I would like to build a site similar to answers.com (I’ll have ~10K fairly specialized technical phrases/terms) Would you suggest that I use a dynamic database driven site or should I go ahead an create ~10K static html pages. A database driven site will be more elegant, yet I think that static site will perform much better. In your opinion, what will give me better rankings? Best, V.
Build dynamic for ease of maintenance and use a mod rewrite script or component to rewrite dynamic URLS as static.
There is no reason why a static site would perform better than a database driven one/ The html that ends up in the users browser is just the same. The only differece that might impact is badly thought out urls - but that can be overcome with some sensible planning avoid www.mysite.com/?topic=65465 at the very least make them www.mysite.com/topic/65465.htm (asp / php whatever) At the very best make them www.mysite.com/<unique technical phrase>/ make your site around a database and you can have an easy site search and easier to maintain site. Much more cost effetive in terms of man hours. EDIT: damn, don't you hate it when your reply to something and get called away and find someone else has posted an equally sensible answer in your absence!