Instructions for Robot

[seolearner]

Hi everyone,
Here is something that I want to ask. I am working on a website, firstly it was .php based, now the 'client' wants to convert it into html pages. What I have done is I have redirected .php to the html.
Now my question is will the robots access html code or the php code?! Will I have to apply <meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">, so that my php code is not accessed. But if I apply this meta tag then as per my knowledge, as I have redirected my php pages to html then robots won't be able to crawl the html version also. Am I right??
Please help me!!

[flood6]

First make sure you've removed all mention of the php pages from the site (including navigation, sitemaps, etc.). THen set up a 301 redirect from the old php pages to the new html pages.

This will give the site the best chance for a smooth transition. The spiders won't even read the old pages (you can and should remove them to a backup somewhere), they will just get the 301 and move on to the new pages. No need to worry about changing meta tags.

Good luck.

[cyanide]

Originally Posted by seolearner

What I have done is I have redirected .php to the html.

Why did you do that?
html can be read just fine in a .php page
You are wasting alot of time making these conversions.

[seolearner]

Originally Posted by cyanide

Why did you do that?
html can be read just fine in a .php page
You are wasting alot of time making these conversions.

Sorry for delay in replying........Actually net was down.
Now coming to the point..I had to do this as my client wanted me to convert the pages to html. I did that but am afraid that webcrawlers or spiders dont crawl the php page, though I have removed them from net/website.

[seolearner]

Originally Posted by flood6

First make sure you've removed all mention of the php pages from the site (including navigation, sitemaps, etc.). THen set up a 301 redirect from the old php pages to the new html pages.

This will give the site the best chance for a smooth transition. The spiders won't even read the old pages (you can and should remove them to a backup somewhere), they will just get the 301 and move on to the new pages. No need to worry about changing meta tags.

Good luck.

Thanks, for your kind advice. It has really relaxed me. But are you sure that I dont need to change any thing in the meta-tags!
And do i need to write in my robot.txt :- Disallow: /foldername, in which all my php files are placed.
I have did as you said

[flood6]

There is nothing for you to do with the meta tags in this case. Just remove the old pages to a backup folder somewhere so they can't be seen at all. The new pages should have standard meta tags optimizes for SEO, but should be oblivious to any redirection that is going on.

If you ran the 301 redirect from the old php pages to the new html pages and removed the old pages, then you're done. You can see the effect by trying to visit one of the old php pages with your browser, you're immediately redirected to the new page.

Next time, I'd remind your client that he's paying you to worry about his SEO so he doesn't have to. PHP pages get indexed just as easily and rank every bit as well as html. I can't remember the last time I built a static html page and all my sites are doing just fine.

[HansAKoch.com]

I understand why a client asked this of you.

Several client of mine asked the same.

Usually a common php page is a contact page where a form is at. If a client want to update an address or contact number they may have someone in house that only knows basic html.

Any other ideas why a client would want it changed?

[hphoto]

I am working on a website, firstly it was .php based, now the 'client' wants to convert it into html pages.

I suppose that the client understants that by changing the urls, from php extension to .html extension, he is going to lose the Google ranking for all those pages .

If the previous pages were dynamic php pages,
for example, categories.php?id=45, that he wants to be changed to categories45.html, then this is a good idea.

You can do this, very easily from .htaccess.
The line in the .htaccess file, for 301 redirect would be:


RewriteRule ^categories.php?id=([0-9]+) /categories$1.html [R=301]

Hope it helps,

[seolearner]

If the previous pages were dynamic php pages,
for example, categories.php?id=45, that he wants to be changed to categories45.html, then this is a good idea.

You can do this, very easily from .htaccess.
The line in the .htaccess file, for 301 redirect would be:

RewriteRule ^categories.php?id=([0-9]+) /categories$1.html [R=301]

Hope it helps

Thanks for your advice, but my question is till there.. do i really dont need to add the statement in my robot.txt:Disallow:/cgi-bin (This is where the .php files are located).
Eagerly waiting for reply.