Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [159]
Although I typically don’t require marketers to learn the details of programming and scripting technologies, there is a significant advantage to learning about the differences among the multiple options and why your programmers prefer one or the other. This is where taking the time to sit with your programmer and gain a better understanding of the languages and database structure of your website will enable you to better understand what goes on “under the hood” of your website.
Gaining a better understanding of the programming and selection process, purpose, results, and typical opportunities and problems generated by dynamic (database-generated) websites will enable a marketer to gain a unique perspective on how to use the database to their advantage. Instead of viewing the IT department or the programmer as an obstacle, smart marketers see an opportunity to learn and develop additional knowledge and skills that will enable them to better manage and market websites in the future.
Regardless of the database and language used, the complexity of the database is the primary issue. If the database is too complex and contains too many variables and additional factors, then other methods will have to be employed to get your website “seen” and indexed by the search engines. This will be covered in Chapter 15.
Once you gain a better understanding of the necessary steps to build a rewrite solution, then you’ll need to take the next step of building redirects, which will be covered next.
Wednesday: Use Redirects
A redirect works on the same principle as forwarding your mail when you move. When you move to a new residence, you notify the post office to direct your mail to your new address. Likewise, a redirect forwards all the page requests for an old address to a new address. Whenever a page’s URL has changed, such as through a redeveloped website, a redirect points to the new page URL.
Redirects can be a confusing subject but are an integral part of website management. Properly applied redirects can improve your search engine rankings and also improve your visitor experiences. Using redirects when launching a newly redesigned website will prevent many problems, primarily lost traffic and lower rankings. However, as powerful tools as redirects are, redirects are still tools and can be used improperly. Applying redirects in some situations may have unintended consequences if you are not aware of how redirects affect search engine requests.
There are multiple uses for redirects when administering a website, and I will cover some of the most common uses in this section.
Types of Redirect
There are many redirects, but the vast majority of time you will deal with only a few types. The type of redirect used has significant impact with your search engine indexing and, ultimately, your site’s visibility. Knowing which redirect to apply and how search engines and browsers will react to each is an important part of website management.
301: Moved Permanently and 302 Found (Temporary Redirect)
The 301: Moved Permanently redirect is the most common and recommended type of redirect. It operates at the server level, which means that when a URL is requested and a 301 redirect is in place, the server reports that the URL no longer exists but has been permanently replaced with a new URL (usually behind the scenes). The new URL and corresponding page are loaded in the browser.
For humans, this process is virtually transparent in the browser window. However, in the URL window, the URL will change from the URL requested to new URL directed. For a search engine, the bot or spider receives the “forwarding address” and knows to direct any further requests to the new page. Eventually, the new page will replace the old page in the search engine index.
Even though this may be a temporary move or you may not technically consider a change in your site