Google not able to index

Big problem with modxcms and Google!

According to this document http://www.google.com/intl/en/webmasters/guidelines.html Google say they are not indexing dynamic pages if they contain the parameter "id" in the URL.

If you run on Apache you can avoid this and your site can be indexed by Google just fine since you can alter the .htaccess and use mod_rewrite.

My website runs on a MS server and installing isapi_rewrite is not an option, so that means my entire site cannot be indexed by Google, only my homepage.

That’s a big problem!

There is actually a simple workaround. Turn on FURLS in your MODx config and set the prefix to

index.php?q=

and the suffix to blank. This will make the URLS work with FURL alias’s in the URL instead of ID’s.

this requires the use of .htaccess.

On a MS server you cannot use .htaccess to rewrite URL’s, so using the friendly URL’s is not an option.
The solution would have worked if I used a apache server.

This is quite easy to fix on a Windows Box just modify the error pages 404 & 405 to custom error pages and have them point to /index.php then in modx manager turn friendly URLS on.



Aaron.

That would be a solution, but my host provider doesnt allow those changes, I asked to get isapi_rewrite or something similar but they wouldnt offer it.

Unless changing the 404 is something I can do without involving my host provider, it’s no solution.

Regards

Kristian

Most hosts do this, I run a web hosting company and with our control panel we use one called Helm which allows custom error pages, I should imagine all control panels do this unless they have restricted your access rights within the control panel.

Initally I was going to purchase IIS Rewrite but found this trick did the job and helped saved some money

Let me know what cpanel you use and I might be able to find some info on how you change your 404 page.

Thanks

Aaron

Quote from: Mark at Mar 26, 2006, 01:09 PM

There is actually a simple workaround. Turn on FURLS in your MODx config and set the prefix to

index.php?q=

and the suffix to blank. This will make the URLS work with FURL alias’s in the URL instead of ID’s.

This does not require .htaccess.

Hi Mark, it works just like you said it would.
I just misunderstood you answer, I added the prefix index.php?q= and it works just fine

curious, if you have nothing set for furl the url becomes //domain.com/page
will this still be indexed in the search engines without a page ext

Quote from: bugsmi0 at Jun 12, 2006, 01:09 PM

curious, if you have nothing set for furl the url becomes //domain.com/page
will this still be indexed in the search engines without a page ext

Sure, why wouldn’t it be...? Whatever form your links are presented in on your pages is how they will be indexed.