Rewritten Vs Query String URL’s
This section of the SEO Manual covers the topic of Rewritten URL’s against Query String URL’s. There are a number of advantages of using rewritten URL’s instead of query string URLs.
Advantages of Rewritten URL’s
If as a user of a website you find a product you want to buy you would usually compare the prices of it against another website and opt for the cheapest option. Whilst visiting a number of websites you spot for example a TV you want for £399 at ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?brand=5productnum=8‘. You then leave that website and find the same TV everywhere else for £499; £100 more expensive than the one you saw earlier. You now try and find the website you previously saw the TV on for £399 but in your history you see a list of 300+ websites and none of them have the TV brand or model name in the URL; you can’t find it.
Having a rewrite on the URL would change ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?brand=5productnum=8‘ to ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv/sony-bravia‘. This is a thousand times better for human users and search engines alike. A human understands that the URL is going to take them to a web page with a Sony Bravia TV on it - whereas previously they had no idea where to go. Search engines also benefit from rewrites due to the ability of adding keywords into the URL; which many SEO experts, including ourselves believe to have an impact on improving rankings within the SERP’s.
Disadvantages of Query Strings
Query strings are useful due to the fact that information can be dynamically generated on the fly by the press of a button. This causes some potential security, and duplicate content issues.
First off, the URL ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?brand=5productnum=8‘ can also be written - ‘www.cheaptvs.com/tv?productnum=8brand=5‘ which generates the exact same page as the one before it. This now means that there are two instances of the same web page creating duplicate content; which as we all know is frowned upon by the search engines and could get you penalised.
The next disadvantage, which can be eradicated by rewritten URL’s is the fact that they are useless to humans and search engines. A query string is anything but easy to read and informative and creates a ‘dirty’ looking URL.
Summary
Using a rewrite wherever possible is best practice - enabling humans and search engines to easily decipher what the web page that is directed to is about. Rewriting an entire web site which has been built without rewrites in mind can be a lengthy and complicated process, but is well worth the effort.
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Excellent article and thank you for taking time to share it with the world.
I do have a question about site structure for ecommerce sites and hope you can comment on it on this blog/site.
I have read from some sites that it’s a good idea to have one static page for each product you carry to increase your page rank. basically, the idea is more content and the larger the site, the better.
Is that true? or is it better to use URL rewrite and have one page (such as ProductDetail.asp/aspx/jsp) that loads each product in any category? The productdetail page would obviously render content that is specific to each product (title, description, image, etc).
Thanks.
Comment by maxSEO — November 13, 2008 @ 4:03 am