When SEO pages do you keep the same filename or have a fresh one?

[wrreisen]

Hi,

I have been to Wordtracker to pick out a range of workable keyphrases. I am about to go through this 30 page site and reformating removing framed pages replacing them with static pages based on dreamweaver templates, stripping out unnecessary html reducing image sizes and filling them each with keyword rich text that wasn't present before.

Are there any advantages to keeping the same filenames for these optimised pages or changing them? Or does it not matter?

Thanks.

[storevalley]

Depends on whether those pages get a useful amount of traffic. If they do, either use the same file names or redirect visitors to their replacements.

[XtendScott]

If they were in a frame, it is possible they were not indexed. Check allinurl:www.site.com to find what pages are indexed by google. If the page names are relevant to product or information keep the name. I don't believe for SEO purposes the file name is significant but for following log files or stats it is easier to track if they are similar to key words targeted for page.

If the pages are indexed, you may want to keep the name if they are generating traffic as "entry page"(look in site stats).

Good Luck.

[buckworks]

The one thing to consider besides the logic of the site's own organization would be whether any external sites are linking to any of the URLs you're thinking of changing.