index page - changing from static to dynamic

index page changing static dynamic

[roodle]

Hi,

I'm in the process of revamping a website which previously had a static index page but which will now have a dynamic one (index.aspx). Will this change be automatically picked up by Google? (I presume it will, but I'd like a second opinion!).

Regards.

[goodroi]

Make sure you do not have any links that are still pointing to index.html. If you do, you should redirect it to your new page.

[arrowman]

Change the server-side mechanism, not the URL, and you're fine.

[roodle]

arrowman, can you explain briefly what you mean?

[sublime1]

Roodle --

You can set up your web server to make your new dynamic page look exactly the same as your old static page. There's nothing really magic about file names or extensions like .html and .aspx on the web; you just configure your web server to do whatever the right thing is for your site.

I recall that IIS (I assume this is your server?) has a tool for configuring what pages should be treated as the default for a given site (or directory). It may be the case that the example you noted is already set up. I am sure there's a forum here for details of server configuration for whatever your web server is.

Several other thoughts on home pages:
* if someone types in www.yoursite.com the resulting URL in their browser should be "http://www.yoursite.com/" and not "http://www.yoursite.com/index.html" and also not
"http://www.yoursite.com/default.aspx".
* Likewise, anyone typing or clicking anything like www.yoursite.com/index.html or www.yoursite.com/default.aspx should get an HTTP 301 "Moved Permanently" response from your web server that will send them to "http://www.yoursite.com/" -- browsers and search engines both know what to do when they get this response back.
* Don't forget to make sure your DNS is set up to resolve "yoursite.com" to the same address as "www.yoursite.com" and make sure that anyone typing "http://yoursite.com" gets a 301 redirected to "http://www.yoursite.com/"
* And as a safeguard, make sure you always reference your homepage as "http://www.yoursite.com/"

[roodle]

Thanks for the tips sublime1. I'll have to check on some of those.

Thanks all for your comments.