Frames

Does anyone know if it's advisable to use frames on a website not necessarily targetted towards techno-freaks? I would like to include some but I hear they are not supported on all browsers. How much of a risk am I running by doing this - how much of my customer base would I be alienating?

 

Instead of frames use <!--#include file=yourfile.asp-->

 

what?

I'm really sure it doesn't work at all on some browsers, no matter how you try and get around it...

 

this may sound stupid (bear in mind im an ametuer) but what do search engines have against frames? I'm not sure why incorporating them into a website would affect SOE...:unsure:

 

since years all fear about frames and SE
i converted my site 1998 into frames site and never had any problems with SEs - its all a question of understanding SE (or better bots ) and HOW to submit frames sites.

for example:

left frame
main frame with content (right)
and may be top frame ..

each of the pages has regular links

with the left frame and top frame having
<base target="main">
"main" being the frame name as defined in the ONE frameset file you have for each folder ...

all left page ( frame ) links look like

<a href="freedom.htm">Freedom</a>

hence a regular link ANY and every SE understands
this link links to a page in the same folder.

same on top frame

the key to SEO is how you submit

of course you submit never the frameset file to SE !!
but the
- left
- main
- top - pages
ALL having regular direct links to various pages

EVERY bot can follow every such link from any of the a.m. 3 sample files - up to web designer to assure you have links on each page leading to several other pages + home + plus sub-portal + frameset ( or solve the problem with javascript if page ibelongs into frameset but is called as single page ..
such as

<Script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
<!--
if (top == self) self.location.href = "frames_index.html";
// -->
</script>

since the left frame contains links to ALL pages in same folder and beyond - it is one possibility to call that page
index.html in each folder
OR the first "main" page - that you could use/design as a sub-portal page with links ( contents page ) and brief introduction to ALL pages in same folder.

any of the 2 a.m. methods gives you 1 page called index.html
wihich will be found by those SE who want a URL with trailing /
to get the index page even of subfolders ...
that is the page you submit to those SE who allow only a few pages per domain to be submitted - its the entrance to a major subsection of your domain linking to all pages and folders above and below as well.
never submit frameset pages - they lack content and hence are poorly crawled and sometimes not at all depending on bot.

then such single main page for example would be embedded into the correct full fraemset if called top instead of frameset.

in the VERY beginning (1998) i had some problems with bots because i had wrong system and failed to understand.
how to proof if SEO friendly ?
if almost all ( about 90+%) pages are indexed by major SE then you have proof that bots can follow all links to find all pages you want them to find.

talking about bots and SEO
there are FAR more problems with varisu bots and JavaScript links AND with php links having ? in URL than frame pages ...

and browsers of THIS millenium can as far as i know ALL handle frames - that story of browsers NOT being able to show frames has its roots in LAST millenium !!! may be IE and NS 2 or 3 or so ... internet stoneage browser

even LYNX can handle framesets - i just tested NOW because i never use lynx for surfing
lynx is simple browser that does and sees pretty much exactly waht a bot does
text and tags and clean a href links and its a good test for bot compatibility regarding links
test once

lynx http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=29150#post29150
or
lynx http://www.kriyayoga.com/english/frames_index.html
and you see
both sites are SEO conform regarding all kind of links and finding all pages and reaching TO all pages of the entire domain
THATS is the key in link-SEO frame AND non-frame
from every page you must find the remainder of entire domain !

frame or non-frame - its only a question what you like ...
having the full content ( navigation bar ) on the left in a table on each page as in so many sites also is possible
but rduces relevancy of SE ( adsense for example ) as you carry on many keywords onto every page - thus "deluting" the actual content of each page. also it makes each page considerably larger and hence slower to load as compared to frame set where you load only the main - content page and the content page is new and fresh and different form all other pages and thus indexed more accurately as with all links on each page in a table on the left.

 

wow that's a lot of information to digest - I'll have to review it carefully...

thanks very much.

 

dont use frames...these r harmful for SEO

 

If your vistors like your frams it shoudn't matter. i don't think it will effect the se , as for the other thing op's these day got it all caculated. for that use.

 

Is not harmful, it's matter to know how to develop a framed site.

If you optimize your pages adding meta tags, content and links between the <noframes></noframes> or <iframe></iframe> there is nothing to care about.

As kirby says, if your visitors liket them and you find them handy frames are not problem.

Many of the biggest and well ranked site on the net use frames, i.e. Microsoft