[thelist] Search engines and dynamic content

[R.Livsey]

>      Does anyone know which search engines can index a
> dynamically driven site? We've got a site using
> PHP/Postgres/Apache/FreeBSD and we need to know if it's worth
> setting up virtual directories or some other hack to get
> indexed. If most of the major engines have no problem with
> dynamic content or are well on their way, we wouldn't mind
> saving ourselves a little time and heartache.
>      I notice the evolt site is optimized for indexing, but
> the only threads I could find on the subject are over a year
> old. Anyone have an update? If it turns out that this IS
> neccessary, I'd love to get some links to the needed resources. TIA.
>
> Tony Grimes
> Web: www.moviepostershop.com

Hi, I have to say that google performs admirably with my site
(www.cache-22.co.uk). I didn't design it to be good with search engines
and really should look at it at some point (most visitors come through
links from other sites) but looking at google for my site
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Awww.cache-22.co.uk+-whuhuh
seems to show up all the pages which have query strings fine.

<tip type="search engines">

Many search engines such as google let you search within your site with
syntax such as 'site:www.cache-22.co.uk'. However, if you add a term to
exclude a word that never appears in your site, such as
'site:www.cache-22.co.uk -eggbeater' it will return all the pages it has
indexed for your site. Handy to know what it has in there.

It can also be interesting to look at other peoples sites as you can
find things you wouldn't usualy find, 'site:www.google.com -eggbeater'
for example, gives you a nice list of all the pages at google.com so you
can have a look round and see what hidden delights there are that you
wouldn't usually see from links on the frontpage!

</tip>