Can SE's spider the <form> tag?

[zoobie]

I know SE's don't read javascript and that the <a href> tag is recommended for spidering. However, I've made custom buttons on my index and am using <td><form action="page2.html"><input type="submit" class="but"></form></td>

Any problems with SE's spidering that?

Suggestions/comments welcome.

[Macguru]

Hello zoobie,

Welcome to WebmasterWorld. [webmasterworld.com]

AFAIK, they have no problem with that. You can test your page using a sim spider [searchengineworld.com], to make sure.

[zoobie]

Thanks...I tried that sims spider with the buttons hooked up to major sites (yahoo, cnn) and none were mentioned. Do the links have to be internal (my site) to be spidered by the sims spider?

Thanks

[Macguru]

Hi zoobie,

The sim spider spot all 'good' links, internal or external.

[zoobie]

I'm using the <form> submit buttons mentioned above.

Under the 'spidered links' category at the bottom of the results page, the sims spider sees nothing.

[bobriggs]

I think the answers were due to a misunderstanding of your question.

The answer is NO, they'll not have a problem with the code, and NO, they will not follow the (action) link in a form. Inside the body, the only thing they'll follow is <a href> tags. I don't know whether they'll follow a <link rel=...> type in a header, but it is a possibility.

[zoobie]

Ahh...The code's ok but they can't spider the action. I kinda wondered because on hover over my buttons, no link showed up in the status bar. That sims spider probably saved me a big headache.

Anyway, I just used <td><a class="menu" href="http://cnn.com">CNN</a></td> and my custom buttons with text-over showed up as a link in the sims spider.

Thanks all :)