URL Rewrite

Hi, I'm just redeveloping my site and am looking at mod_rewrite. My
understanding is that search engines prefer urls such as
www.mysite.com/uk/london/harrods rather than
http://www.mysite.com/index.php?coun...n&shop=harrods

What happens if someone is doing a search on just London and I want to show
a list of all London's I have listed (e.g. Londonderry, UK - London, UK -
London, CA etc). I would then have www.mysite.com//London/ The double // is
a problem with search engines, so I've heard, and looks dreadful too. They
can search on all 3 fields individually or mixed, so am just wondering what
I should fill empty fields with to make the URL tidier. Or am I just
thinking about this the wrong way round?

Thanks

Nick

And lo, elyob didst speak in alt.www.webmaster:

> www.mysite.com/uk/london/harrods
>
> They
> can search on all 3 fields individually or mixed, so am just wondering
> what
> I should fill empty fields with to make the URL tidier. Or am I just
> thinking about this the wrong way round?

Just use a default placeholder for each category in the URI when it
doesn't exist:

Like www.mysite.com/country/London/shop

or www.mysite.com/uk/town/harrods

That would be the readable way, but perhaps you value shorter URIs? Then
you could just use a dash, which is okay with search engines.

www.mysite.com/-/London/-
www.mysite.com/uk/-/harrods

It might not be completely "readable", but it's certainly obvious what
terms you're searching for.

Grey

--
The technical axiom that nothing is impossible sinisterly implies the
pitfall corollory that nothing is ridiculous.
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from your website!

"GreyWyvern" <spam@greywyvern.com> wrote in message
newsp.sp8563vqsl6xfd@news.nas.net...
> And lo, elyob didst speak in alt.www.webmaster:
>
>> www.mysite.com/uk/london/harrods
>>
>> They
>> can search on all 3 fields individually or mixed, so am just wondering
>> what
>> I should fill empty fields with to make the URL tidier. Or am I just
>> thinking about this the wrong way round?
>
> Just use a default placeholder for each category in the URI when it
> doesn't exist:
>
> Like www.mysite.com/country/London/shop
>
> or www.mysite.com/uk/town/harrods
>
> That would be the readable way, but perhaps you value shorter URIs? Then
> you could just use a dash, which is okay with search engines.
>
> www.mysite.com/-/London/-
> www.mysite.com/uk/-/harrods
>
> It might not be completely "readable", but it's certainly obvious what
> terms you're searching for.
>
> Grey

When visiting that URL, should the target page URL remain as /-/-/harrods? I
seem to remember from previous tests that it just repointed the url to
index.php?name=harrods

Thanks for the advice. I think the dash looks more readable, but the first
example lets users know how to edit the URL's manually. So, not really sure
which method is best.

elyob wrote:

> Hi, I'm just redeveloping my site and am looking at mod_rewrite. My
> understanding is that search engines prefer urls such as
> www.mysite.com/uk/london/harrods rather than
> http://www.mysite.com/index.php?coun...n&shop=harrods

Both are perfectly acceptable to search engines.
What they don't like is session_ids and similar state information.

They need to be able to spider your site.
If you need a "search box" to navigate your site search engines wont enter
arbitrary information.

> What happens if someone is doing a search on just London and I want to
> show a list of all London's I have listed (e.g. Londonderry, UK - London,
> UK - London, CA etc). I would then have www.mysite.com//London/ The double
> // is a problem with search engines,
Err, why?

> so I've heard, and looks dreadful
> too. They can search on all 3 fields individually or mixed, so am just
> wondering what I should fill empty fields with to make the URL tidier. Or
> am I just thinking about this the wrong way round?
>
> Thanks
>
> Nick

gtoomey