Blocking access to SSI files

What effect on search engine spiders

[Webwork]

In an earlier thread someone asked about blocking http/other access to SSI files.

[webmasterworld.com...]

Just wondering: If you do this what effect is there on SE spiders? Would this strategy in any way undermine the running of AdSense?

[jdMorgan]

Blocking HTTP access to SSI include files will have no effect on spiders or on Adsense. as stated in that other thread, SSI includes are not (normally) accessed via HTTP, they are accessed by the server using an internal filesystem request, and then "plugged into" the page that is being requested via HTTP.

Blocking direct HTTP requests will have no effect on SSI includes, FTP access, etc.

The simplest way to prove this is to try it with a simple SSI that includes something innocuous like an extra <hr> tag on one of your pages. You'll see that HTTP access still works, and that the <hr> tag does get included in the page requested via HTTP.

Jim

[submitx]

Correct...SSI files are run on server side, so SE only sees your main HTML page. Dissalowing access to them from spiders would have absolutly no effect.

However, if you are thinking of putting Adsense code in SSI to hide it, then that would not work...because once SSI is processed the Adsense code is now in the HTML file served to the browser or spider.