3 replies to this topic

[designbug]

Hi there,

Someone just told me that search engines read url's that use the %20 or 20% (I forget which way it actually is) in database type sites better than they read urls like this:

pagename.php?item=1&catid=productname

Can anyone verify this or expound on it? I really didn't think it mattered between the two since neither one in my understanding is a "friendly" url.

Thanks much!

[Randy]

Someone just told me that search engines read url's that use the %20 or 20% (I forget which way it actually is) in database type sites better than they read urls like this:

%20 which is simply an encoded space.

Whoever told you that is feeding you a line of bs. Besides which spaces in filenames or paths are really bad form. They're not even allowed in a *nix/Apache environment, though servers try to fight their way through them since too many people use them.

To the search engines it's simply an encoded space, nothing more and nothing less.

[Otaku]

Yep, none of above is a good example of URL :-(
It's better to use some technique to make HRU (Human Readable URLs). Something like /category25 or /product798 or even just www.someshop.com/798. They're much easier to: a) index, bookmark, c) read, d) process. And you can always convert it (internally) into your lovely show_product.php?id=798
Webmasters generally use Apache web server's rewrite module (mod_rewrite) for that.

[MaKa]

Yep, none of above is a good example of URL :-(
It's better to use some technique to make HRU (Human Readable URLs). Something like /category25 or /product798 or even just www.someshop.com/798. They're much easier to: a) index, bookmark, c) read, d) process. And you can always convert it (internally) into your lovely show_product.php?id=798
Webmasters generally use Apache web server's rewrite module (mod_rewrite) for that.

I disagree with your a, b, and d.

There is no difference between: /product789 or show_product.php?id=798 for those three. I'd even say that HRU's make processing server side much more difficult. The only issue with parameters in URLs is if you have a large number of parameters or if the programmer didn't keep the order they appear in consistently. That is you get a link to page.html?a=1&b=1&c=1 on one page and page.html?a=1&c=1&b=1 on another page, basically showing the same page twice with two (or more) URLs. That's a slightly different matter as each page or resource should have one unique URL as it's locator.

Don't get me wrong, I do believe that HRU's can be helpfull (I use them on my own sites) but I wouldn't recommend to go changing an existing website if it is getting indexed, because it will mean search engines have to reindex your entire websites' content.

-just my 2 cents