Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
question 1 : if I have a website without any index page(index.html, index.php, default.html..., if you type the domain name and you will only get a directory list page), but having some inner pages with valid contents, will these inner pages be crawled and indexed by google or other search engines?
question 2: ok, I have a website with a normal index page(index.html, default.htm.., so you can visit it normally) and many inner pages, but there is no links to any inner pages on the index page(I mean you can not go anywhere deeper by visiting the index page, but inner pages do have a home link back to index page), will these inner pages be crawled and indexed by google and search engine?
thanks
There are many reasons to have a default index page however - not least is that www.domain.com/ is your root address, and much more easily used and remembered than www.domain.com/another-name.html.
It will also lose you links, as many people will assume that www.domain.com will find you, and use that URL.
You could, of course, use a 301 redirect from index.html to www.domain.com/another-name.html - but much better to use the root; the single most important page on your site.
Worth adding that while any 'linked page' can be indexed, good site navigation makes SEs job easier, and therefore more likely to be thoro' and effective; help them to help you.
[edited by: Quadrille at 3:35 pm (utc) on Aug. 6, 2006]
You have an url that provides links to the inner pages it is that "directory" produced by the server so in effect you have a generated index page. If Google gets pointed to that generated index (directory) page the site will be crawled and at somepoint get indexed (provided the domain isn't banned).
This should be enough information for you to answer qestion 2 .... it all depends on links being found by Google.
[edited by: theBear at 3:35 pm (utc) on Aug. 6, 2006]
