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I have read some posts here that say that google sends in a "stealth bot" - for want of a better description - after googlebot to check that you don't serve up bot specific content. I want to create static pages with content that is updated every hour or so. Will doing this cause my site to be flagged as serving up "bot specific content" and therefore flag the site as dubious?
Sounds like you're planning on serving the same (updated) page regardless of the useragent. If so You shouldn't have any problem at all. After all, CNN et al do it all the time.
I create a static page and googlebot comes along and feeds on. Then I update the static page with new content and the "stealth bot" or whatever comes along and checks to see if the content served up is the same as the content which googlebot found - which it is not - as I updated it.
Perhaps I am just being over cautious?
Perhaps someone can confirm this?
BUT.. for the check to have any validity the spider and bot/hand checker would have to be requesting the page at the same time. The discrepancy would also have to be replicated.
This is the web. Things change constantly. Any SE worth its salt knows this and supports it.... hence freshbot.
I really think you are worrying needlessly.
If you change the content often then eventually you'll get visited more frequently, assuming the content is worthy of it.
If you think of blogs, this is one of the reasons why they took off was because of the fresh content requiring a more frequent visit otherwise the cached page would be stale and therefore less popular and relevant.
Just make sure that the content is significantly different and not just some cheesy java date/time stamp because that will just lead the spider to feel it is being brought back for nothing.
Just don't be paranoid, the internet is all about fresh and new content, if you offer it up and people like it, then so will the search engines. Think human.
Thanks, I get the picture now! I am trying to improve my knowledge of how things work so that I dont make the mistakes I have in the past. Worrying is one of my less attractive attributes :-) but I do tend to get a bit picky when trying to work out what is happening behind the scenes.
Control freak, signing off....
I didn't really get paranoid about this stuff until I read some of the posts on this site. It really opened my eyes to some of the potential pitfalls you can encounter with SE's.
I guess the knowledge base here is just so much better than elsewhere :-)
I want to keep the site updated with News/Sport/Weather content from XML feeds to add stickyiness. The basic content will remain static until I write new stuff or get contributors to add their own.
As a fellow worrywart I know where you're coming from.
The good news is you have found the best place to answer your concerns.
The bad news is you'll learn so much here that as soon as one concern is alleviated you'll have another.
The only advice I can offer is that for long term stress relief yoga is more sustainable than alcohol.
The good news is I can still get drunk without much difficulty - the bad news is that I cannot get into a full lotus position. So I guess the booze wins on this occasion.
