iframes

w00t · 3rd November 2005, 09:38 AM

What do search engines think about iframes? Do they index them?

**Peter Sinclair** · 3rd November 2005, 09:45 AM

I think they index them. I'm not too sure exactly how they are handled.

darrelld · 3rd November 2005, 11:43 AM

Search engines generally do not like frames / iframes.
Here are a couple of threads on the topic at other forums.
http://forum.mamboserver.com/archive...p/t-54465.html
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/10483-1-10.htm

**Mr. Tech** · 4th November 2005, 09:05 AM

From what I've read they will be indexed however, like the second link darrell gave, the iframe pages will be indexed independently.

So when someone searches in Google and it picks up your iframe, it will load the iframe and not the original page the iframe was placed on. Hopefully that makes sense.

What I suggest, if you HAVE to use iframes (otherwise you can use php, server side includes etc to include the files contents), you should put a link back to your home page within that iframe so that the visitor can navigate their way back to the main website.

Hope that helps.

etech-peter · 11th November 2005, 01:48 AM

IMO, When it comes to SEO, problems exist for an iframe site as well as for a framed site. The target pages are difficult to optimize.

The main reason to use frames, whether iframes or just frames, is to have a consistent navigation system from page to page. I think there is no real benefit to the visitors of a page. Using (i)frames makes things more difficult for your visitors in many ways.