Forum Moderators: coopster
I am about to take on a PHP package to build a new site. I was given info that most of the pages generated would look gribblish (rubbish).
www.abc.com/
I am however wanting my pages to have names like...aboutus.php, widgets.php and etc
This is also for Search Optimization purposes.
I heard that there is a componenet that can map pages generated to a specific name.
However if this is done, will the search engines really read it as aboutus.asp?
You can turn a URL like www.domain.com/default.php?var1=5&var2=2344532&var3=98334 into www.domain.com/5/2344532/98334 which looks much better. URL's like the long one can work just fine and rank well but if you can start off using this you are giving yourself a better chance. Also there is evidence that says people are more likely to link to a better looking URL than an ugly one.
pages made of php do not need to look rubbish, it depends on the developer and the way of programming. while a long time most developer tended to use query strings a lot (that's the part of an URL after the "filename"), these pages had problems being indexed. but there are other approaches without or less query strings. that's possible too and means no problems for coding. it's even better when it comes to search engine indexing.
while database driven pages often came with lots of querystring-stuff, some people tend to use mod_rewrite for virtual url-mapping a more se-friendly url into a "standard" one with query-string. that's what ogletree is writing about and often another very good solution. but this solution will not help you with the file name like "aboutus" or "contact", it's often only a way to have query values in the filename or path part instead of after the filename.
I am still not clear.
Does that mean mod_rewrite will be able to change something like www.domain.com/default.php?var1=5&var2=2344532&var3=98334 into something like www.domain.com/default.php (only).
Is it proven that search engines will be able to read it well and index well? That is my main concern?
Any disadvantages to mod_rewrite?
slower, complicated ...
www.domain.com/default.php?var1=5&var2=2344532&var3=98334
You would want to make it look something like
www.domain.com/5/2344532/98334/
That still look like crap but works great for SE's.
mod_rewrite does add some overhead and slows it down. It all depends on how busy your site is and how big your server is. Unless your a really really busy site I would not worry about it.
