PHP versus HTML 4

[lastdonuk]

This may seem a strange question and, to be honest, as a web developer I'm a little embarrassed to be asking...however, I am being asked to justify the use of HTML pages over PHP in relation to PageRank in Google.

A third party has suggested that PHP pages will receive a higher PageRank as the SE spiders prefer to search PHP-based pages.

My instinct and knowledge of websites tells me that ALL pages are HTML based anyway, whether the extension is .PHP, .HTM, .ASP, .JSP, etc...but feel like I'm losing my mind as I have to explain this to "laymen".

If you have any comments on this argument, believe me, I'll be extremely grateful!

Thanks

lastdonuk
Health-on-Line

 

[BabyJeffy]

I've been a web developer professionally since 1998 -- and have been teaching and developing using HTML since 1993. I'm not an SEO specialist.

My instincts follow yours entirely.

It doesn't matter if it's cfm, php, asp or htm... it's all HTML at the backend and I can't see any reason why you should rank differently based merely on the extension used.

I would get the third party to provide you with concrete specifics and details of their reference.

Cheers,
Jeff

[tt]Jeff's Page @ Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/blog/

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What is Javascript? FAQ216-6094

 

[lastdonuk]

Thanks BabyJeffy,

It's good to have someone back you up...it seems such a strange argument to me. You've got a star, cheers - hope I can help you out one day although I've only been doing this since 2003...

lastdonuk
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[ChrisHunt]

A third party has suggested that PHP pages will receive a higher PageRank as the SE spiders prefer to search PHP-based pages.

That's just plain nonsense. PR is a measure of the number and quality of pages which link to you. The language which any of the linked or linking pages is written in is immaterial.

Ask your third party how would it improve Google's index to favour one file type over another?



-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[Foamcow]

The "third party" should be kicked in the knackers and sent back to work in Tescos (no offence intended to anyone working in Tescos!)".

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Buy Languedoc wines in the UK

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Netto or Lidl, surely?



[tt]Dan's Page [blue]@[/blue] Code Couch

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[TamedTech]

lol ... Lydl for sure!

I agree with you chapps that the PHP extension wont make any differeence .... HOWEVER!

My understanding (which is limited) is that SE love fresh and regularly updated, relevant site content.

If you're running a dynamic site powered by somthing like CF or PHP then keeping that content relevant and up to date is a breeze by comparison to cracking open static html all the time.

but are we talking about genuinly static HTML or is this a dynamic site that is having its files re-hashed by a script into HTML?

Like you guys say, regardless of your "server side" language, by the time it arives on the "client side" everything is HTML based for the browser anyways, so i'd imagine thats how the bots will be reading it.

Rob

 

[ChrisHirst]

Not even fresh content is really important. This minor myth comes about because very often a brand new or changed page may rank highly for a short time when first indexed. They soon drop back though.
There are untold thousands of pages that have not been updated in years and still stay at the top.

To see what SE indexers see, just do a view source on any served page.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[lastdonuk]

Guys - you've all helped me more than you can know - cheers. And gave me a good laugh too!

Your experienced voices have backed up my argument no end, it's just so frustrating having to justify "why" at the whim of a self-proclaimed SEO "expert" - but I'm sure I'm not the first...

Thanks again all

Rob

lastdonuk
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[feherke]

Hi

Just small points, may help you to argue against that "expert".

Look at Webmaster World. All pages have htm extensions. Hopefully neighter that "expert" will thinks that those are static HTML documents.

http://www.webmasterworld.com/

And blogs have dynamic content, they change frequently. But that could be achieved with static HTML documents too, for example by using NanoBlogger.

http://nanoblogger.sourceforge.net/

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[lastdonuk]

Thanks very much, Feherke - I'll check those links.

Rob

lastdonuk
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[TamedTech]

There are plenty of pieces of code that'll run through your queries and output them as an HTML document.

This is done to speed up the process for the user, that way they arnt have to wait for a query return on every page, they simply view a standard HTML doc.

The other benefit to that it cuts down on the processor consumption on your server.

The only downside is that your data being displayed in real-time.

But this wouldnt have any advantages as far as SEO is concerned.

Rob

 

[Foamcow]

May I suggest that the "SEO Expert" has got his wires crossed somewhere.

I have heard it said that spiders have problems with dynamic pages with more than 3 URL parameters. It is said that they choke past this magic "3 parameter" limit and consequently, if we assume the parameters are there to induce particular content on the page, they don't see the page as being "new" or different to another they may have already crawled.

I'm not sure of the validity of this comment as if you consider the fact that an straight HTML page may have changing content but keep the same filename then the theory kind of falls apart.

It is common practice, especially among Blog software, ecommerce sites etc to dynamically generate the pages but then use a URL rewrite method such as an .htaccess file to present the page with an .html extension and a simplified filename.

I've never heard the argument reversed in the way your "expert" has done.



Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
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[BB101]

I've noticed the opposite, HTML pages being higher ranked than PHP (or other scripts) ones. I think this has to do with the If-Modified-Since header. HTML pages will automagically send this header, where PHP will always say this is a brand new page.

--BB