how are dynamically generated pages indexed?

[partha]

how do search engines work when you have dynamically generated pages? (php, etc)

If I had a url like
www.mysite.com/article.php?ID=248
for example, would the search engine index each article separately?

[eurotrash]

Yes, as long as there is a path to follow.

Don't know what else to say.

[webtress]

As long the page url has a unique ID then there is no problem search engines will pick it up as a different page. That's the beauty of dynamic pages the one becomes many.

[ccDan]

On a related note, which is better?

www.mysite.com/article.php?ID=248
www.mysite.com/article.php?ID=249
www.mysite.com/article.php?ID=250

-or-

www.mysite.com/article.php?ID=widgets
www.mysite.com/article.php?ID=blue-widgets
www.mysite.com/article.php?ID=using-widgets

Does having a keyword in the path make it more valuable than if it does not?

[Matt Probert]

Does having a keyword in the path make it more valuable than if it does not?

Yes.

Matt

[bloke in a box]

Also consider googling for 'mod_rewrite' (either on the web or in the forums here), this is a function that allows you to change urls from

www.domain.com/index.php?page=widgets to www.domain.com/widgets/ which is more search engine spider friendly and yet is still dynamic.

[raywood]

With only one or two short parameters the se's will do fine. But if you have lots of parameters or really long parameters, it will give the se's heartburn.
ray