Will google still index a page if I use a $_SESSION variable?
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For a couple of pages on our site, I'm writing a widget that relies on what it displays on other pages to determine what it displays on the current page. Basically, the purpose is just to ensure there's no duplicate content. It's not individualized per user, just depended on what's being displayed elsewhere at the current given time.
My CTO will not allow me to save the data in the database or even a log file to keep a persisting state, so to accomplish this the only other way I can think of is set a $_SESSION variable and store the persisting state there. However, I'm realizing google's bot probably doesn't use cookies so I'm not sure if this will work.
Does anyone know if Google will still index the pages if what they're displaying relies on a session variable? If not, is there another way to store a persisting state across pages that doesn't use the db or log file that googlebot will understand?
seo php googlebot session
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
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Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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For a couple of pages on our site, I'm writing a widget that relies on what it displays on other pages to determine what it displays on the current page. Basically, the purpose is just to ensure there's no duplicate content. It's not individualized per user, just depended on what's being displayed elsewhere at the current given time.
My CTO will not allow me to save the data in the database or even a log file to keep a persisting state, so to accomplish this the only other way I can think of is set a $_SESSION variable and store the persisting state there. However, I'm realizing google's bot probably doesn't use cookies so I'm not sure if this will work.
Does anyone know if Google will still index the pages if what they're displaying relies on a session variable? If not, is there another way to store a persisting state across pages that doesn't use the db or log file that googlebot will understand?
seo php googlebot session
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
New contributor
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
As to "is there another way to store a persisting state without a db" - take a leaf out of ASP.Net WebForms book and take a look at "ViewState" - basically shoves all the state into an encrypted string in a form, and treats all page navigation as POST. Messy, but works.
– Moo
4 hours ago
@Moo does googlebot respect this? And how would I do that in PHP, all I can find is ASP.NET implementations.
– Mitchell Lewis
2 hours ago
add a comment |
For a couple of pages on our site, I'm writing a widget that relies on what it displays on other pages to determine what it displays on the current page. Basically, the purpose is just to ensure there's no duplicate content. It's not individualized per user, just depended on what's being displayed elsewhere at the current given time.
My CTO will not allow me to save the data in the database or even a log file to keep a persisting state, so to accomplish this the only other way I can think of is set a $_SESSION variable and store the persisting state there. However, I'm realizing google's bot probably doesn't use cookies so I'm not sure if this will work.
Does anyone know if Google will still index the pages if what they're displaying relies on a session variable? If not, is there another way to store a persisting state across pages that doesn't use the db or log file that googlebot will understand?
seo php googlebot session
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
New contributor
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
For a couple of pages on our site, I'm writing a widget that relies on what it displays on other pages to determine what it displays on the current page. Basically, the purpose is just to ensure there's no duplicate content. It's not individualized per user, just depended on what's being displayed elsewhere at the current given time.
My CTO will not allow me to save the data in the database or even a log file to keep a persisting state, so to accomplish this the only other way I can think of is set a $_SESSION variable and store the persisting state there. However, I'm realizing google's bot probably doesn't use cookies so I'm not sure if this will work.
Does anyone know if Google will still index the pages if what they're displaying relies on a session variable? If not, is there another way to store a persisting state across pages that doesn't use the db or log file that googlebot will understand?
seo php googlebot session
seo php googlebot session
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
New contributor
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
New contributor
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
New contributor
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
asked 8 hours ago
Mitchell LewisMitchell Lewis
111
111
New contributor
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
As to "is there another way to store a persisting state without a db" - take a leaf out of ASP.Net WebForms book and take a look at "ViewState" - basically shoves all the state into an encrypted string in a form, and treats all page navigation as POST. Messy, but works.
– Moo
4 hours ago
@Moo does googlebot respect this? And how would I do that in PHP, all I can find is ASP.NET implementations.
– Mitchell Lewis
2 hours ago
add a comment |
As to "is there another way to store a persisting state without a db" - take a leaf out of ASP.Net WebForms book and take a look at "ViewState" - basically shoves all the state into an encrypted string in a form, and treats all page navigation as POST. Messy, but works.
