[thelist] SSI and search engines

sfmalo sfmalo at msn.com
Mon Jan 28 07:36:01 CST 2002


Ben replied:
[...]
> How is an included file commented out? If it was commented out then it would
> not be seen by spiders *or* browsers.

That's exactly the point my source is making. Here is a quote:

= = = = =
<!-- bla,bla,bla --> is commented out. That is what that markup is for; tells the browser to ignore what is inside. If the spider in question reads and reacts to HTML, it ignores the "bla,bla,bla".

We are able to parse the content "bla,bla,bla" because we have extended
capabilities via plugins and interpreter modules (the JavaScript engine for
instance or the server side PERL handler), but as far as reading the HTML markup (what spiders do by design) we specifically ~exclude~ the content in those brackets.
= = = = =

So, this source is saying that, for example, <!--#include file="footer.inc" --> would not be spidered because of the Comment tags. This is the opposite of information I've seen for months on this list (and others) re SSI's (or for that matter include files used in FrontPage).

Who's on first?

Sharon
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Sharon F. Malone
"web design and Internet writing services"
http://www.24caratdesign.com
sfmalo at 24caratdesign.com





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