Java vs HTML

I took a break from developing to read about Optimization of a site for search engines (a PhD would be confused by some of it), but any way. . .

From what I gather, it seems the robots like HTML over Java for several reasons:
1. No dynamic content so there is more that the robot can log and catagorise, and
2. Menu navigation via java or FrontPage Nav Bars will not allow the robot to find other pages. Only text links can be searched by the robots.

Finally I gathered from the readings that it is important that the secondary and 3rd level pages also have the right keywords to help boost your PR.

So, my question: Many of the sites I have seen, and liked, are done in ASP, PHP and/or Java. How do they receive such high page ratings if the robots can't search the secondary and third levels for additional content. Is there another way of promoting a page that I am missing?

Also, I have seen some single page sites (banner farms) or redirect pages that are ranked very high (top 20) google. How do they optimise themselves and rank so high with only 1 page of content?

Thanks for the help. . . :shake:

First off...

Front Page navigation bars are indeed parsed and followed by SE Spiders.
Most php and asp pages are indeed parsed by SE Spiders.
Much of java script navigation can not be followed by spiders.

The problem with asp and php comes in to play with the query string itself.

I think I'll hold off and see if someone else wants to respond and maybe give a better explanation of this as i am pressed for time at the moment and if I continue with an answer I may end up confusing you more.

Rick
Universal4

Hi Confused...

Hope this helps...

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1. No dynamic content so there is more that the robot can log and catagorise

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I think what you're reading may not be the most current info. Google (which is arguably the search engine you should be most concerned with) can and does index dynamic content. However, I have heard that query strings with too many arguments can cause problems. Also, when Google sees a site that it determins has dynamic content it's spider slow down (this so that it doesn't put too much of a strain on the database server). So this may mean that you entire site won't be spidered right away.

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2. Menu navigation via java or FrontPage Nav Bars will not allow the robot to find other pages. Only text links can be searched by the robots.

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I'm not sure how Frontpage Nav bars work. Search engine spider do have trouble with some types java/javascript links --I always use plain old html links.

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Finally I gathered from the readings that it is important that the secondary and 3rd level pages also have the right keywords to help boost your PR.

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What I think you mean is having your targeted keywords in your link text back to you home page... For example, if you're targeting the keyphrase "Blue Widgets" then your link text on all your subsequent pages should have a link pointing to your home page that says "Blue Widgets".

...Be careful with this however, as Google has started to Filter out sites that it considers "over optimized" and this may be one of the indicators it uses to determine over optimization.

Also note, your pr isn't effected by how well optimized your pages are, PR is simply a calculation based on the number of quality links the spider can find to any given page.

Lastly, In my opinion, keep your site logical, clear and easy to navigate. Use a site map to make sure that the spiders can reach all of your pages.

Also, When you're designing your site, put yourself in a typical user's shoes and make sure you can find what your looking for as easily as possible. This is what what typical web surfers want so this is what Google wants to provide in their search listings.

Very good info, guys! :ok:

Thanks for the replies. It does indeed clarify the whole thing for me.

I guess it was somewhat dated info. I am still somewhat at a loss by what one much do to really optimize, but that will come with time.

Great info and now to give it all a go and see what happens.

Thanks

Try www.BruceClay.com - some very good basic info there. ;)

Don't forget that there are some surfers that turn off j/s when visiting new sites. I am one that does this as I can't be bothered with popups, homepage and other changes, and all the other tricks that some webmasters try.

Also you should add the date using ssi, the se will find this - it won't find a j/s date. There are other reasons for choosing alternatives to j/s

Thanks for the tips. I will have to look for some ssi code to include the dates.

I guess if one has java script turned off before hitting my site, the menu won't work so I'll have to also make a test menu for them as well. Thanks for the input.


Cheers

Here's what I use

Code:

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update - <!--#exec cmd="date '+%A, %B %d'"-->

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Don't forget that it has to be a shtml page.