iframes

[w00t]

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

[Peter Sinclair]

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

[darrelld]

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]

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]

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.