Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Link Building
    4. Index.php OR .php - Which is better for urls

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Index.php OR .php - Which is better for urls

    Link Building
    5
    6
    2481
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • openspan
      openspan last edited by

      I was wondering.  When I build links should I build them using "index.php" OR ".php" at the end?  Does one have any more value than the other from an SEO standpoint

      Example:

      www.mywebsite.com\hotdogs\index.php

      or

      www.mywebsite.com\hotdogs.php

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • moldybacon
        moldybacon @Dr-Pete last edited by

        What do you mean by (3) it doesn't reveal your underlying platform? I don't think URL structure would be of much concern here, especially if you where experienced in exploiting websites? Maybe I'm wrong, not to sure what you are referring too.

        In regards to you leaning towards this one, surely posting it as a directory /hotdogs/ implies that it is that, a directory and not a just a page about hotdogs? I'm digging a bit to deep into this, as I'm sure it won't make that much of a difference, but I'm just saying, it seems more logical to have it .php or .html

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Dr-Pete
          Dr-Pete Staff @SEMPassion last edited by

          I lean toward this one, too, but Google has no particular bias against dynamic pages. SEOs use to warn against using "dynamic" URLs, because they tended to include a lot of parameters and create duplicate content, but there's plenty of evidence that ".php" pages are perfectly fine.

          To me, it boils down to:

          (1) As TraxNYC said, all else being equal, shorter is better

          (2) It looks a bit friendlier to search visitors (and easier to read)

          (3) It doesn't instantly reveal your underlying platform (and pose a security risk)

          moldybacon 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • moldybacon
            moldybacon last edited by

            I would use hotdogs.html, not that it makes much difference, but I personally prefer it so it doesn't look like an auto-generated page. If your planing on having a lot of hotdog related content I would defiantly go with /hotdogs for it all.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • SEMPassion
              SEMPassion last edited by

              I would recommend www.mywebsite.com/hotdogs/.

              Dr-Pete 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • DiamondJewelryEmpire
                DiamondJewelryEmpire last edited by

                The shorter the better! By including keywords inside of the link will help crawlers to better understand whats that particular url about.

                Good Luck

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 1 / 1
                • First post
                  Last post

                Got a burning SEO question?

                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                Start my free trial


                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.

                • See all categories

                Related Questions

                • Gokart

                  Redirect from a previous url

                  Hi - newbie question I have a customer who's had previous versions of his website. Previously it was known as "princess-interiors.co.uk" (been around for a few years) and is now "princess-design.co.uk" (been around also for a few years). New site is WordPress - what would be the best way to redirect (I have access to the previous version of the site which is still hosted). I expect it's to use 301, but how would I do that (step by step), and does www. versus non-www need addressing (and how). Really concerned, as this site has gone to zero organic visits!! Hoping somebody can help. Thanks

                  Link Building | | Gokart
                  0
                • rflores

                  Does a text URL (without hyperlink) provide any SEO value?

                  Our clients use the link shortener of our service software to share their job offers. Sometime the job baords they post to do not allow hyperlink and thus post the url as text only. Do these url texts offer any benfits in terms of SEO?

                  Link Building | | rflores
                  0
                • renukishor

                  Any Instant Indexeing social Bookmarking sites available on search engine or not?

                  I want to that my backlinks are instant indexed, so is any social bokkmarking sites availble when backlinks can instant indexed then please answer me.

                  Link Building | | renukishor
                  0
                • danielpett

                  Adding keyword to your url

                  Couldn't find the answer to my question anywhere so I'll give it a try here. If you have a site called www.example.com, and then want to add a keyword to this site, like this: www.example.com/keyword How do you add a keyword to your url like this? Without making the URL with the keyword your "main" URL, meaning you don't have to enter the keyworded URL to get to the homepage (www.example.com), and still rank better on the keyword put in the url. I'm a bit confused on the subject, would love for someone to help me understand! Thanks.

                  Link Building | | danielpett
                  0
                • tuananh0688

                  How to make google index the page title has changed ?

                  Google has indexed all my websites, but I have to change some title in the website but when checking google does not update the change.
                  Please help me .
                  My site : http://blog.addme.vn

                  Link Building | | tuananh0688
                  0
                • AdamThompson

                  Will Google penalize for backlinks on non-indexed pages?

                  Have a client who has a bunch of links from spammy sites that aren't even indexed by Google. Will Google penalize (i.e. Penguin) for backlinks from spammy sites that aren't indexed? I'm guessing "Yes, Google still crawls non-indexed sites and may penalize the sites linked to from the banned site." Anyone have any data or experience with this? Anyone have a non-indexed or banned site? Does Google still crawl it?

                  Link Building | | AdamThompson
                  0
                • FLEAR

                  Changing url from non www to www.

                  basically I have realised i have more page authority and links going to www.onestopmuscle.co.uk instead of onestopmuscle.co.uk. I use wordpress and have no clue how to make sure onestopmuscle.co.uk redirects to www. version. anyone have any ideas? I don't want to mess about with files or i'll most likely make the blog into a disaster.

                  Link Building | | FLEAR
                  0
                • ArtiKalra

                  Linking to root domain or index page

                  While link building, should I link to index page of my website i.e www.mydomainname.com/index.html or should I link to root domain i.e www.mydomainname,com Also I see duplicate title error for index page and root domain in error statistic. How can I get rid of this.

                  Link Building | | ArtiKalra
                  0

                Get started with Moz Pro!

                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                Start my free trial
                Products
                • Moz Pro
                • Moz Local
                • Moz API
                • Moz Data
                • STAT
                • Product Updates
                Moz Solutions
                • SMB Solutions
                • Agency Solutions
                • Enterprise Solutions
                Free SEO Tools
                • Domain Authority Checker
                • Link Explorer
                • Keyword Explorer
                • Competitive Research
                • Brand Authority Checker
                • MozBar Extension
                • MozCast
                Resources
                • Blog
                • SEO Learning Center
                • Help Hub
                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                • How-to Guides
                • Moz Academy
                • API Docs
                About Moz
                • About
                • Team
                • Careers
                • Contact
                Why Moz
                • Case Studies
                • Testimonials
                Get Involved
                • Become an Affiliate
                • MozCon
                • Webinars
                • Practical Marketer Series
                • MozPod
                Connect with us

                Contact the Help team

                Join our newsletter

                Access all your tools in one place. Whether you're tracking progress or analyzing data, everything you need is at your fingertips.

                Moz logo
                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                • Accessibility
                • Terms of Use
                • Privacy

                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.