[SOLVED] Can't Think of An Appropriate Subject. Possibly a Stupid Question

[Fluoresce]

I have a movie directory. All of the movies appear in a huge list, selected from a database. If someone clicks on a movie, they are taken to the movie's Description page.

 

I have nearly 100 description pages, and growing, all uploaded to my server. If I want to change the way the description pages look, and I can't make the changes by revising the CSS, I have to modify every single decription page individually! 

 

I have recently become aware that I can have a single description page, which selects each movie's details from the database. My question is, if I done it this way, will each movie's description page still get indexed? Should I not use this method? Are there problems associated with it?

 

I ask because soon I will have 1000s of movies and therefore 1000s of files uploaded to my server. If I need to change something, I'll be in big trouble. 

[Daniel0]

I have recently become aware that I can have a single description page, which selects each movie's details from the database. My question is, if I done it this way, will each movie's description page still get indexed? Should I not use this method? Are there problems associated with it?

 

Sure, of course. You should have done that from the start, really.

[Fluoresce]

Dude, I feel really stupid now. I just spent 5 days revising 86 pages!

 

What makes it even worse is that, I use the method explained above on other, smaller, aspects of my site. It just didn't click that I could also use it safely with the movies. I thought that the movie pages wouldn't get indexed or something.

 

So, it's totally safe, then, right? I hesitate because my entire site will become, like, just 5 files on my server. When I surf it, it'll have hundreds of pages. But when I look at the actual files, there'll only be five or so.

 

Will all of my pages definitely get indexed? Apologies for the hesitation.

[Fluoresce]

Another thing that I should make clear is that, if I do use the method on the movies, nearly all of the content on my web site - and I mean nearly all of it - will be echoed from a database. I heard somewhere that static markup is preferred by the search engines and that too much dynamic content is bad. Is that not true?

[Fluoresce]

Yet another thing.

 

Wouldn't a page with the URL, say, thegoonies.php index better for the keyword the goonies than a page with a URL like movie-description.php?id=33?

[Mchl]

You can use mod_rewrite, so that your site presents unique urls for unique content, and still have it all dynamically generated from database.

[zq29]

Another thing that I should make clear is that, if I do use the method on the movies, nearly all of the content on my web site - and I mean nearly all of it - will be echoed from a database. I heard somewhere that static markup is preferred by the search engines and that too much dynamic content is bad. Is that not true?

 

PHP outputs static markup. When someone (or a search engine) looks at the generated source code of a PHP page, it doesn't see the PHP that you wrote, it sees the HTML that your PHP outputs.

 

As Mchl pointed out above, you'd benefit from using mod_rewrite to produce URLs that have keywords in them, assuming you're using Apache to serve your pages.

[Fluoresce]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate the feedback.

 

Instead of using mod_rewrite, wouldn't it be better/easier to add another column to my table, called URL or something, and dynamically append the URL value to a generic URL? For example:

 

generic URL: movie_{$row['url']}

 

generic URL with appended URL value: movie_thegoonies.php

 

Is this (or using mod_rewrite) even necessary? Will movie_thegoonies.php definitely have a better search engine ranking than movie.php?id=1234?

[Daniel0]

Is this (or using mod_rewrite) even necessary?

 

Unless you physically wish to create a new file for each movie then yes, you do need to use mod_rewrite (or similar).

 

Will movie_thegoonies.php definitely have a better search engine ranking than movie.php?id=1234?

 

Yes, it will. The former has relevant keywords in the URI whereas the latter doesn't. This means the former will rank better.

[Fluoresce]

Thanks for the help, guys. I appreciate it.

 

Danil0, regarding your last response, that's exactly what I thought. However, having read the article below, I am now not so sure. In fact, I am downright confused! Is mod_rewrite even necessary?

 

Article: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/09/dynamic-urls-vs-static-urls.html

[Daniel0]

Yeah, I've read that one. I think it's nonsense. It's essentially saying that you shouldn't do it because you may do it in a bad way. That's just plain stupid. Besides, it contradicts common sense (having keywords in the URI would logically make it better) and what is otherwise always said. It also contradicts themselves: http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

 

From a usability standpoint it'll also be better. Which address you think a user can best remember and give verbally to another user? example.com/action/name-of-movie or example.com/index.php?action=viewMovie&movie_id=23139

[Fluoresce]

Yeah, I've read that one. I think it's nonsense. It's essentially saying that you shouldn't do it because you may do it in a bad way. That's just plain stupid. Besides, it contradicts common sense (having keywords in the URI would logically make it better) and what is otherwise always said. It also contradicts themselves: http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

 

From a usability standpoint it'll also be better. Which address you think a user can best remember and give verbally to another user? example.com/action/name-of-movie or example.com/index.php?action=viewMovie&movie_id=23139

 

Thanks, man. It's settled, then. I shall use mod_rewrite.

 

I appreciate all the help.