Is .htm worth it?

When I write my content pages, I could write them as a static html page, but it would be cost extra time and effort to style them since I'll have to take all the php additions out of these pages. Is static html still worth it, or are the SE's fine with with dynamic pages now?

 

You can always use mod_rewrite to redirect to html pages in the background if you are worried.

 

You could also set your server up to process .html (.htm) pages as php. Using an apache server and an .htaccess file add these lines:

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .htm
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .html

If you are on another webserver I can't tell you how to set it up but it must be possible.

 

I am on apache, but will that screw up other scripts like a blog or forum?

 

Google says that they limit their spidering of dynamic pages (in their webmaster guidlines). Htm is a sure way that all your pages will be indexed

 

Again, this is a questionable statement in the SEO realm... If all your pages ended in .php and did not contain characters (includins SID's) then I believe that your page has just as good of a chance getting indexed as if those pages ended in .html...

 

It seems to me that static beats dynamic in Google, since I have a large number of archived pages using mod_rewrite in Google, but very few of the original php pages. Same content, different extension, and Google indexes the htm.

 

Could it be that the duplicate content filter kicked in and Google then chooses htm over php?

 

It seems to me that you would be wrong.

Google spiders dynamic pages like php just fine, if you set them up correctlyso that you don't require session IDs or long variable strings.

 

G is indexing my dynamic PHP pages quite nicely, so I can't see the problem

 

One of my sites has double the number of pages indexed than a compeditor who is over 6 times bigger (same script).

I use subdomains and mod_rewrite while he only recently put on mod_rewrite and he doesnt use subdomains.

 

But I'll bet you with a slight modification to the script you can accomplish the same thing without mod-rewrite. And remember that rewrite does add some additional server load.

 

When you've got a dual Opteron the extra server load isnt a issue.

The site in question is www.ezforum.org
You cant really modify phpBB without mod_rewrite to increase the rate of indexing.

 

I feel its more of an issue of the querysting then the file extension. There are some GREAT mod-rewrites for phpBB, let me now if you need any help as we have SEO'd a few phpBB board with great success. Good luck.

 

That's simply not true.

That's true.

http://www.Able2Know.com

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15132

You really do not need the mod_rewrite part. It's overkill.

 

Another solution is to use as many subdirectories as you can. e.g. instead of:

sandfish.com/query.php

Use:

sandfish.com/sandfish-query/

and rename query.php to index.php

That way you get the added benefit of keywords "in URL" too. Just a suggestion, I know it won't solve everything and is only part of a larger strategy.

 

My compeditor has done the SEO optimisations which dont involve removing/changing functionality (Sessions are gone).

 

So how do you prevent SE from requiring session ID's?

 

See how it's done in the phpBB references I listed above:


http://www.Able2Know.com

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15132