Search Engines and PHP

Anon

If you have a site built entirely using PHP (i.e. all files have a .php extension rather than .htm/.html) how do you get your site picked up by search engines.

For HTML files they will use your meta tags etc., is there anything similar for PHP files or is the only way to have and index.html file with meta tags etc.

Any advice would be appreciated?

Regards,

Fes

jjoske

You could always try META tags.

Anon

What do you mean? I am well aware how meta tags work in HTML, but files with an extension of .php will not be recognised by search engine spiders (or will they???).

If PHP is used to generate HTML rather than it being embedded in HTML where would I put the meta tags anyway?

Regards,

Fes

jjoske

Remember nobody sees your PHP code, it is run on the server and should send a valid HTML document to the users browser which could include META tags. This would not change whether you are embedding php in HTML or creating the HTML dynamically, its just going to be a bit harder if you generating HTML dynamically, really more fiddley.

Anon

OK. Let's start again shall we. I know how PHP works and that it is server side scritping and therefore no one will see my raw PHP code - that is my point.

Let's make this simpler. If I have an HTML file called index.html with meta tags in the headers a search engine spider will be abel to find it and reference the meta tags.

Alternatively if I have an index.php file that uses PHP to generate my HTML index page with meta tags then presumably a search engine spider will not be able to reference it unless it knows to look for PHP scripts as well as HTMl pages.

That is my question - can search engine spiders reference PHP scripts and if not how do I get my site noticed if it is entirely in PHP?

Fes

writethegeek

As far as I know, you can't have a search engine review your php scripts. I have the same problem with my site. The answer is entry pages. In order to have your site seen by search engines create entry pages that provide content and a link or search for more. Becareful not to make the entry page a basic portal page. Search engines do not like to have pages that forward automatically or their only basis is to link to another page. Be creative and make a page with content. Perhaps even include an article or review of something within your site and link into your site with either a link or search script.

Hope this helps.

Chris David
NetworkLouisville.com

Anon

Chris,

Thanks for that, a sensible answer at last. I suspected as much regarding PHP scripts/pages so I will have to do as you suggest. Bit of a pain though isn't it?

Regards,

Fes

mickro

Fes,

Take a look at this article http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/tim20000526.php3

You can use dynamic content and still get spidered. Most search engines only choke when they see a query string. The above article should help you to lose the query string.

Hope this helps

Mike
www.digitalegg.net

writethegeek

It is a bit of work, but once you make one entry page it is easy to make a few others. Make each one focus on a paticular keyword. This will increase your ranking.

But remember...the pages cannot be portal pages. They must have their own content and be independent. Then they can be linked in.

Hope things work out.

Chris

writethegeek

You can use dynamic content. However, be sure not to cater to different search engines. Search engines will test a page to see if it is using dynamic content. Many sites are trying to create pages that are designed especially for a search engines requirements. This is a big no no. Many sites are being deleted and banned from search engines because of this. For the same reason you can not have a portal page listed.

Chris

Anon

Thanks for your help.

Fes