://gguerini.com
Marked as answer by ricka6 on Nov 09, 2009 07:13 PM
It means that anything that a link on your site provides as output will get indexed. As the other poster mentioned, using a sitemap is one way to ensure that you create a link to everything on your site that you want indexed, but of course a good navigation
structure (and appropraite on-page links) helps, and is (imo) even more important b/c it keeps your app user-focused.
Again: where your data resides / how your pages are generated has *nothing* to do with it (flat file, database, web service call, whatever). What matters is what is actually sent to a user when a hyperlink is followed. Note that Ajax-based pages and flash-based
content works a little differently, I'm talking here about just regular hyperlinks & URLs and the html content returned by them.
Help those who have helped you... remember to "Mark as Answered"
Marked as answer by ricka6 on Nov 09, 2009 07:13 PM
Lets say I have a page for user profiles (pageViewProfile.aspx), now this is only one page but depending on different users, will generate different outcome: pageViewProfile.aspx?uid=user-id
I want to know
1-Will different users contents (of their personal profile on pageViewProfile) get indexed as well?
2-How about if pageViewProfile needs user authentication?
Sorry my questions might sound dumb but I really need to know this.
1) depends on the search engine. I don't know all the differences, but I've heard that some ignore querystring params (e.g. ?uid=user-id) and pay attention only to the domain and path. Google does pick up querystrin gparams, but generally one of the "best
practices" in the industry right now is to use params just for things like sorting and filtering, but use the path (everything after the domain, eg. /my-page/something.aspx) as the way of identifying hte resource itself. Also, one of the strengths of the
flexible routing offered by the new System.Web.Routing namespace si the ability to (if you have IIS configured right) drop the file extension (.aspx) off completely. Makes your URLs more user friendly, and lets you name your resources in ways more meaningful
to searches as well.
2) Search engines don't have an identity on your site, so they will not index stuff that requires authentication to access.
Help those who have helped you... remember to "Mark as Answered"
Marked as answer by imarash on Nov 10, 2009 02:37 PM
imarash
Member
30 Points
101 Posts
How does MVC affect on the way our pages get indexed by search engines?
Nov 09, 2009 03:22 AM|LINK
If we create certain pages dynamically by reading from some database rows, how do those pages (which do not exist as a file in our web directory) get indexed by search engines?
For example I have a ViewProfile page which is empty in design mode and all its controls and values get generated from database when requested. My question is do those pages still get indexed in search engines?
Thanks in advance for the answers!
paul.vencill
Contributor
6716 Points
1358 Posts
Re: How does MVC affect on the way our pages get indexed by search engines?
Nov 09, 2009 04:33 AM|LINK
whether it exists on disk or not is completely irrelevant to search engines, they don't access your pages that way. They look at content returned at a URL. So as long as your URLs are consistent, and unique on your site, they can fetch it just fine.
imarash
Member
30 Points
101 Posts
Re: How does MVC affect on the way our pages get indexed by search engines?
Nov 09, 2009 04:40 AM|LINK
Hi,
Thanks for reply!
So does that mean even contents being read from database will be indexed while they are being generated and sent to requested users?
Regards.
guillermogue...
Member
24 Points
17 Posts
Re: How does MVC affect on the way our pages get indexed by search engines?
Nov 09, 2009 01:27 PM|LINK
Exactly! I would even recomend you to read more about xml sitemaps. This is a XML file the contains all the "navigation" or better, the sitemap, of your website. It helps the search engines go to the right places to "read" and index your site. And yes, it will index the pages even if the content is dynamic and loaded from your database.
http://www.sitemaps.org/
http://xmlsitemap.com/
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
I hope it helps!
G
http://gguerini.com
paul.vencill
Contributor
6716 Points
1358 Posts
Re: How does MVC affect on the way our pages get indexed by search engines?
Nov 09, 2009 04:47 PM|LINK
It means that anything that a link on your site provides as output will get indexed. As the other poster mentioned, using a sitemap is one way to ensure that you create a link to everything on your site that you want indexed, but of course a good navigation structure (and appropraite on-page links) helps, and is (imo) even more important b/c it keeps your app user-focused.
Again: where your data resides / how your pages are generated has *nothing* to do with it (flat file, database, web service call, whatever). What matters is what is actually sent to a user when a hyperlink is followed. Note that Ajax-based pages and flash-based content works a little differently, I'm talking here about just regular hyperlinks & URLs and the html content returned by them.
imarash
Member
30 Points
101 Posts
Re: How does MVC affect on the way our pages get indexed by search engines?
Nov 09, 2009 05:19 PM|LINK
Thanks a lot for the explanation!
Lets say I have a page for user profiles (pageViewProfile.aspx), now this is only one page but depending on different users, will generate different outcome: pageViewProfile.aspx?uid=user-id
I want to know
1-Will different users contents (of their personal profile on pageViewProfile) get indexed as well?
2-How about if pageViewProfile needs user authentication?
Sorry my questions might sound dumb but I really need to know this.
Thanks a lot for your previous answers as well :)
paul.vencill
Contributor
6716 Points
1358 Posts
Re: How does MVC affect on the way our pages get indexed by search engines?
Nov 10, 2009 02:07 PM|LINK
1) depends on the search engine. I don't know all the differences, but I've heard that some ignore querystring params (e.g. ?uid=user-id) and pay attention only to the domain and path. Google does pick up querystrin gparams, but generally one of the "best practices" in the industry right now is to use params just for things like sorting and filtering, but use the path (everything after the domain, eg. /my-page/something.aspx) as the way of identifying hte resource itself. Also, one of the strengths of the flexible routing offered by the new System.Web.Routing namespace si the ability to (if you have IIS configured right) drop the file extension (.aspx) off completely. Makes your URLs more user friendly, and lets you name your resources in ways more meaningful to searches as well.
2) Search engines don't have an identity on your site, so they will not index stuff that requires authentication to access.