Pound Signs (#) In URL

Feb 1, 2006 - 9:43 am 14 by

Every now and then I like to write about a basic SEO thread and here is one named How Google read ULR with "#" at WebmasterWorld.

The member asks this question because of all the duplicate content issues people have these days.

There are about two ways to have URLs with the # (anchors) in them, that I can think of right now.

The basic method is deployed here on some individual archive entries. Kim Krause posted an entry here the other day at https://www.seroundtable.com/archives/003204.html but you can also get to this entry by going to https://www.seroundtable.com/archives/003204.html#more. The latter URL anchors you down to a place in the source code that looks like

<a name="more"></a>

Same page, same source code, and same URL as above. It is fairly easy for a search engine to assume that they can strip off the # and anything after the # from the URL.

The second type of URL is found a lot in dynamically driven sites, including many forums. I often link directly to a post that way. For example, in my coverage of Expanded Broad Match Hurting AdWords Advertisers I link to a thread at http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=9817 but I also link within that thread directly to a members post at http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?p=72232#post72232. Two URLs, same content on the page, same source code, duplicate content. Stripping off the # and whatever is after the # doesn't help with the duplicate content issue. I assume built into these forums are methods to tell the search engines not to index that URL but the primary thread URL, but I didn't look.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google News

Google Won't Be Broken Up In Monopoly Case But Required To Share Search Data

Sep 2, 2025 - 5:50 pm
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: September 2, 2025

Sep 2, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

September 2025 Google Webmaster Report

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

New Google Ads Checkboxes To Filter Campaigns

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads AI Max Not Designed To Go More Aggressively After SPN Inventory

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Search Google Maps For Location Assets

Sep 2, 2025 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: YPN Bans Threads Begin to Hit Forums