PHPSESSID and seo

[softstor]

I have a website that I am adding mod_rewrite to. But the first time the site is loaded it adds the ?PHPSESSID= to the html file.

The site seems to work correctly, but will having this session id be a disadvantage when my site os spidered?

[sarahk]

Google's guidelines state that the won't index anything with an id or session id.

Not being indexed is a disadvantage ;)

[softstor]

I read on another forum that google drops the session id when spidered.

[dilligaf]

If you go to the PHPBB site there's a line of code you can add to the header file that removes the session ID's for GBot. It's in the knowledge base section of their site.

[Leoweb]

you must remove the phpsessid because google dont like it, try to read same documentation for the mod rewrite, its possible to remove the session id

[seomike]

If you have access to the php.ini file on the server root there is a variable in there that blocks the session id from showing up in the url.

session.use_only_cookies = 1 // enables no url session id passing

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php#ini.session.use-only-cookies

if you don't have access to the .ini file you can alway see if the ini_set() function is enabled with your host. You can use that to change it by just running a script :p

[softstor]

I added this to my .htaccess file. Was this correct to do?

<IfModule mod_php4.c>
php_value session.use_trans_sid 0
</IfModule>

[seomike]

I saw that posted here too.

That should do the same thing ;) Best way to test it is clear you session and head to the site.