– Moo
4 hours ago
@Moo does googlebot respect this? And how would I do that in PHP, all I can find is ASP.NET implementations.
– Mitchell Lewis
2 hours ago
As to "is there another way to store a persisting state without a db" - take a leaf out of ASP.Net WebForms book and take a look at "ViewState" - basically shoves all the state into an encrypted string in a form, and treats all page navigation as POST. Messy, but works.
– Moo
4 hours ago
As to "is there another way to store a persisting state without a db" - take a leaf out of ASP.Net WebForms book and take a look at "ViewState" - basically shoves all the state into an encrypted string in a form, and treats all page navigation as POST. Messy, but works.
– Moo
4 hours ago
@Moo does googlebot respect this? And how would I do that in PHP, all I can find is ASP.NET implementations.
– Mitchell Lewis
2 hours ago
@Moo does googlebot respect this? And how would I do that in PHP, all I can find is ASP.NET implementations.
– Mitchell Lewis
2 hours ago
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
Back in September 2018 John Mueller from Google tweeted:
Also see:
Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-cookies-seo-26344.html
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that Google almost certainly
cannot index a page that requires cookies. He said if you want Google
to index the page, make sure to "remove the dependency" on cookies.
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
add a comment |
What do you do when a user visits the site for the first time? Presumably you calculate what needs to be displayed, display it, and "cache" something in the session (as you mention). Every Googlebot visit is like the user's first time visit (as @Simon mentions - the Googlebot does not use cookies, so no session data can persist).
So, assuming you do display this content to the user on their first visit then GoogleBot will also see this content, except that it will need to be calculated (which could be slow?) on every request.
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
Yes, but does this mean it treats every page as a first time user? The calculation cost is what it is, but if a user sees one page then sees the other page it needs to not have duplicate content so I need to know what was on the first page to ensure that. So according to John Mu a session variable wouldn't work, but would the google bot just not be able to index the page at all? I want to leave the code in so at least I can say I wrote the checks whether googlebot actually cares or not is fine by me as long as they can still index the page. Will storing a variable in session block indexing.?
– Mitchell Lewis
3 hours ago
add a comment |
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2 Answers
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active
oldest
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
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active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Back in September 2018 John Mueller from Google tweeted:
Also see:
Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-cookies-seo-26344.html
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that Google almost certainly
cannot index a page that requires cookies. He said if you want Google
to index the page, make sure to "remove the dependency" on cookies.
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
add a comment |
Back in September 2018 John Mueller from Google tweeted:
Also see:
Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-cookies-seo-26344.html
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that Google almost certainly
cannot index a page that requires cookies. He said if you want Google
to index the page, make sure to "remove the dependency" on cookies.
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
add a comment |
Back in September 2018 John Mueller from Google tweeted:
Also see:
Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-cookies-seo-26344.html
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that Google almost certainly
cannot index a page that requires cookies. He said if you want Google
to index the page, make sure to "remove the dependency" on cookies.
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
Back in September 2018 John Mueller from Google tweeted:
Also see:
Source: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-cookies-seo-26344.html
Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that Google almost certainly
cannot index a page that requires cookies. He said if you want Google
to index the page, make sure to "remove the dependency" on cookies.
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
answered 7 hours ago
Simon Hayter♦Simon Hayter
30.1k645101
30.1k645101
add a comment |
add a comment |
What do you do when a user visits the site for the first time? Presumably you calculate what needs to be displayed, display it, and "cache" something in the session (as you mention). Every Googlebot visit is like the user's first time visit (as @Simon mentions - the Googlebot does not use cookies, so no session data can persist).
So, assuming you do display this content to the user on their first visit then GoogleBot will also see this content, except that it will need to be calculated (which could be slow?) on every request.
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
Yes, but does this mean it treats every page as a first time user? The calculation cost is what it is, but if a user sees one page then sees the other page it needs to not have duplicate content so I need to know what was on the first page to ensure that. So according to John Mu a session variable wouldn't work, but would the google bot just not be able to index the page at all? I want to leave the code in so at least I can say I wrote the checks whether googlebot actually cares or not is fine by me as long as they can still index the page. Will storing a variable in session block indexing.?
