Adding dynamic PHP pages to search engine

svan_rv

This is regarding a search engine. Actually i have a site up and running and i want to add my pages so that one can search and get thru google. For this i 've added the keywords and contents inside META tags in all my pages.
The problem which i am facing is due to the parameters which some of my php pages need since most of them are generated dynamically.
For example if you search a particular movie for rental by entering it's name in google it will bring a page with movie detail.
So here when you go thru google by searching a movie name it's not bringing the movie details and the query returns no rows.

This is because the page which brings the movie details needs a parameter called languageId. So it could n't query the table without this id.
The languageId variable is a session variable in my web site. There are three language options available (id's 1,2 and 3)in the web site and the user can go into any language by clicking on the link.
By default when you first access the site it's set to 1. So this value is a global one and remains the same until the user changes the language. So when the user click on the link 'movies for rentals' then it will bring all the movie details related to the movie id. My question is how to add pages to a search engine with parameter values.

I am totally blank on this.Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

svan

superwormy

Google and other search engines tend to avoid pages with query strings. Theres nothing you can do about that... except get rid of your query strings.

Maybe something along these lines of thought...
http://phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10240139

svan_rv

Before that i would like to have some details about the search options and how it works. Is it enough to just specify some contents in the meta tag. At the moment i have included the key words inside the meta tag in all the php pages related to movies. Do i need to specify anything other than this in that. Suppose if i want to include my query string values where do i provide those.

But i have seen some search results with query string values in google. Like this one which i got it after searching google for 'DVD Rentals'. This one is one among the results which i 've got.
http://www.gadgetstore.co.uk/show.php3?t=DVD. My case is simlar to this one. Like this show.php3?t=DVD i need movies.php?languageId=1.

Also what else i have to do in addition to specifying descriptions & contents inside META tag.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

svan

superwormy

Yeah, as said, Google tends to AVOID pages with query strings, but they do still pick up some, and are working on picking up more.

Each search engine is different, but for MOST you don't need to do ANYTHING to get listed, you just need to have a website, and they'll find you and list you.

Some search engines you have to actually pay them money to get listed ( Yahoo's directory for instance, and some Overture sites )

Google, you can submit to them, but theres still no guarentee you'll be included.

Theres nothing special you need to do though to get listed.

It should be noted that Google DOES NOT pay attention to meta-keywords tags.

Now, ranking HIGH on a search engine is a different issue than just getting included and spidered... for that I would direct you here:
http://searchenginewatch.com/

Or go search Google for ' Search Engine Marketing '

svan_rv

i got the information about handling query strings through configuring apache with mod_rewrite or .htaccess options. If we do so how the query string will be handled. for example www.mydomain.com/movies.php/lang/1 will be redirected as www.mydomain.com/movies.php?lang=1. Is that right?.

Could you please explain me how to configure apache with mod-rewrite options. After configuring how will that effect my query string options in local php pages. I want to do this to overcome the query string problem in search engine. But if I change this can i still pass the query string with my pages.It should n't affect the normal process of passing query string values with the pages if i access links directly from my site(Not through a search result)

I am using Red Hat 8,apache 1.3.27 with php 4.2. I am struck on this and urgenly i need to solve this query string problem inorder to add my pages for my search engines. 😕

Once again thanks for your reply.

svan

superwormy

I dont' know how to do this with mod_rewrite... I did it the hardcore way with an htaccess file and ForceType and parsing out the REQUEST_URI variable.

Maybe someone else can help you if you want to go the mod_rewrite route...

svan_rv

could you explain me how you did it using .htaccess. I will try that option and hope that will help me.
Meanwhile could anyone help me on doing this using mod_rewrite option in a apache config file.

Many thanks

svan

superwormy

Look at that other post, it explains it. Or Google for ForceType and apache, or search engine friendly URLs with PHP