[cobalt-users] name based hosing and search engine spiders

[Dan Bakstad <dbakstad@xxxxxxx>]

We are converting our client's domains to a raq3, and plan on using a
combination of ip and name based hosting.  We are aware of the name based
limitations related to old browsers, ssl and anonymous ftp.  However, a
couple of sources have pointed out another potential problem, but have not
been able to give a definitive answer.

The issue is this:  Will all of the major search engines, of the spider
type, index sites which use name based hosting?  I think the issue is that
if the search engine spider is not HTTP/1.1 compliant, it cannot index the
site.  It was also mentioned that not being able to do a reverse lookup
could cause search engine problems.

Since search engine inclusion and keyword positioning is very important to
most of our clients, we would use ip addresses for each domain name if
necessary to avoid this problem.  The major "spider" engines we use submit
to are infoseek, alta vista, excite, hot bot, lycos, web crawler, aol
netfind, etc...

If anyone can shed any light on this issue through your experience, it
would be greatly appreciated.  Reponses from anyone having a problem with a
specific search engine, or confirmation that you have successfully been
registered in all, would be very helpful.

Thanks, Dan Bakstad