Google Requests No Funny Stuff With Dynamic URLs
Google’s Webmaster blog posted some dynamic URL advice that essentially says don’t try to make dynamic URLs look static.
“We might have problems crawling and ranking your dynamic URLs if you try to make your urls look static and in the process hide parameters which offer the Googlebot valuable information.”
Here’s a typical dynamic URL: example.com/list_items.php?category=34&color=red
And the same URL rewritten to appear static: example.com/list_items/34/red/
Rewriting is the process of telling the server to change a URL of a particular form to instead point to another real location. Developers use rewrites to make a URL look better (either to users or search engines), or to obscure the underlying technology a site uses.
Unlike in the past, Google says, crawlers are now able to deal with dynamic URLs. In fact, the post claims that non-static URLs that attempt to appear static cause problems when pages evolve to need different criteria–i.e., gaining or losing parameters.
Reading between the lines, Google wrote this post because some developers do not rewrite URLs accurately. As one commenter noted, that’s not fair to those who rewrite correctly:
“That is like saying people shouldn’t drive because if you do it wrong, you may cause an accident. Come on. Give people proper guidelines. Identify the parameters you guys trip on like session IDs and teach the uneducated how to best eliminate the problem.”
If you’re new to URL rewriting, you should probably be careful with advanced techniques. You can get started by using simple rewrites, which can make URLs short and guessable. There’s a classic A List Apart article about making everything a directory. And directories are a good way to think about rewrites. If your URL makes sense as a static content hierarchy, it’s a reasonable rewrite.
At least, that’s what I think. Do you use rewritten URLs? What do you think about Google’s rewriting guidelines?
