Rewrite for SEO purposes - php to html

mryang · #1 (**permalink**) 08-20-2008, 12:28 PM

Hi,

Hope someone can help me achieve the following.

I have my dynamically generated pages using php - for example:

dvd-and-media.com/cartridges_purchase.php?Model=HP+Photo+Smart+P1115

And then I have written a piece of code to get the following, basically it replaces the 'cartridges_purchase.php?Model=' with 'Inkjet-Cartridges-' then it replaces the '+' signs in the rest of the URL with '-' and adds a html extension - so I then end up with the following URL

dvd-and-media.com/Inkjet-Cartridges-HP-Photo-Smart-P1115.html

However what I need to do is have google find the .html pages instead of the php ones and serve up the html ones when the users click though to my ink products.

I presume I need some sort of mod rewrite and some adjustment to my robots file - help please!

ronniethedodger · #2 (**permalink**) 08-20-2008, 01:42 PM

I don't think you will need any robots.txt file adjustments.

One thing you will need in your .htaccess file is a directive to process .html pages as PHP.

Code:

AddType application/x-httpd-php .html .htm

or

Code:

AddHandler application/x-php .html .htm

I always have problems with one not working, but the other will. Try them both.

As for the pages themselves, I have seen one method that works without any need for nasty mod rewriting. You will still need a Rewrite rule in your .htaccess -- I am not sure how the rewrite rule is constructed, but it is a simple RegExp. Sorry.

All you need is one php script, without the .php extension. You will add that page to your .htaccess AddType php handler too. Lets call the file 'products'

All the products script does is process the rest of the url following afterward. The script file is in your root domain (not a sub-directory, but looks like a directory in the Url)

Code:

http://domain.com/products/ink-jet-ribbons-and-printers.html

**incrediblehelp** · #3 (**permalink**) 08-20-2008, 03:27 PM

Why in the world do you wan to change the extensions of the pages? They dont matter at all as far as SEO is concerned.

jasbloger · #4 (**permalink**) 08-20-2008, 06:36 PM

have u seen the google crawler code? why are u so sure about this?

chowell · #5 (**permalink**) 08-20-2008, 08:01 PM

It sounds like you just need to setup the Mod_rewrite rules using .htaccess. Unfortunately, you'll need to use Regular Expressions to code the actual rewrites and this is Greek to me.

Be sure that in the rewrite directives that the dynamic URLs are 301'd to the .html versions and Google will index the .html pages without any problem.

mryang · #6 (**permalink**) 08-21-2008, 11:01 AM

Incredible, I am not just changing the extensions of the pages I am rewriting the name of the page so that it is product specific.

How do I write a rule to 301 from the dynamtic page to the static ones bearing in mind I am changing the characters and replacing bits and bobs.. help please.

chowell · #7 (**permalink**) 08-21-2008, 07:13 PM

Here's a good resource: 301 Redirect - 301 Permanent Redirect by Brian V. Bonini

Basically, after you create your Regular Expression to rewrite the dynamic URL as a static one (w/ the keywords in it), you append [R=301,L] to the end of it.

ronniethedodger · #8 (**permalink**) 08-22-2008, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasbloger

have u seen the google crawler code? why are u so sure about this?

IncredibleHelp is correct. Its does not matter what the extension of the page is for it to rank. Has no bearing, heck I have seen pages without extensions ranking well.

You do not need to know the 'google crawler code to prove this theory. Just do a search and glance through the different filetypes that come up in the results. You might be surprised.

jasbloger · #9 (**permalink**) 08-23-2008, 10:50 AM

there are hundreds things that matter for seo and there are no way to be sure of anything. This that google search for system, don't show system.com in first 100 results do not prove that having keyword.com domain doesnt help etc.

southplatte · #10 (**permalink**) 08-24-2008, 03:01 AM

To me it sounds as though he is trying to get rid of the URL parameters to clean it up for SEO purposes, rather than changing the names just to change them for the SEO aspect.

It is similar to wordpress - you can have it setup site.com/posts/post-title-goes-here instead of site.com/page.php?postid=184&this&that

And that is controlled use ModRewrite with apache if you are on a linux based box, and I have not a clue what the windows equivalent is for a url rewrite.