RSS

Really Simple Syndication

SEO

Search Engine Optimization

SERPs

Search Engine Result Pages

SMO

Search Media Optimization

URI

Uniform Resource Identifier

URL

Uniform Resource Locator

In simple terms 301, 302 and 404 are the error codes returned by a server.

301

A page has been permanently moved to a new location.

302

A page has been moved to a temporarily location.

404

The most infamous error – Page not found. This status is returned when the requested page doesn’t exist on the server.

302 page hijacking

This is one of the hottest topics now a days among SEO experts. A 302 redirection can be highjacked to redirect to another location by exploits.

mod_rewrite is one of the most famous URL manipulating module available in Apache web server.

One of the most common drawbacks of a language like PHP is its inability to generate SEO friendly URLs.

mod_rewrite is very useful for SEO and certainly required for any dynamic website in order to achieve Google Top 10 ranking.

Lets take an example.

The existing URL for a product on SwamiPC

http://www.swamipc.co.uk/desktop-pc/acer/acer-veriton-m460-c2d-e4400-1gb-160gb-dvdrw-xpp

could have been something

http://www.SwamiPC.co.uk/node/2

without mod_rewrite.

mod_rewrite modules gives flexibility to rewrite the URLs on fly.

It provides unlimited number of rewrite rules and not only that it also provide flexibility to implement mod_rewrite on directory/subdirectory (.htaccess) level or domain level (httpd.conf).

The most common method to implement mod_rewrite rule is in .htaccess as httpd.conf will normally not available to end users.

.htaccess also offers you to rewrite URLs in directory level.

mod_rewrite directives

Following are the most common mod_rewrite directives

RewriteEngine

Syntax: RewriteEngine on|off

This directive is used to switch mod_rewrite engine on or off

RewriteOptions

Syntax: RewriteOptions option

This directive is used to set some special options.

E.g.

RewriteOptions MaxRedirects 19

RewriteLog

Syntax: RewriteLog filepath

This directive is used to specify the log file for capturing mod_rewrite logs which comes handyduring debugging.

E.g.

RewriteLog “/var/home/user/ajay/logs/rewritelog.log”

RewriteRule

Syntax: RewriteRule pattern substitution

This is the most important directive which we look for. This directive is used to define rewrite rule.

It is defined per rule and can be used as many times as required.

pattern is a POSIX regular expression

Links

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/misc/rewriteguide.html

All in one SEO

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

URL Canonical Issues

A website can be accessed in many ways.

E.g.

http://www.SwamiSEO.co.uk

http://SwamiSEO.co.uk

http://www.SwamiSEO.co.uk/index.php

etc.

If a search engine gets more than once references/links etc from your internal pages or from external links then it may think that these websites are different and it may cause a lot of problems including most notorious Content Duplication.

How to find out if you have URL Canonicalization issue?

Type site:http://yourdomain.com and site:http://www.yourdomain.com and check if you get different sets of results which include both or more instances? If answer is yes then you are in trouble.

How to avoid URL Canonicalization?

Simple, always use one form of URL for website whenever you have to link it either internally or externally.

I personally prefer http://www.domain.com to avoid any clash with http://domain.com.

Ain’t both domains same?

No both are not same.

The actual domain is http://domain.com

www is one of subdomain of http://domain.com.

You can have as many subdomains as you want. Ex. http://blog.domain.com, http://news.domain.com and so on.

You must avoid URL Canonicalization at any cost and it must be included in your SEO to do lists. Without it you might find hard to get into Google top 10 ranking.