Complex URLs can adversely affect your site’s search engine rankings. If there’s any way to simplify them wouldn’t you? Well, there is – and the answer is as simple as using Apache mod_rewrite, the latest in dynamic site search engine optimization (SEO). With this technology, you can shorten and clarify your dynamic pages for easier management and recall.

The role of Apache mod_rewrite in dynamic site SEO

Mod_rewrite allows you to edit the URLs of your dynamic site. It lets you modify lengthy and hard-to-remember URL strings into something more convenient both for you and you site’s visitors. With Apache mod_rewrite, you can rework any URL into anything you want for as long as your server your server supports it (which should not be a problem because even most Linux and Unix web hosts do). Dynamic site SEO relies heavily on this technology, and if you know how to use it, you, too can take advantage of it to boost your search engine rankings.

Apache mod_rewrite allows you to design your dynamic page URLs into something more readable (and desirable_ for search engines such as Google, for example, which admits to limiting the number of dynamic sites it indexes. Google experts agree that dynamic parameters can be pretty hard to spider, and recommend that website owners only use two to three parameters in their URLs. Apache mod-rewrite lets you do this.

Dynamic site SEO also uses Apache mod_rewrite because it makes complicated URLs more user-friendly, and therefore more easily recalled by people who visit the site. Readers are most likely to recall, for example, a URL that goes ‘www.websitename.com/products.html’ instead of ‘www.websitename.com/index.php?task=13.’

Other uses of Apache mod_rewrite

Aside from dynamic website SEO advantages, Apache mod_rewrite also helps you beef up your website security by ‘hiding’ the parameters of your dynamic pages. The less parameters hackers see, the less prone your site is to attacks.

The mod_rewrite module is also a highly successful means of blocking spambots from collecting your site’s addresses. With mod_rewrite, you can rewrite your URL based on the characteristics of an inward bound request – this means that you can check any property, and protect your site accordingly.

Implementing mod_rewrite
Mod_rewrite is a very powerful technology, but if you are not accustomed to its standard ‘expressions’, you will find it hard to learn the syntax. It is best to hire the services of a professional programmer specializing in dynamic site SEO for this project. Many dynamic site SEO companies offer URL ‘rewriting’ as a part of their SEO packages.