5 replies to this topic

[houndog]

I tried searching this in the forum, but to search a issue about searching was kind of tricky.

I'm wondering about two scenarios, on whether they are travelable by spiders. This is more a technical question I guess, and may depend how the thing is built.

1. If you have a navigation that links to search queries on your website, will a search engine be able to travel through and get to other pages? This was proposed to me as a work-around on a site where the owner wanted to give users the chance to easily get to basically another category, and it's a work-around to actually making the navigation do that - by way of just using a well laid out search function on their site. I wasn't sure...didn't seem like it...as it seems like pages would need to be fairly certain on the other end...so I'm bringing it here.

2. Tag cloud. Like with the bigger words for more times they are mentioned, and the words are linked to the mentions of those words in articles. If a tag cloud exists on a site, which I suppose is just another form of utilizing the search function on your website, but with a fancy layout the begin the search, does this help with SEO in the form of creating more internal links? Or again, b/c this is a search query and delivers results, is it not really the same as a traditional internal link that just links one page to another page. So it's really not an internal link for SEO purposes.

3. Ok, 3 questions. If you write a blog post, and do link to a search engine search just to help make your point in your blog post, but with no SEO intentions, does linking to that search engine search (like in G or Y) for a certain term/phrase help the post in terms of SEO strength?

Thanks!

[Randy]

I'm confused on one point, so a bit of clarification perhaps?

When you talk about conducting a search above, are you talking about searching through another site --say like Google, Yahoo, etc-- or are you talking about an on-site search appliance the site has installed?

As a general rule I don't like to link to off-site searches since I don't control them in any way, shape or form. Conversely I do sometimes link to on-site searches when they'll be useful for users.

[Jill]

Or again, b/c this is a search query and delivers results, is it not really the same as a traditional internal link that just links one page to another page.

If it's a hard coded link on your page somewhere...whether it's a link to the results of a search query or a link to anything else, it's still a link. It's all the same to the search engine. They don't know they're ultimately going to a search results page (on your site).

After all, any dynamically generated site is doing the same basic thing...pulling together information from a database and turning it into an html page for a browser.

[houndog]

When you talk about conducting a search above, are you talking about searching through another site --say like Google, Yahoo, etc-- or are you talking about an on-site search appliance the site has installed?

Both. Question 1 was addressing a search within your own website via on-site search appliance. So if you are a retail store, and want to link to a search for white shirts, which could be an easy way to display all white shirts in your store. My question is, when the search engines are traveling through that link, do they get to each white shirt that otherwise would have been displayed in that search result? I guess I was unsure, since it's a query asking for results, rather than a link linking to a page - the same page each time. Know what I mean?

Question 2 would basically be the same thing I think, as Question 1.

Question 3 is just a link to a Google or Yahoo, etc search. Which yes, can change, so I only do it for not very important things, just if I'm illustrating something right now. But I wasn't sure what a search engine saw when they traveled through the query - links and page on the other side?

So Jill's answer - they don't know that they are going to a page of search results on your site - does this mean that they do not see the links presented on the other side aka the details of the search result? Or I guess you are saying that for a dynamic site, if you click on a Category that has been assigned pages from the back end, it's all just pulling from a database. So it's all searches, basically. Right.

So, would one link be more impactful in terms of SEO than the other, using a dynamic retail site with on-site search appliance as an example:
A. A link to a page that shows white shirts that have been assigned to a category, which can then show up as individual sub menu items, etc.
B. A link to a search query calling for white shirts, the results for which for a person would display a nice layout, but I wasn't sure what a search engine 'saw' or read, and therefore associated with the search in terms of more keywords and links on the other side.

Or is there no difference.

Thanks!

[Jill]

Or I guess you are saying that for a dynamic site, if you click on a Category that has been assigned pages from the back end, it's all just pulling from a database. So it's all searches, basically. Right.

That's exactly what I'm saying. It's just a link and a resulting URL/page as far as a search engine is concerned.

[houndog]

That's exactly what I'm saying. It's just a link and a resulting URL/page as far as a search engine is concerned.

Thank you! That was kind of a 'duh' realization, as I went through this question process.