Pages with mod re-write not fully indexed

[Stu_Rogers]

I have a business directory site which is basically just a MySql database and a single php template page.

About 6 months ago I implemented an Apache mod re-write rule in my htaccess in an attempt to increase my search engine ranking.

The site still works fine, for example,

"page.php?business=greens"

is now just

"/greens.html"

But Google has stopped fully indexing the pages. It lists all the pages, but just has the blue title and not the black description and green url.

(the site was fully indexed before making this change)

I have tried searching for an explanation but everyone says url rewriting is good for SEO?

Anyone here come across this problem before and can offer any suggestions as to where I am going wrong?

[abates]

Is page.php?business=greens still returning a 200 status, or is it returning a 301 redirect to /greens.html?

[Stu_Rogers]

Yes, both variants are returning HTTP/1.1 200 OK

[theBear]

Stu_Rogers,

If both variants are returning 200 you are likely duplicating content.

[abates]

Yeah, you should totally 301 the old URLs to the new ones. Duplicating content is bad for indexing.

[mycutegoddess]

What about of in case of we have fully rewrite overalll URLs of our page,make internal sturcture by using rewrited URLs wholly, and not be linked by other sites. that's mean non rewrited URLs (old one) are invisible URLs now. Will googlebot still be able to crawl it?

[abates]

If there were never any links to the non-rewritten URLs and Google doesn't know about them (if I'm interpreting your post correctly) then it isn't a problem. It's only a problem when the original non-rewritten URLs were previously indexed by Google.

[jd01]

Yes, both variants are returning HTTP/1.1 200 OK

You have a tough situation with a few of glaring issues:

1. You *have* duplicated your content.

2. You now have a site that is 50% new (and a duplicate of the original).

3. If you remove the old URLs you will have a site that is 100% new.

4. If you redirect all your dynamic pages to static URLs you will have a site that is 100% new and every link pointing to it will be pointing through a redirect.

5. If you just remove the new, static version, you have cut your site in half. (Might be the best option, but to get out of the situation you may have to make a decision and just wait.)

If you are set on static URLs I would highly recommend asking those who link to any of your old pages to change the links to point to the new pages, and 301 the dynamic pages to the new static pages. (301-ing dynamic pages to static, when you still need to access the dynamic pages for the content can range from complicated to very complicated depending on URL structure and number of dynamic parameters you need to make your pages work.)

Either way I think the best advice is to make a decision on which version you are going to use, then go about your business of building the site and wait for things to recover.

I know this is not much of a short-term solution, but with all the recent posting on pages losing rank/indexing when only an extention is changed (EG /yourdir/some-page.php to /yourdir/some-page.html) I am not sure there is too much you can do short-term, except make sure you only have one copy of any single page.

After you decide, I highly recommend you write a very nice re-inclusion request explaining the situation and see if you can get back in that way.

Justin

Edited: Clarity