SEO Advice/Help

[dc1pop]

Today i have updated my website but have come across a problem. Ive had to add a new variable to the URL and now im at the risk of losing the traffic from the pages indexed on search engines like google.

Before my URL Structure was:

RewriteRule ^view/([0-9]+)/([_A-Za-z0-9-]+).html file.php?f=$1 [L]

=

/view/2383/You-Say-We-Pay.html

or in php would have been

/file.php?f=2383

Now its:

RewriteRule ^view/([0-9]+)/([0-9]+)/([_A-Za-z0-9-]+).html file.php?f=$1&mcat=$2 [L]

=

/view/2383/11/You-Say-We-Pay.html

or in php is

/file.php?f=2383&mcat=11

---

Is thier anyway i can get my SEO to reflect the changes and work but using the old seo structure or is it not possible?

Thanks.
Darren

 

[monaco]

I would make it so the /view/xxxx/string-title pages do a 301 redirect to the proper page /view/xxxx/yy/string title. The engines will respect that, and user's browsers should too.

 

[dc1pop]

I would make it so the /view/xxxx/string-title pages do a 301 redirect to the proper page /view/xxxx/yy/string title. The engines will respect that, and user's browsers should too.

The 'yy' string is different depending on what parent category is selected. So thats not possible is it?

 

[monaco]

It's possible, you just need a table that maps the old ones into the right categories somewhere. You could do this in a php script with a giant case statement, or just have a table in a database that holds it for awhile. It's a little bit of work, but certainly possible.

Since you only have a finite number of "old" entries that need this done, it's a one-time thing.

 

[dc1pop]

Hmm, i think you have hit the nail on the head with a little re-direct php script. I think that could work!!

Let me go try that out (thanks for the help by the way appricated!)

 

[monaco]

Any time Glad I could help.