Server SIde Includes harming SEO?

Any experience with includes appreciated

[zaples]

I have been using includes for my menu (it makes life easier) and will apreciate any experience if this might affect SEO and results!

Thanks in advance!

[troels nybo nielsen]

I have very limited personal experiences with SSI, but AFAIK spiders from search engines read SSI files the same way that a browser for human visitors does: They do not "know" that it is SSI. They "believe" that it is simply part of the page.

If I am wrong I hope that people more knowledgeable in this field will correct me.

Oh, and welcome to WebmasterWorld! :)

[jdMorgan]

Troels, your answer is correct. SSI includes are processed by the server while outputting the page in response to the client request. As long as the SSI code contains no errors, the page content included or created by SSI is no different than any of the other content on the page, so the underlying SSI code is invisible to spiders in the same way that it is invisible to other site visitors.

Jim

[zaples]

Thanks guys! I appreciate your help!