My site is, basically, a single index.php page with a bunch of php includes.

For example: the contact page is " index.php?category=contact "

Do I have to redisgn the entire site or is there a way to get the bots to recognize that each one is a seperate page?

My site is, basically, a single index.php page with a bunch of php includes.

For example: the contact page is " index.php?category=contact "

Do I have to redisgn the entire site or is there a way to get the bots to recognize that each one is a seperate page?

I agree with a redesign although it shouldn't be necessary if the pages have unique HEAD elements (Title, meta tags) and content. I have seen web sites perform well in php and I have seen them perform poorly. Much has to do with your coding, how error ridden it is ie: having two Title tags or multiple HTML tags. The main problems with PHP revolve around the search engine crawl.

You can stick with PHP and have success, but you must really know the condition of your web page coding. It's nice to automate things but at what expense.

ok, fair enough.

this is the general structure:


dbconnect
html
head
*dynamically created title*
*meta tags imported from DB depending on category selected*
script/css includes
end head
body
wrapper div
php include for menu
dynamically generated banner based on category selected
content div
php include for category content
end content
end container
php include for footer
end body
end html

Each "category" is a seperate php file(obviously without head, body, etc)

I assume it will be ok, but am a little unsure if it matters that its a single index.php file (will the 'bots' recognize each url with a distinct var as a seperate page?)

Thanks

Try it out. Looks OK from my perspective but you'll know how the search engine responds when it responds.

I still have yet to officially launch it. It currently sits in a sub-directory while I put some finishing touchs on it. Just wanted to be sure I wasn't hindeing SEO because of layout. The includes make the custom-made CMS so much easier, would hate to have to redesign it all :(

Thanks. I'll leave the post open a couple days to see if anyone has any first-hand insight with something similar.

Hey verbob!
Just wanted to ask if you have some updates on this thread. I'm really curious because I'm doing something similar and wondering what would the search engines 'say' to the php include, and as you've asked it already: will the bots recognize the content if it's an included file (without the <head> <body> etc., just the necessary tags)?

Thanks.. Bless up!

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