Is a URL which uses a Rewrite URL still searchable by search engines?

Question

My developer did the following:

If someone types public.sample.com/user/chumbawumba it redirects to stage.sample.com/profile.php?username=chumbawumba

I want to make sure that the content of the profile -- which contains company information for example, is searchable on the public.sample.com domain name.

He used a Rewrite Rule.

I guess I wasn't anticipating this approach, but as long as the pages can get spidered and ranked as more information is put in, I'm cool with it.

I tried to run an online sitemap on the site and I don't think it came up with anything, thus my question. Thanks.

Answer 1

This technique is a common technique used by SEO people/companies because then the search engine will not have send the ?... and many search engines will ignore, so Yes.

Answer 2

You could go to google and type "site: public.sample.com" to see all pages searched with google on your site. Also see Google Webmaster tools.

Please tell is the rule redirets or rewrites request? So could you see in your browser "stage.sample.com/profile.php?username=chumbawumba" or "public.sample.com/user/chumbawumba".

If all you could see is "public.sample.com/user/chumbawumba" - that is OK. If not - same will be seen with search bot.

Answer 3

Anyway URL with "?" is indexed with google. Look at faq on URLs with queries.

Search for "profile test" and you will see results with "?" inside URL.