Dynamic pages and code within content
-
Hi all,
I'm considering creating a dynamic table on my site that highlights rows / columns and cells depending on buttons that users can click. Each cell in the table links to a separate page that is created dynamically pulling information from a database.
Now I'm aware of the google guidelines: "If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a "?" character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few."
So we wondered whether we could put the dynamic pages in our sitemap so that google could index them - the pages can be seen with javascript off which is how the pages are manipulated to make them dynamic.
Could anyone give us a overview of the dangers here?
I also wondered if you still need to separate content from code on a page? My developer still seems very keen to use inline CSS and javascript!
Thanks a bundle.
-
That's it! Thanks Baptiste - the anchor text is going to be an image and an unoptimised image at that... I knew there was a reason that my brain was kicking up a fuss with this code. Brilliant, thanks.
-
If you have pages on your site without any internal link to them (I mean pages reachable by Google Bot when he visits your site), they won't rank well, and your site won't be ranking well too.
That's because your pages will only be visible to Google through the sitemap. The Google Bot will think "Hey these pages are not accessible to the user through the site links? I should not rank them then."
You will penalize your whole domain too because you will be losing additional pages in the site. Especially if those pages have good content (I suppose this the case anyway).
BUT, given your example, Google Bot should be able to access them with you strange link. Question is, what is the anchor text ? Is the anchor a generic text or a good keyword for each page? If you have bad anchor text, I would make a specific section on the site which allows the user and GBot to access theses pages with good anchor text.
Maybe a HTML sitemap, as you may see one on rotten tomatoes :
-
Ok, thanks so much for the advice, just to clarify there is a link to the dynamic page and it's address will be permanent so it can be accessed in the browser address bar. Here is the link example that the developer gave:
[If I understand correctly you are saying that this dynamic page can't rank? Even if it is permanently there?
Is that right?](Index.asp?Page=ExamplePage)
-
agreed, ref=canonical
-
I would rel=canonical all versions of the page to point to one without querystring. You only want one page to be indexed.
I would also (sorry) reconsider your ties with a developer who wants to use inline CSS. That is just dumb...
-
I would not recommend doing so, google will index you pages but he won't be able to find them anywhere on the internet, event on your website. They won't rank.
You should make, at least, a way for users and google to access theses pages without the buttons.
For the code / content / style issue, you should really stop putting all together - it's been 10 years since people started to separate content and style
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Subdomain or Country Code Top Level Domain
Hello Friends, I am planning to develop my website for other languages. which one is best for SEO? (The main English website is well ranked in google) 1. de.example.com (subdomain may obtain rank faster as it is part of the main website?)
Web Design | | Bold
2. example.de (this is a completely new one; so not easy to get rank?) thank you
Barsbold0 -
19 Hours Excessive to Code Single Wordpress Page?
My developer says that is will take 19 hours to modify a listing page of the wpcasa London real estate theme because the existing template is difficult to customize. I am attaching an image of the existing page before customization and an image of a final mock up. Is 19 hours a reasonable amount of time to customize this page? Look forward to feedback. New Design is visible at: https://imgur.com/a/42XBqDD Alan IQ1i0kg
Web Design | | Kingalan10 -
Can we link back from help documents to product or features pages on website?
Hi, We have all our help documents on subdirectory linked for all the features or products we provide. Like we linked website.com/help/seo-guide from website.com/services/seo-product as that is relevant guide. Do we need to link back from all help guide pages to product pages? Thanks
Web Design | | vtmoz0 -
Is having a site map page necessary?
Hello all! So I know having a sitemap XML file is important to include in your robots.txt file. I also know it is important to submit your XML sitemap to Google and Bing. However, I am wondering if it is beneficial for your site's SEO value to have a sitemap page displayed on your website? Or is this just a redundant action if you have already done the above two actions with your XML sitemap? Thanks in advance!
Web Design | | Myles920 -
I am looking to build an informational site that consists of a few landing pages. What kind of platform would you recommend?
The site would consist of an initial homepage, about us page, products & services page, sub-category pages that consist of the products and services in greater detail, and a contact us page. What platform would you recommend building this site on? I currently use Miva Merchant for an ecommerce platform, however this new site will not require the customization that Miva provides, and will also not need to have ecommerce capabilities. This will strictly be an informational site for prospective and current clients.
Web Design | | djlittman0 -
How to change the entire contents and design in my site without getting troubles with google?
Hello everyone This is my first post over here. In the next few weeks we going to change the entire content and design in our site. The site has 240 pages with poor contents and design. Except 301 redirects for all the old url’s I wanted to consult with you what is the right way to do it without harm my organic traffic that come from google? How google refers to this kind of changes? Which steps should I need to take to do it properly? Hope to get your help in the issue. Tahnks in advance.
Web Design | | JonsonSwartz0 -
Nav / Sitemap Question. Using a "services" page vs just linking directly to individual service page?
Okay, so our company offers video production, web design, and web marketing services. While we do offer these services individually, our goal is to get our clients to integrate these services together. Our nav is currently like so : home - about - video - web design - web marketing - blog - contact Now I've seen businesses and agencies also use a nav with a "services" button instead of listing out their service offerings (if they have more than 1, like us). The services button usually links to a category page or has a drop down with links to the company's individual services. I'm wondering if there is any benefit to having a main services page like this and linking to the individual pages off of it (video ,web design, marketing, etc). Or if we should just keep it the way we have it now (since we've already got some page authority on the individual service pages). I know this may not be the most important aspect of our site and we may be over-thinking it but any thoughts/ideas would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Web Design | | RenderPerfect0 -
Duplicate content on mobile sites
Hi Guys We are launching a mobile webshop later this year and have decided to use a subdomain for this. (m.domainname.xx). The content will be more or less identical with the one on the standard desktop site (domainname.xx), but im struggeling to find out if this will create dipplicate content between the mobile and desktop site. Does anyone have a solid answer for this one?
Web Design | | AndersDK0