Does google tolerate semicolon as separator in query string?

e.g.?var=value;var2=value

[elord]

Hello,
do you know if googlebot will hesitate to crawl urls which got semicolons in it? Or does that have no effect on google?

Thanks.

[andreasfriedrich]

Since G does not parse the query string and semicolons are allowed in URIs by RFC2396 - Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax [faqs.org] they should not scare GoogleBot away.

Assuming that two or less parameter in the querystring are somewhat of a treshold that Gogglebot will not cross using semicolons to separate parameter poses the question whether Googlebot will recognize it as separating parameter.

I have no idea how to answer that, since I do not use query strings in URIs that are used to identify resources that I want to be spidered.

Andreas

<edit>changed RFC reference (To save some time I just need to write r_2396_r which will then be turned into RFC2396 - Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI): Generic Syntax [faqs.org]. But now I keep messing up the numbers. BTW I don`t know ALL RFC numbers by heart.</edit>

[edited by: andreasfriedrich at 1:33 pm (utc) on April 1, 2003]

[indiandomain]

i was wondering if it will accept a link like this
mydomain.com/result.php3?term=loans

[globay]

DON'T USE SEMICOLONS!

[webmasterworld.com...]

I used them in folder and file names, and it did not only mess up webalizer stats (everything behind the ; was dropped), but even worse none of the pages got indexed.

Now I use : instead, and everything works all right!

--
globay

[elord]

Hmm, well I would like to use semicolons :-) It's a pity that google (and probably other SEs) won't crawl those sites.
I better use / then, to be on the save site.
Or does anybody know sites with ; in their url that are indexed by google? Can you send me a sticky email with its url if you know one?

Thanks for all your responses.

[globay]

Really, I am very sure, that Google does not index these pages!

my site address was domain.tld/blue;widgets

When looking at the raw log files, I could see that Google had attempted to index these pages, but unfortunately, it tried to open domain.tld/blue. Even though there was a custom error page for that site, it did not get indexed, not even once.

Don't take the risk! The chance that Google changed its algo is really small!

--
globay

[jatar_k]

I would say to just use a slash as you say. Given that, as andreas mentioned and has been discussed amny times, query strings are troublesome to start with it is a touchy hting to mess with.

If you use colon/semi-colon then wait for an update. It doesn't work, change it to slashes, wait for update. You have spent a significant amount of time messing around (2 updates) when you could have used slashes in the first place and saved yourself the trouble.

Slashes are recognized, we all know that, why mess around with alternates when there is a recognized format?

[elord]

Thanks globay.
Well, I won't use ; now for sure. ;-)

What about using a , (comma)? :-)
I found pages on google that use commas, so I guess google has no problems with that, right?

jatar_k,
I know, I could easily use "/", but I'm kinda curious to see if there is another way to seperate parameters. :-) I'm kind of tired using "&" or "/". :-)

[globay]

You can use colons or commas. Either one just works fine. Using shlashes has the disadvantage, that it appears to be a new subdirectory. I don't know if this is really bad, but somewhere I heard that it could affect PageRank in a negative way.

--
globay

[andreasfriedrich]

>>somewhere I heard that it could affect PageRank in a
>>negative way

Certainly not around WebmasterWorld since it is rubbish.

Andreas

[globay]

Yeah,

Andreas is right!

Here are some posts to read more about it.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[webmasterworld.com...]
[webmasterworld.com...]

--
globay

<Added> These Posts only discuss the affect on Google PageRank and thus Google Ranking. How about the effect on other search engines, that have become more popular lately? </Added>

[elord]

Ok, I think I'm gonna use commas now. :-)

somewhere I heard that it could affect PageRank in a negative way

I heard that it has NO effect on the PageRank, it all depends on the link structure. But maybe I'm wrong.

[itssook]

Speaking of Googlebot 2.1+ particularly, because that is what is currently crawling my site...or the lack thereof. Would there be any problems with the googlebot with doing 2 of the following thing?

1. Using Cached content
2. Having URLS like wwWebmasterWorldebsite.com/viewpage.cfm/page/49.html

I read somewhere that these were supposed to be SES URLs. Should this be fine and should i be patient to see if the googlebot likes this? I've seen scooter 3.2 all over my site but the googlebot seems to stop on my default.cfm page. Any Suggestions?

Thanks!

[itssook]

excuse that URL, something must have happened between typing that message and the output of information. the domain is really regardless anyways, i'm just curious of what's going on in the query string after .cfm

thanks!

[indiandomain]

i wanted to know if google will accept a url like this
mydomain.com/result.php3?term=loans

im using an affiliate program where i have to use result.php3 in my links.

anyone has had a similar problem?