SEO Question

[Thor]

Hi,

If I hide extensions (.php .html .htm) via the .htaccess file will that have any affect on SEO, visibility, duplicate content etc etc?

Or am I safe to continue?

 

[chopsky]

Definitely safe to continue.
If setup correctly, /page.php should redirect to /page
Therefore no duplicate content & /page is the canonical URL.

 

[Thor]

Sweet thanks so much

 

[giggity]

It will only have a positive impact if you use user-friendly URLs. The extension doesn't matter too much from what I've experienced; but if the title of an article, for example, is "Telkom did something that people don't like", it's a good idea to have that in the URL, as MyBB does: "https://www.example.com/news/broadband/telkom-did-something-that-people-dont-like"

Note that the URL divides the content, declaring that it is news under the category "broadband". Where cutting out the extension really helps here is by creating a hierarchy. The actual URL that the GET request might look something like "https://www.example.com/news/broadband.php?p=420", but by routing the data, we get a clean, readable, understandable URL (and Google really prefers this).

Look into routing for best results.

 

[koeksGHT]

It will only have a positive impact if you use user-friendly URLs. The extension doesn't matter too much from what I've experienced; but if the title of an article, for example, is "Telkom did something that people don't like", it's a good idea to have that in the URL, as MyBB does: "https://www.example.com/news/broadband/telkom-did-something-that-people-dont-like"

Note that the URL divides the content, declaring that it is news under the category "broadband". Where cutting out the extension really helps here is by creating a hierarchy. The actual URL that the GET request might look something like "https://www.example.com/news/broadband.php?p=420", but by routing the data, we get a clean, readable, understandable URL (and Google really prefers this).

Look into routing for best results.

You will also notice the ID cause duplicate titles.

"https://www.example.com/news/broadband/523523-telkom-did-something-that-people-dont-like"

 

[giggity]

You will also notice the ID cause duplicate titles.

True. A better approach to this is to have the date in the URL. It's more readable than a number than means nothing to anything other than the site's software. Google likes up-to-date content, and if the URL is stating that it's recent, then it gets nudged up just a little bit.

 

[koeksGHT]

True. A better approach to this is to have the date in the URL. It's more readable than a number than means nothing to anything other than the site's software. Google likes up-to-date content, and if the URL is stating that it's recent, then it gets nudged up just a little bit.

eh, use structured data.

 

[Thor]

It will only have a positive impact if you use user-friendly URLs. The extension doesn't matter too much from what I've experienced; but if the title of an article, for example, is "Telkom did something that people don't like", it's a good idea to have that in the URL, as MyBB does: "https://www.example.com/news/broadband/telkom-did-something-that-people-dont-like"

Note that the URL divides the content, declaring that it is news under the category "broadband". Where cutting out the extension really helps here is by creating a hierarchy. The actual URL that the GET request might look something like "https://www.example.com/news/broadband.php?p=420", but by routing the data, we get a clean, readable, understandable URL (and Google really prefers this).

Look into routing for best results.

I was told human readable url makes no difference to Google "telkom did something" vs "?p=666" is the same thing

Hence why forums like phpbb and mybb.com doesnt bother with human readable urls.

Regarding me. And my use:

I just dont like the extentions so I want to make my sites:

/home
/about
/fag
/contact

Instead of:

/home.php
/about.php
Etc

And .htaccess seems the easier just wanted to check first if all is green lights.

 

[giggity]

But the forum URLs are human-readable: mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/827569-SEO-Question contains the name of this thread. It's a little messy but it's still there.

 

[Thor]

But the forum URLs are human-readable: mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/827569-SEO-Question contains the name of this thread. It's a little messy but it's still there.

I'm refering specifically to phpBB3 and mybb.com

 

[flippakitten]

I was told human readable url makes no difference to Google "telkom did something" vs "?p=666" is the same thing

If it doesn't make a difference to Google then at least it makes a difference to us humans.

SEO is about producing good content often.
If you stick with that principle as your base SEO then it will be really easy.