link to site SEO friendly, but URL once you get there is not - does that still help??

[codemv]

I was just reading an article by a reputable search engine optimization resource that gives instructions on using mod_rewrite to make search engine friendly links to ones website. For example, the new URL link would be website.com/keyword/keyword2/keyword3 instead of website.com/page.php?id=keyword&parameter=keyword2

I used this code in the .htaccess file of my site to test it out, and the new pretty links did go to the page, but once you got to the page on the website the URL in the address bar had reverted back to the website.com/ page.php?id=keyword&parameter=keyword2 etc... instead of the simplified link URL.

My question is, does this really help my search engine ranking? if the URL once the site loads has converted to the one with all the messy parameters being passed?

[williamc]

It is really not the url of the link pointing at you, as much as the anchor text of that link that counts as far as inbound links for ranking ability. I would not even concern myself over such trivialities.

[williamc]

Hello,

I do not think so, Infact I think that Google will treat it as spamming.

Why do you think that?

[codemv]

Thank you so much for the feedback, William and cyberdesignz. I am curious as well why google might think it is spamming.

[codemv]

at googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com they recommend not rewriting dynamic URL's at all. Here is the article. http://googlewebmastercentral.blogsp...atic-urls.html

[ronniethedodger]

at googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com they recommend not rewriting dynamic URL's at all. Here is the article. http://googlewebmastercentral.blogsp...atic-urls.html

There are some exceptions to the rule. They do suggest removing un-necessary parameters from the Url that does not have any meaning for the page such as session IDs, referral Urls, etc.

[MrPolarZero]

why is it considered as spamming? Maybe you're just having a few errors on the code you are using.

[wige]

First, if you are using mod_rewrite to change your site page URLs, and the address bar still shows the old URL, you are not doing it the best way. In this case, a redirect is occurring somewhere along the line, and this will cause some or all of your incoming pagerank to be lost. The rewrite should be implemented invisibly, so that the user viewing the page sees the same URL as is in the link. mod_rewrite has this capability, but I suspect you may have entered an option that is disabling this behind-the-scenes functionality. Can you post an example RedirectCond/RedirectRule set?

Second, Google recommends against rewriting URLs for SEO purposes because it is very easy for problems to occur in the rewriting process. If you are doing it to make a URL easier to remember, for example promotional pages that might be used in print ads or conventional media, that is one thing. But doing it sitewide just to eke out a .000001% change in rankings (estimated) may not be worth the time investment.