URL change extension to .php from .htm
-
I am looking at changing the platform of an established (7 years) site to PHP based.
Currently most of the URLs have the file extension .htm (“x.com/filename.htm” ) with some URLs being indexed as directory URLs (“x.com/directory/” feeding from “x.com/directory/index.htm”)
So I am considering two options
-
A. Changing just file extensions & create 301 redirects, (x.com/samefilename.htm” -> “x.com/samefilename.php”) and for directory URLs (“x.com/samedirectory/index.htm” -> “x.com/samedirectory/index.php”)
-
B. At the same time taking the opportunity to change the file hierarchy to be more user / seo friendly by changing all URLs to directory URLs – this would be a more extensive redirect than just changing the file extension.
I am interested in what risks / impact would there be of this and the questions I would like some help with are:
- Are there any short term risks to rankings with a filename extension change like this?
- Should an exercise like this be staggered or is it ok to carry out the site-wide change in one go?
- Does a more extensive filename and structure redirect like in option B above introduce more risk than just changing to the .php extension or would the search engines consider this the same?
- For the directory URLs do I even need a 301 redirect after changing index.htm to index.php or will the Search engines not even recognise a change (indexed URL will remain the same)?
Your opinions on the above questions and any other advice / experience you can share would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Adrian.
-
-
Istvan makes a number of good points and Matt Cutts has certainly alluded to a loss of some link juice when using 301's, although Google's official line is that there is no loss. I'd not seen the 15% number before, which is certainly high enough to be discernible above the 'noise'.
I support his contention that, in terms of getting existing inbound links repointed, it's best to focus on the few high value links and then look for new links driven by quality content. This has the double benefit of cleansing some of the now-devalued link types, whilst appealing to Google's measurable preference for 'fresh' links.
-
Hi Adrian,
with a 301 you lose aprox 15% of link juice (don't remember who gave that exact number, but i still have that in my mind
)
So basically if you can change the links that you have control of, it will help. with other links... try to focus more on gaining new link partnerships. the 301 will lose some of the link juice, but new partners will push the link diversity and will help you more.
I hope it helped and good luck ;-),
Istvan
-
Thanks Istvan and Alan for the responses.
On the subject of incoming links - I can change internal links and inbound links from other sites I control however the vast majority of links will still point to the old page location so my follow up question is just how serious is this link juice loss due to the 301 and is this a serious enough reason to not do the change and keep the locations as they are now?
-
Thank you Alan
-
Istvan is give a good answer, i would add one thing, make sure all your internal links point to the new urls, dont rely on the 301, as as Istvan stated, they will leak a little link juice.
-
Hi Adrian,
We had a similar problem not as long ago (changing the website extension from .html to .aspx). What we have experienced is, that the website traffic and rankings went down for aprox. 1-2 week, then it came back up without any problem.
I would suggest to go for all change at one time instead of going with partial rewrite, then again some partial rewrite. (Before you put it alive, test all your links! check for broken links and make sure the redirects are right)
After the website deploy you should resubmit a new sitemap in GWT.
The 301 should be done, so after resubmitting your sitemap in GWT you will not face any duplicate content issue.
The negative part: you will lose some of the link juice thanks to the 301. If you have the possibility contact the webmasters who are already linking to your website and ask them kindly to resolve the URL issue (at least for the highest authority links you have gained in time).
I hope that helped,
Istvan
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What to do with existing URL when replatforming and new URL is the same?
We are changing CMS from WordPress to Uberflip. If there is a URL that remains the same I believe we should not create a redirect. However, what happens to the old page? Should it be deleted?
Technical SEO | | maland0 -
Old url is still indexed
A couple of months ago we requested a change of address in Search console. The new, correct url is already indexed. Yet when we search the old url (with site:www.) we find that the old url is still indexed. in Google Webmaster Tools the amount of indexed pages is reduced to 1. Is there another way to remove old urls?
Technical SEO | | conversal0 -
Home page URL
Hi, I work on this site: http://www.towerhousetraining.co.uk/about-us. This is the home page URL. Should this be 301'd to: http://www.towerhousetraining.co.uk? I have created a site map, which I submitted to Google Webmaster Tools, which includes these URL's: /about-us, /training-we-offer & /contact-us. There are a total of 3 pages on the website. Webmaster tools has only indexed 2 out of 3 pages. I think this is something to do with the /about-us URL, as when I do a site: search, these pages appear: www.towerhousetraining.co.uk/, /training-we-offer & /contact-us. I am not sure why Google has indexed the home page as www.towerhousetraining.co.uk/ and not /about-us? Is it a bad idea in general not to have your homepage as your root domain? I added a to the homepage, but am wondering if this was the right thing to do? Any help would be appreciated.
Technical SEO | | CWseo0 -
What is your opinion on ideal url structure?
Which url structure do you think is better... website.com/CO/denver/555-your-address-way-denver-co-55678/98347578 or website.com/classifying-keyword/555_your_address_way-denver_colorado-55678-98347578 orrr website.com/classifying-keyword/555-your-address-way-denver-colorado-55678-98347578
Technical SEO | | jessefriedman0 -
Can you 404 any forms of URL?
Hi seomozzers, <colgroup><col width="548"></colgroup>
Technical SEO | | Ideas-Money-Art
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F256%23comment-form |
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F258%23comment-form |
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F242%23comment-form |
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F257%23comment-form |
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F260%23comment-form |
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F225%23comment-form |
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F251%23comment-form |
| http://ex.com/user/login?destination=comment%2Freply%2F176%23comment-form | These are duplicate content and the canonical version is: http://www.ex.com/user (login and pass page of the website) Since there were multiple other duplicates which mostly have been resolved by 301s, I figured that all "LOGIN" URLs (above) should be 404d since they don't carry any authority and 301 those wouldn't be the best solution since "too many 301s" can slow down the website speed. But a member of the dev team said: "Looks like all the urls requested to '404 redirect' are actually the same page http://ex.com/user/login. The only part of the url that changes is the variables after the "?" . I don't think you can (or highly not recommended) make 404 pages display for variables in a url. " So my question is: I am not sure what he means by that? and Is it really better to not 404 these? Thanks0 -
Negative url name?
I have a new client who has the letters "BB" at the start of his url name, bbzautorepair.com. He was told by someone at Google Adwords that the letters "BB" in his url name could hurt him with Google rankings. Reason being that Google red flags anything or website to do with firearms, guns and ammunition. He was told that the letters "BB" could be mistaken or red flagged for "BB Gun". Seems a bit far fetched. Has anyone every heard of such a thing? Thanks
Technical SEO | | fun52dig
Gary Downey0 -
Changing preferred domain
My company has an international website, and because of a technical issue visitors in one of our main countries cannot visits the "www" version of our site. Currently, the www version is our preferred domain - and the non www redirects to that page. To solve this problem, I was thinking of proposing the following and would greatly appreciate any feedback! (Note: If you answered my www vs. non www question, thanks - this is a follow up) 1. Set non www site as the preferred version 2. Redirect from www to non www 3. Contact our current links and ask them to change to without “www” 4. Change canonical URLs to without “www”
Technical SEO | | theLotter0 -
Keywords in Vanity URL
If I set up a vanity URL that just 301's to the main site, do the search engines look at the keywords in the vanity URL when determing how to rank the site. For example, if I set up a vanity URL of www.coolnewtechgear.com, and redirect it to www.company.com/products/, would the search engines view the keywords of cool, new, tech, and gear and associate that with the page it's getting redirected to? Or does it ignore the vanity URL and only look at the content of the page itself?
Technical SEO | | ryanwats0