SEO URL Structure

Question

Based on the following example URL structure:

mysite.com/mypage.aspx?a=red&b=green&c=blue

Pages in the application use ASP.net user controls and some of these controls build a query string. To prevent duplicate keys being created e.g. &pid=12&pid=10, I am researching methods of rewriting the URL:

a)

mysite.com/mypage.aspx/red/green/blue

b)

mysite.com/mypage.aspx?controlname=a,red|b,green|c,blue

Pages using this structure would be publishing content that I would like to get indexed and ranked - articles and products (8,000 products to start, with thousands more being added later)

My gut instinct tells me to go with the first method, but would it would be overkill to add all that infrastructure if the second method will accomplish my goal of getting pages indexed AND ranked.

So my question, looking at the pro's and con's, Google Ranking, time to implement etc. which method should I use?

Thanks!

Answer 1

From an SEO perspective you want to try and avoid the querystring, so getting it into the URL and a short form URL is going to get you a better "bang for the buck" on the implementation side of things.

Therefore, I'd recommend the first.

Answer 2

Why don't use MVC pattern, this way all your link will be SEO ready. Check here, you will find what is MVC and also some implementation in .net!

Answer 3

You can easily make SEO-friendly URLs with the help of Helicon Ape (the software which allows having basic Apache functionality on your IIS server). You'll need mod_rewrite I guess. If you get interested, I can help you with the rules.

Answer 4

Can you explain in more detail your current architecture and what the parameters all mean? There's nothing really wrong with query strings if it's truly dynamic content. Rewriting ?a=red&b=green&c=blue to /red/green/blue is kinda pointless and it's unclear from the URL what might be on the page.

The key is to simplify as much as possible. Split the site into categories and give each "entity" one URL.

For example, if you are selling products, use one URL per product, with keywords in the URL - e.g. mysite.com/products/red-widget or mysite.com/products/12-red-widget if you need the product ID.