Static or Dynamic Pages?

**sitedesigner** · 07-03-2006, 11:15 PM

What is better for the search engines? a static html page or a dynamic php page?

**Hoang** · 07-03-2006, 11:19 PM

A static html page is better.

**sitedesigner** · 07-03-2006, 11:23 PM

Can you explain why?

**Hoang** · 07-03-2006, 11:34 PM

Dynamic pages are generated by users (filling out forms, doing polls, etc.) so search engines might not index it as quick as a static page because crawlers don't do those things. Crawlers also might ignore a link if there's too many question marks or certain variables in it so only part of the link will be indexed by the search engine.

I'll try and find some links explaining this more clearly.

Edit: Here are some links touching up on the issue more:
http://www.webconfs.com/dynamic-urls...-article-3.php
http://www.webconfs.com/seo-tutorial...namic-urls.php

**ForgottenCreature** · 07-03-2006, 11:42 PM

What about dynamic pages generated through data in a database? I don't know how the crawlers would know any different, especially if mod rewrite was in use.

**Hoang** · 07-03-2006, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForgottenCreature

What about dynamic pages generated through data in a database? I don't know how the crawlers would know any different, especially if mod rewrite was in use.

Those would be indexed similiar to static pages. I have a Joomla site that is SEO-optimized and all the dynamic URLs are generated into static URLs and they're getting indexed pretty well.

**sitedesigner** · 07-04-2006, 05:53 AM

I'm talking about an index page.

Is an index.php filled with variables and php code better? (for example.. grabs data from a database)

or an index.html that is static.

**Mike** · 07-04-2006, 06:11 AM

I have had much better luck with static URL's, and I have tested this on old and new websites.

**SEO Portal** · 07-04-2006, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew

I'm talking about an index page.

Is an index.php filled with variables and php code better? (for example.. grabs data from a database)

or an index.html that is static.

as long as you use modrewrite to rewrite the urls it doesn't matter.

but avoid urls with lots of variables in it, since google is having trouble indexing those..

**imported_tom_h** · 07-04-2006, 12:43 PM

All search engines won't make any distinction between what serverside technology is used (maybe MS ranks .aspx pages better ;p). Its all about the URL's. You will have a better chance of ranking with easy urls without weird ID's which are also memorable for the user.

**imported_htmlmaster** · 07-04-2006, 01:03 PM

Search Engines would probably perfer a static page, but as long as you have static content, your users and spiders can be happy.

**SEO Portal** · 07-04-2006, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tom_h

All search engines won't make any distinction between what serverside technology is used (maybe MS ranks .aspx pages better ;p). Its all about the URL's. You will have a better chance of ranking with easy urls without weird ID's which are also memorable for the user.

exactly.. i don't get everyone here saying that Search Engines like statics pages better... why would they?

**imported_tom_h** · 07-04-2006, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by htmlmaster

Search Engines would probably perfer a static page, but as long as you have static content, your users and spiders can be happy.

It looks like some of you have trouble with the "static" and "dynamic" terminology.

Static content is content which is delivered straight from the hard drive thru a webserver to a user. There is no interaction from some serverside parser like php.

Dynamic content is content which is first parsed by some serverside processor and then gets served to a user.

What you all actually mean is wether or not search engines prefer query strings in an url. (subdomain.domain.tld/path?querystring)

**imported_mattd** · 07-04-2006, 05:55 PM

Note that depending on how you code your php etc, you can avoid the querystring problem.

If you use HTTP POST instead of HTTP GET, all that is hidden away and not present in the URL.

From my experience, its best to sort out your site using modrewrite so that instead of having "http://mysite.co.uk/page.php?id=45367" you have something like "http://mysite.co.uk/catagory/pagename". Not only is better for users wanting to share the URL, but you can put a load of keywords in the URL too, which always helps.

**Mike** · 07-04-2006, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SEO Portal

exactly.. i don't get everyone here saying that Search Engines like statics pages better... why would they?

Cant tell you why, but after switching via a URL rewrite I got much better traffic, as well as having many more entry pages from search engines. This was the case on both of my existing websites that I tried this on, and as a result my last site was started off with it from the beginning.

I am not going to concern myself with why. It has helped me greatly and I would rather just go with it, than question it.