Gateways and target="_blank"

[JavaShark]

Hey Gang,

Spiders are like browsers, right? Well, if a browser follows a link that I have on my page that is set up with target="_blank" it spawns a new window.

Following that same logic, if a spider finds a link on my page with target="_blank" will it spawn another session of the spider?

Any advantage / disadvantage to using target="_blank" on your Gateway Page links?

Curious minds want to know. :)

[cirelle]

spiders are not too fond of redirects and they may not go there.

c

[JavaShark]

Thanks cirelle,

The more I have thought about this I think it's a null issue (excuse the pun).

I must have been hypmotized there for a moment. The new browser will only open with an onClick or onMouseDown response. So, I guess (and again I am just guessing) that it makes no difference to the spider at all.

hee hee... but at least I'm thinkin' about this stuff.

[cirelle]

U B Welcome... :)

c

[Brett_Tabke]

>Spiders are like browsers, right?

The part that does the actual request for the page, the actual download of the page - yes. That is where all resemblence stops.

>target="_blank" it spawns a new window.

That *is* the difference - spiders don't have windows and don't act upon anything on the page unless they are setup to do so.

Target=100% safe and friendly.

I use target=_top everwhere (probably on this page even). I loath framers.

[Marcia]

OK, dumb question to double-check. Using target=_blank will cause a new window to open when a person with a browser clicks on the link, and is spider-safe and not spam.

However, if the links are on a "links page" using target=_blank to keep visitors from leaving the site permanently, yet this page is being submitted to search engines to enhance link popularity (or merely to get the linked-to sites found through crawling without submssing them)- if the target argument is used, will or will not the spiders follow the link? In other words, will spiders ignore the target argument and follow the link, or ignore the links altogether, defeating the purpose of the link page?

[Brett_Tabke]

I don't know of any that will do anything but ignore the Target attribute. They'll just do whatever they do with links in the normal fashion.

[JavaShark]

Brett,

Thanks so much for your answers.

My questions may seem coo coo, but at least I feel like I'm thinking about the right stuff. :)