Can google see CGI?

or do I need to keep my site in html?

[askjoe]

Can the google spider read cgi scripts or do I need to keep my site in html in order to be spidered?

[GrinninGordon]

Hi askjoe

Can't read the scripts. But can follow them.

[askjoe]

If it can't read the scripts than I won't be indexed - the individual pages won't - right?

[GrinninGordon]

As far as I am concerned, Google can follow cgi scripts - if that is the question. So, if you have a page that is accessed via a cgi encoded URL, it should be fine (as long as the cgi URL is clean of transaction elements).

[askjoe]

Sorry for the confusion. What I meant was, if you have an "href = target.cgi?p=1" (a link to a cgi script) will google spider the resulting page from the cgi script?

So what we have here is a cgi script with a variable passed to it.

[TheDave]

If you stay clear of session ID's, and keep your variables to a minimum it should get spidered and indexed.

[Made In Sheffield]

Google and anything else on the web doesn't care what generates the page they get, whether it comes from a cgi script or a static html file it doesn't matter.

All the client gets is a HTTP response with a mime type that tells it what's coming, usually text/html. So no it doesn't matter in the slightest if it comes from cgi or anything else.

However you may have some issues if you do the following:

Use post variables instead of get. Pages won't have unique URLs.

Use session ids as mentioned, urls will be different every time.

Search engiones used to have problems with dynamic pages because of the funny characters like & and? but this is ok now I believe.

Cheers,
Nigel