URL Rewrites 1

[audiopro]

The site in question is almost completely dynamic and links are created via a mapping system to open the individual links. There are many thousands of links which lead to perfectly formed pages created by a Perl script.

How much harm is being done to my SE listings by having query strings attached to my URLs?

How would I even start to create a URL rewrite file for all of these links? This would have to be dynamic as well as the site content changes frequently.


Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[darryncooke]

part of this is done via htaccess.

the other part is that you can build a sitemap of all the pages and submit and use that. generally information after the ? is ignored.

lets say for example you have a page product.php - this page can also be product.php?style=1 or product.php?style=2 or whatever. how are the search engines supposed to know all the iterations of product.php?

either you have to have them ALL linking of a page, or have a sitemap generally speaking. if the pages are already indexed then its not a problem. but general rule is that dynamically generated content pages, especially in what yours sounds like, should at least have a sitemap. the url rewrites arent that necessary but they DEFINETLY dont hurt.

Darryn Cooke

http://www.darryncooke.com

| The New Orange County Graphic designer and Marketing and Advertising Consultant

http://www.bloobie.com

| Marketing and Advertising blog

 

[ChrisHunt]

generally information after the ? is ignored.

That might have been true once upon a time, but it certainly isn't true now.

Query strings (the bit after the ?) commonly appear in the URLs of forum posts - like this one for example - and search engines clearly have no problem indexing them or ranking them prominently for relevant queries.

I don't believe your URLs are doing you any harm, but it's possible that a more human-friendly alternative would look better, and you might gain some slight advantage by including relevant keywords in them.

As to how you'd start doing it, that really depends on what kind of content you have and how it's being stored.


-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[audiopro]

The site is just a whole load of categorised items stored in a database and the links just open a full description page for each individual item. The query string contains other info such as codes and qty for basket contents and other navigation information.
I wonder how much notice non web savvy people take of the contents of the address bar. From my experience, they are too concerned with the page contents to worry about it.
All this was started when a client secured the services of an SEO company who are promising some web miracles. Some of the suggestions they came up with haven't worked so they are now asking us to change it again. The latest changes they are asking for will return things to the way they were before they got involved. They have convinced my client that they know what they are doing - they have still to convince me.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[darryncooke]

the only way the search engines know about pages with a ? in the query string is if they are linked to from somewhere. thats how this forum works. because there are links to the pages and the spider follows them.

if you have a random page index.php?id=you how will the spider know it exists unless it has some trail to follow.

but rewrites are not necessary but they do look nicer and are potentially helpful to remember.

Darryn Cooke

http://www.darryncooke.com

| The New Orange County Graphic designer and Marketing and Advertising Consultant

http://www.bloobie.com

| Marketing and Advertising blog

 

[ChrisHunt]

the only way the search engines know about pages with a ? in the query string is if they are linked to from somewhere

That's true of all pages, whether or not they have a ? - if it's not linked, it doesn't get in (though being in a sitemap may get you in too). That's a world away from "information after the ? is ignored".

In this case, since we're talking about a catalogue of items organised into categories, I'd consider storing a text name for each category in the database, and using it in URLs thus:

example.com?id=123 goes to example.com/gizmos/123
example.com?id=456 goes to example.com/gadgets/456

You can use mod_rewrite to get this working (make sure the old URLs 301 to the new ones). Also make sure that a useful page is served up at category pages like example.com/gizmos/ , as some users may use the URLs as a means of navigation.

The other thing I'd suggest, if your URLs are encumbered with "codes and qty for basket contents" and other stuff that will vary from user to user, is to include a <link rel="canonical"> to the plain URL for each page.

I wouldn't expect miracles from any of this though.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[audiopro]

Thanks Chris, at least I am on the right road as far as advising my client is concerned. When an expert comes along, as in the SEO company in question, I am quite prepared to shut up, listen and learn but when I start smelling the BS stuff, I feel I need to challenge the advice.



Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[ChrisHunt]

Well, I'm not an expert, I just read around and use my brain. That seems to keep me clear of most BS though!

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd