Do databases get crawled

[Darkapple]

Hi all,

This might be a silly question I am building a site at the mo that has a mysql database that users can search and pull up info, my question is do google etc index databases.

For example if I have a site about dogs and all the info is in a database if someone searched for info on a particular type of dog would google ever pull up my info if I never hard coded a page about it.

Hope that makes sense


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[dariussutherland]

I couldn't tell you 100%

But you need a password and username and server name to log into a database to get this information.. I am sure this would be some kind of breach...

[Stevie D]

Google will only ever follow links or, at best, select items from a list. It won't type text into search boxes. If you can access a page by following links then Google can. Anything that requires users to log in or to type text into an input field is outside its reach.

[TheRaptor]

Search engine bots cannot perform actions such as searches, filling out forms, etc. So if all your info is in a database and it is not hard-coded into a page, and a search must be performed to find it; it will not get indexed. Bots need a URL structure to get around your site, so they'll crawl all the pages they have links to, and then leave. And if your content is hidden behind a wall (such as a search, login etc), there is no way for then to find it.

[Darkapple]

What if there is no login required for users and a link on the home page to show all, as I just wonder how forum topics get on to google

Thanks



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[Stevie D]

What if there is no login required for users and a link on the home page to show all, as I just wonder how forum topics get on to google

On most forums (like this one), you can get to the message pages without logging in and without typing anything in, just clicking on links. That's what Googlebot does best.

[Darkapple]

Got it, so if there is a link to a page it will get crawled.

If the pages information is pulled from a database will that get indexed, like the text for that page


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[TheRaptor]

If the information is pulled from the database and displayed on a page and the bot can find it through a link, it will get indexed.

[Darkapple]

Cool thanks I hoped it would be, I understand programming but seo I haven't a clue, guess I will have to read some books or tutorials


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