– Mitchell Lewis
3 hours ago
add a comment |
What do you do when a user visits the site for the first time? Presumably you calculate what needs to be displayed, display it, and "cache" something in the session (as you mention). Every Googlebot visit is like the user's first time visit (as @Simon mentions - the Googlebot does not use cookies, so no session data can persist).
So, assuming you do display this content to the user on their first visit then GoogleBot will also see this content, except that it will need to be calculated (which could be slow?) on every request.
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
Yes, but does this mean it treats every page as a first time user? The calculation cost is what it is, but if a user sees one page then sees the other page it needs to not have duplicate content so I need to know what was on the first page to ensure that. So according to John Mu a session variable wouldn't work, but would the google bot just not be able to index the page at all? I want to leave the code in so at least I can say I wrote the checks whether googlebot actually cares or not is fine by me as long as they can still index the page. Will storing a variable in session block indexing.?
– Mitchell Lewis
3 hours ago
add a comment |
What do you do when a user visits the site for the first time? Presumably you calculate what needs to be displayed, display it, and "cache" something in the session (as you mention). Every Googlebot visit is like the user's first time visit (as @Simon mentions - the Googlebot does not use cookies, so no session data can persist).
So, assuming you do display this content to the user on their first visit then GoogleBot will also see this content, except that it will need to be calculated (which could be slow?) on every request.
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
What do you do when a user visits the site for the first time? Presumably you calculate what needs to be displayed, display it, and "cache" something in the session (as you mention). Every Googlebot visit is like the user's first time visit (as @Simon mentions - the Googlebot does not use cookies, so no session data can persist).
So, assuming you do display this content to the user on their first visit then GoogleBot will also see this content, except that it will need to be calculated (which could be slow?) on every request.
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
answered 6 hours ago
MrWhiteMrWhite
31.9k33367
31.9k33367
Yes, but does this mean it treats every page as a first time user? The calculation cost is what it is, but if a user sees one page then sees the other page it needs to not have duplicate content so I need to know what was on the first page to ensure that. So according to John Mu a session variable wouldn't work, but would the google bot just not be able to index the page at all? I want to leave the code in so at least I can say I wrote the checks whether googlebot actually cares or not is fine by me as long as they can still index the page. Will storing a variable in session block indexing.?
– Mitchell Lewis
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Yes, but does this mean it treats every page as a first time user? The calculation cost is what it is, but if a user sees one page then sees the other page it needs to not have duplicate content so I need to know what was on the first page to ensure that. So according to John Mu a session variable wouldn't work, but would the google bot just not be able to index the page at all? I want to leave the code in so at least I can say I wrote the checks whether googlebot actually cares or not is fine by me as long as they can still index the page. Will storing a variable in session block indexing.?
– Mitchell Lewis
3 hours ago
Yes, but does this mean it treats every page as a first time user? The calculation cost is what it is, but if a user sees one page then sees the other page it needs to not have duplicate content so I need to know what was on the first page to ensure that. So according to John Mu a session variable wouldn't work, but would the google bot just not be able to index the page at all? I want to leave the code in so at least I can say I wrote the checks whether googlebot actually cares or not is fine by me as long as they can still index the page. Will storing a variable in session block indexing.?
– Mitchell Lewis
3 hours ago
Yes, but does this mean it treats every page as a first time user? The calculation cost is what it is, but if a user sees one page then sees the other page it needs to not have duplicate content so I need to know what was on the first page to ensure that. So according to John Mu a session variable wouldn't work, but would the google bot just not be able to index the page at all? I want to leave the code in so at least I can say I wrote the checks whether googlebot actually cares or not is fine by me as long as they can still index the page. Will storing a variable in session block indexing.?
– Mitchell Lewis
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Mitchell Lewis is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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As to "is there another way to store a persisting state without a db" - take a leaf out of ASP.Net WebForms book and take a look at "ViewState" - basically shoves all the state into an encrypted string in a form, and treats all page navigation as POST. Messy, but works.
– Moo
4 hours ago
@Moo does googlebot respect this? And how would I do that in PHP, all I can find is ASP.NET implementations.
– Mitchell Lewis
2 hours ago