Rewriting Dolphin URLs

I had been wondering why it was that member profiles were tending to outrank the 'real' site content on my site. Sometimes the obvious hides itself from us. :(

The problem, in large part, is almost certainly the file structure of the content as seen by search engines.

Apart from the massive amount of duplicate content, the site content is buried away 4 or 5 levels deep in the hierarchy and is thus 'obviously' not as important as the profiles which are top level.

I can rewrite the filenames in .htaccess using a 301 redirect but will doing so be likely to cause any problems within the Dolphin site?

Is there any other way to change the file structure that Dolphin uses - mods or core code changes?

Thanks,

Andrew.

That really is not the purpose of a 301 redirect and it shouldn't be used in that manner.

Why is a 301 not appropriate?

My understanding is that a 301 status response should be used where the change is permanent and where the previous URL should drop out of search engine indexes. It also serves to remove the possibility of duplicate content which is abhorred by search engines and which reduces the quality of user experience within sites and with search engine results.

However, setting aside that issue aside. ;)

If we set up a URL rewriting scheme to give us something like: http://thesite.com/articles/articletitle or even http://thesite.com/articletitle would this be likely to cause problems with the working of the site itself?

Thanks,

Andrew.

You can also rank the importance of your content to the search engines using the sitemap.

Yes, there's quite a few on-page/site things that we can do and we are working on the sitemap issue right now. The built in tool is not suitable for our purposes though - but better than nothing as a one click solution. As I see it, the goal is to have a consistent and credible story being told. That means getting the file structure right so that external stakeholders can see what we value and that the sitemap tells the same story. Same goes for page descriptions and internal linking - tell the world what is important.

Getting the file structure right is a thing for which I am kicking myself for having overlooked - but that's why I was asking for input on the redirect issue because, assuming it does not nuke some aspect of Dolphin functionality, it is an easy enough fix.

Any input on redirects breaking Dolphin?

Thanks,

Andrew.

Go ahead, you know more than I do.

yeah go ahead lol and destroy the planet  earth !

While coding ain't my thing, on page SEO and SEM in general is kinda my thing. It has paid for my life for more than a decade. ;)

Always learning though. So, why would a 301 be the wrong thing to do?

Yeah, I know that planet earth won't break but while not always following best practice I do try to follow accepted practice as a minimum. :)

It seems odd that people seem to not have looked at on page SEO though. I'd kinda expected that there'd be plenty of folks who had seen the issue and dealt with it - hence my question.

Ah well, time for some experiments.

Yes, some times you just have to press that big red button.

A 301 is used to let the internet world know that you have changed a URL; or a domain name.  If you think a 301 will work, then try it out and see.  I wouldn't use a 301 the way you are planning on using it but then you are not me.

OK, so what would you recommend?

I don't agree with your reasoning, or at least its application to the case, but I am happy to take on board and consider suggestions.

Bear in mind that we seek to improve the file structure of the site as seen by all stakeholders, not to increase the amount of duplicate content on the site and that any change is permanent and should therefore be expected to transmit any PR or other ranking variables applicable to the 'old' url.

I will take it as read that there is no experience of rewriting URLs and how they interact with the functioning of the site. ;)

Thanks,

Andrew.

Dolphin has rewrite rules for Apache .htaccess files and Nginx server blocks.

 do the magic am with you

It is also possible to change rewrite rules in Dolphin, like in this thread:

http://www.boonex.com/forums/topic/Remove-the-m-directory-in-url-.htm

Thanks for that, took it on board and tested it - it works. It will be implemented.

Don't forget the 301 redirect to retain any search engine ranking benefit that accrued to the pages. ;)

Andrew.