SEO Friendly Page Names on IIS

[VUNETdotUS]

I have web pages in this format:
mysite.com/item/?id=1
mysite.com/item/?id=2
mysite.com/item/?id=3 etc.

I want to create SEO friendly page names without parameters like:
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-1
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-2
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-3

....which will point to the same URLs as above. What is the best
practice to implement it on IIS Windows Server? Is it error page
handler or should I create actual folders with a logic to grab correct
item? Please explain and advice.
Thanks.

 

[Adrienne Boswell]

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed VUNETdotUS <[email protected]>
writing in @s36g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

I have web pages in this format:
mysite.com/item/?id=1
mysite.com/item/?id=2
mysite.com/item/?id=3 etc.

I want to create SEO friendly page names without parameters like:
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-1
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-2
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-3

...which will point to the same URLs as above. What is the best
practice to implement it on IIS Windows Server? Is it error page
handler or should I create actual folders with a logic to grab correct
item? Please explain and advice.
Thanks.

I have found that querystrings don't bother Google very much, with the
possible exception of id=, and only then because the bot might think it
could be going into and endless loop. Therefore, I usually use
something else. I have seen many results in Google with querystrings.

One thing you can do, however, to be nice to the bots, is include
rel="nofollow" in links that the bot really doesn't need to index. For
example: example.com/pagename.asp?style=rose, where the links are only
going to different stylesheets on the same page. I also use
rel="nofollow" if I am linking to a large external site, like Yahoo, or
a site that might not be linking to me. That way I am not leaking links
and damaging page rank.

As for long URLs, more and more people are using browsers that
automatically take a long URL to tinyurl.com (Firefox and Opera both
have extensions that do that) or they are aware of the site.

I would say the most important thing for SEs is clean, semantic markup -
no presentational markup, no abuse of tables, CSS and javascript in
external files, etc.

 

[Dooza]

I have web pages in this format:
mysite.com/item/?id=1
mysite.com/item/?id=2
mysite.com/item/?id=3 etc.

I want to create SEO friendly page names without parameters like:
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-1
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-2
mysite.com/item/some-description-for-item-3

...which will point to the same URLs as above. What is the best
practice to implement it on IIS Windows Server? Is it error page
handler or should I create actual folders with a logic to grab correct
item? Please explain and advice.
Thanks.

Try something like this maybe: http://www.isapirewrite.com/

Steve

 

[VUNETdotUS]

Try something like this maybe:http://www.isapirewrite.com/

Steve

Why should I buy some product when it can be done for free in many
ways?

 

[VUNETdotUS]

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed VUNETdotUS <[email protected]>
writing in @s36g2000prg.googlegroups.com:






I have found that querystrings don't bother Google very much, with the
possible exception of id=, and only then because the bot might think it
could be going into and endless loop. Therefore, I usually use
something else. I have seen many results in Google with querystrings.

One thing you can do, however, to be nice to the bots, is include
rel="nofollow" in links that the bot really doesn't need to index. For
example: example.com/pagename.asp?style=rose, where the links are only
going to different stylesheets on the same page. I also use
rel="nofollow" if I am linking to a large external site, like Yahoo, or
a site that might not be linking to me. That way I am not leaking links
and damaging page rank.

As for long URLs, more and more people are using browsers that
automatically take a long URL to tinyurl.com (Firefox and Opera both
have extensions that do that) or they are aware of the site.

I would say the most important thing for SEs is clean, semantic markup -
no presentational markup, no abuse of tables, CSS and javascript in
external files, etc.

Thanks. Google does index my "id=" pages. However, I think I can
improve pages with custom folder names stuffed with keywords.
And... If I have outbound link, will it really hurt my site?

 

[Daniel Crichton]

VUNETdotUS wrote on Mon, 3 Dec 2007 07:39:15 -0800 (PST):

Why should I buy some product when it can be done for free in many ways?

That ISAPI Rewrite works very well, and saved me a lot of time - why
shouldn't the developer be rewarded for the time and effort he has put into
developing this? And if you look carefully, you'll see that there is a free
"lite" version. I bought the full version because I needed per-virtual site
handling for the multiple sites running on my servers.

If you can find a free solution, then use it. Have you got an examples of a
free way of doing this with IIS (other than creating individual redirections
manually)? I certainly didn't find any when I researched it some time ago
(other than the lite version of ISAPI Rewrite).

 

[Dooza]

Why should I buy some product when it can be done for free in many
ways?

There is a free version, it may do just the job with very little effort
on your part. Just offering an answer to your question.

Steve

 

[VUNETdotUS]

There is a free version, it may do just the job with very little effort
on your part. Just offering an answer to your question.

Steve

Oh, thanks. What if I host with 3-party hosting facilities? Does the
software require direct access to the server?
And still I would like to hear about no 3 party software alternatives.
Has anyone implemented?
I thought error 404 page can be configured to deal with content
display or I can create my custom folder with index.asp file to get
the correct page content via XMLHTTP request and show it, like:

.../item/some-description-for-item-1/index.asp ===> MS XML HTTP ===> ../
item/?id=1

 

[Mike Brind]

Oh, thanks. What if I host with 3-party hosting facilities? Does the
software require direct access to the server?
And still I would like to hear about no 3 party software alternatives.

Migrate to ASP.NET. With that, URL rewriting is a relatively simple
process, with zillions of don't-have-to-pay-a-penny free, gratis tutorials
and code samples all over the place.

 

[VUNETdotUS]

Migrate to ASP.NET. With that, URL rewriting is a relatively simple
process, with zillions of don't-have-to-pay-a-penny free, gratis tutorials
and code samples all over the place.

Can it be done with third party hosting? I do not access to IIS. Also,
I noticed a lot of C++ examples, can it be VB instead?
Thanks

 

[Mike Brind]

Can it be done with third party hosting? I do not access to IIS. Also,
I noticed a lot of C++ examples, can it be VB instead?
Thanks

It can be done in any .Net compliant language. And if the hosting compnay
offers ASP.NET support, it can be done without installing any extras. It's
done purely through making use of parts of the .Net base class library. Try
Googling url rewriting asp net vb. Also, go to www.asp.net and have a look
at the introductory tutorials and videos to get more of an understanding of
ASP.NET.

 

[Adrienne Boswell]

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed VUNETdotUS <[email protected]>
writing in @s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

Thanks. Google does index my "id=" pages. However, I think I can
improve pages with custom folder names stuffed with keywords.
And... If I have outbound link, will it really hurt my site?

Google and stuffing do not mix, as a matter of fact you could easily be
penalized. If you have relavent outbound links, it should not be a
problem. You want to avoid, however, anything that looks like it might
be a link farm.

Again, the best thing to do is to use clean, semantic markup and leave
the presentation to CSS. Don't use tables for layout, but don't get
divitis either. Use the right tool for the job, use heading markup
where appropriate, list markup for lists, etc.