Does google "see through" php/asp redirects?

[adriandg]

A lot of the time I see companies employing a technique like this:

<a target="_blank" href="/external/wcpages/referral.aspx?URL=http%253a%252f%252fwww.xxxx.ca&ReferralType=W&ProfileID=22&ListingID=96&CategoryID=219">xxxxxa>

Or similarly with php.  In an attempt to log all the clicks that exit their site from certain locations.

When google bot comes along and crawls this page, does it still understand that this page links to www.xxxx.ca?

[KaneJamison]

That depends. The specific example that you gave is hard for me to tell, because I can't see the code used in referral.aspx, so I have to assume it could be a couple types of redirects.

Whenever I am uncertain about what type of redirect is being used, I right click on it and copy the link, and paste it into WhereGoes.com, which is an awesome and simple tool that will tell you what type of redirect you're dealing with.

BTW, if it shows nothing, then it's some kind of redirect that probably won't be crawlable by a spider.

[KeriMorgret]

WhereGoes is a new tool for me, and friendlier than some of the other tools I was using. Thanks for this!

[adriandg]

Nice tool! thanks!

So what is generally considered crawlable in this case then? just 301s and 302s?

Conversely, would it be possible to hide a link by making it not crawl able? this isn't my intent, I just want to make sure I don't get jacked when acquiring new links.

[KaneJamison]

I can't recall the full range of codes that they will show, but if they can track the redirect process and deliver a code in WhereGoes.com, then I think most of the time Google will be able to follow it as well.

301 is the only code that indicates you're getting full link value, but last I heard Google used 302 redirects for indexation (2006 post so might be dated), but Bing might not.

[adriandg]

Came back here to ask you another question but you already answered it! awesome! thanks man!