Hi, I am using a company called SearchQuest to optimise my site. They have looked at it and stated that the session ID (query string) that appears at the bottom left hand corner of my pagespage is so long (therefore not search engine friendly)and that the search engines will have a job logging it effectively. Does any body have a solution or comment.
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Rob Lane
www.DATARAX.co.uk -
Actinic uses static HTML to create the pages and not dynamic pages with a session ID in the URL.
Can you post your URL for someone to take a look at? -
This is what I meanby long.....http://www.datarax.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss0...html&NOLOGIN=1 and I am told it should be simpler i.e the search engines will not easily pick up the main search keywords which are Mezzanine Floor and the domain name. What do you thinkRob Lane
www.DATARAX.co.ukComment
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Hi Rob,
they are not session ID's but links via the cgi-bin (section ID). It is worth seraching the forum for "links via cgi-bin" and "hardcoding navigation" and also on "sitemap" as this issue has been covered many times with various solutions. Often linking to the sitemap on everypage is the easiest solution.
I am not familiar with the company you are using but often worth asking for examples of other Actinic sites they have worked on. Most have no experience of Actinic and as such can lead you on a merry dance due to its own peculiarities... the fact they are reporting "session id" in stead of "section id" is cause for questioning alone.
Worth also searching the forum for "SEO" as this has been covered thousands of times with lots of handy tips and tricks you can implement yourself for free.Comment
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As jont says these are navigation links via the cgi-bin. You currently have 228 pages listed with Google so googlebot is getting through ok. Much has been discussed about cgi-bin navigation but the addition of a hard coded sitemap link can ensure that all your pages are indexed.
Do you know how many pages you have - is it 228? if it is then you dont have a problem and you can keep your cash in your pocket. Your best bet as far as SEO goes is to DIY with Actinic, do a search for SEO and you will find everything you need to do to improve your site.Comment
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Thanks Malcolm and Jont for info. I will have a good look through community for SEO info. Yes I do have more pages than 228 and so that is why I need to do something. By the way it was section not session, I misheard on the telephone.Originally posted by RuralWeb
Cheers for the help.Rob Lane
www.DATARAX.co.ukComment
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It depends on so many factors as to how SEs index your site but a site map is a good first step to getting all your pages close to the home page. Pages more than 3 deep may not be found. It takes time more than anything else to get all your pages indexed.Yes I do have more pages than 228 and so that is why I need to do something
You also need to install a very good monitoring system so you can see the effects your work is having - I always suggest fitting this prior to any work and letting it record for at least 2 week prior to doing anything. This sets a base level and allows you to see the current state of the site, many people are very surprised when they see the amount of traffic they are getting. If you only measure your SEO in terms of sales then this can be very misleading as it is offten as not other things that are putting people off buying such as usability, price, postage etcComment
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Can you recommend one Malcolm?install a very good monitoring system
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Google Analytics is good if you dont mind google knowing everything about your site but it is always about 24hrs out of date.
There are lots of others out there that work in real time, your hosting package should have a simple one fitted. I would start with that and see if it gives the info you need.
I have one which runs on your desktop - if you want a free 2 week trial drop me an email after 10 Aug when I am back in UK.Comment
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that's a defect of actinic. although i have my solution to this problem, i am also wondering why actinic generates a catalog tree in a style of cgi-bin. search engine can index all the pages does not the site is se-friendly.Comment
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It's very search engine friendly for us, we don't do any tweaking of anything but Google seems to find every page and somehow more than I thought we had. A "site:" test this morning showed 28,200 pages indexed and it tends to hover around the 25k to 28k mark.Originally posted by anqi
When we have to move away from Actinic the impact on SE ranking will be the biggest loss we will have to suffer.Mike Julien
www.wheesh.comComment
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I dont think it is a defect at all, Actinic give you a choice of themes most of which dont use cgi-bin navigation. Google can index through the cgi-bin quite well now - I have sites which use it and they have all thier pages indexed. The problem I find is that the page depth is more of a problem.that's a defect of actinic. wondering why actinic generates a catalog tree in a style of cgi-bin. search engine can index all the pages does not the site is se-friendly
Of all the shopping cart software on the market today Actinic is IMO the best as far as SEO goes. As you say there are many options if you feel it is a problem andthe whole subject was discussed in depth at the begining of the year.Comment
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Hi Mike,Originally posted by wheesh
just doing some analysis work on Actinic sites v A.N.Other ecommerce cart sites and noticed the "site" test is today showing 3.3k but still appears to be on Actinic from the homepage ... have you moved to a different cart system yet or is this WIP?Comment
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although i am not a professional in this aspect, by my knowledge, search engine can cache a page does not mean its url is search engine friendly. once upon a time, search engines do not cache a page linked by dynamic url. now the improved of search engine technology make some dynamic url can be cached, but dynamic url is still not preferred by most search engines.Originally posted by RuralWeb
i have checked www.wheesh.com. a nice site. but the above said problem has not be sorted out. for example,
on the homepage's navigation menu, a link of http://www.wheesh.com/cgi-local/ss00...html&NOLOGIN=1 will redirect to a final page http://www.wheesh.com/acatalog/Dining_Table.html. this redirecting is neither 301 or 302, so it is another issue about non-search-engine-friendly. in my opinion, google won't like that. you are inviting google to cache two pages with the exact same content. google will find it out sooner or later.
so, on my site (it's v7), i diabled actinic to generate dynamic urls for navigation. i have some other script to generate the static urls. but it's very troublesome. actinic should do it for me. i guess v8 can do it for me.
another way around, actinic claims it generates the static pages which are quite good to search engines. generally speaking, it's right. however, to be more accurate, it is static urls which are good, rather than static content. it's a weak point of actinic to make content dynamic.
however, i just notice v8 improved a lot in dealing with stuffs dynamically, and i am very happy
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Whether you have cgi linked navigation or static linked navigation depends upon the theme that was chosen in Actinic. Also regardless of the navigation chosen; putting a sitemap link on all pages allows static instead cgi links for the robots. (Which you'll see is the case for the Wheesh site)Comment
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