jdegerstrom

This is excellent advice, OWG, and the perfect answer for Apache servers. As you mentioned there are solutions for other systems and some should be avoided. HTTP redirects placing forwarding in your HTML header is easy to implement, however, it is a favored deceptive technique used by some spammers. Search 301 redirects and you'll find the "how to do it" and some tell you "not to do it" with good reason. Why risk being mistaken for a spammer? Use the rewrite method suggested by OldWelshGuy, or ask for help in this forum if you have any doubts.

For evidence of PR attached to the file name, here's an example that occurred on my commercial site. I deleted a page with PR3 from my site because of outdated content, and a year later I was adding new content that fit a similar theme. I reused the retired file name for the new content page and the pagerank was immediately PR3 without any waiting period.

I recently redesigned another site from html to php with the original content plus 10 new pages, and used redirects for all the "old" page names and the home page PR survived immediately. The rest of the old content PR is in limbo but will catch up soon enough.

The points about backlinks and bookmarked pages are especially important when redesigning a site and renaming files. If you have promoted your site successfully before the redesign, recapture that value with redirects.

Jim

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Jim Degerstrom, Small Business Resource Center, Web Design and Graphic Artwork
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frysoft

If u r professional then think all about your site before launching it
Renaming Redesigning can lose Ur important traffic so be careful about your site

cmsdestekcom

goooodd
for thanks

webguide

Yepp, it can. Youo should always do 301 from old to new filenamnes if you change those...

OldWelshGuy

File structure (IE what folders hold the files) doesn't have an affect on PR (despite what many tell you). NAVIGATION STRUCTURE on the other hand DOES!

PR does not flow on a folder basis, so domain.com/child folder/grandchildfolder/index.htm will NOT have a lower rank than domain.com/childfolder/index.htm simply because it is 'further away' from the root.

Page rank flows between (wait for it ) PAGES so the links on the pages is what sets your Pr not where the folders sit on the server.

The misinformation came from the fact that most homepages have the higher PR, and in the early days, Google toolbar would issue 'ghost PR' which was normally PR1 lower each step away from the root.

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trichnosis

design of your site will not effect your page rank

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