- May 10, 2012
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If you know basic coding then you know that php / htaccess code is executed server side and G can't see it. For example people who think blocking bots in htaccess is a footprint. To anyone that understands coding this is a ludicrous statement. G has shadowbots but they aren't sending shadow MJ12 bots, and they can't even see the code as htaccess is executed server side before G loads the page.
The same goes with PHP. If your plugins folder has an index.php file, and G visits the page, it's shown a blank page. They cannot tell what plugins you're running except by looking at the source code. That's why you:
A) Only use plugins that don't leave footprints in the source code of your blog.
B) Remove the source code from any that do if you want to use them. For example I have a modified Yoast plugin I made that removes all traces of anything to do with "Yoast," there is no indication in the source of my sites that I have this plugin installed. There is a 0% chance G would / could know.
I recommend every SEO learn at minimum the basics of PHP / etc. Teaching myself helped my SEO career immensely.
Alright, so what you said is, that plugins leave footprints and in order to avoid them, you need to either use plugins that don't leave crap in your source code or remove that crap from the source code.
And how exactly this doesn't fit with my original statement, that plugins can be a footprint then?