Dynamic vs. Static URLs
Search Engines can easily follow web page URLs which are static and follow a defined path or directory structure. Website URLs which are dynamic are not easily crawled and indexed by the Search Engines, and can cause problems when the search engine spider crawls your site. In worst cases, they do not get indexed by the Search Engines, no matter how important the information is on the web page.
Here are examples of proper URL structure of a site and dynamic URLs which you should avoid:
Dynamic URLs
www.yoursitename.com
www.yoursitename.com/index.php?cat=1
www.yoursitename.com/index.php?cat=1&subcat=1
www.yoursitename.com/index.php?cat=1&subcat=2
www.yoursitename.com/index.php?cat=2
www.yoursitename.com/index.php?cat=2&subcat=1
www.yoursitename.com/index.php?cat=2&subcat=2
Static URLs
www.yoursitename.com
www.yoursitename.com/category1/
www.yoursitename.com/category1/sub-category1/
www.yoursitename.com/category1/sub-category2/
www.yoursitename.com/category2/
www.yoursitename.com/category2/sub-category1/
www.yoursitename.com/category2/sub-category2/
The use of ? and & in the URL structure can cause problems for both the search engine spiders as well as for the users, as it can be confusing and not easily remembered. Moreover, category=1 and sub-category=2 do not give an idea to the user of what the web page is about. For Search Engine Spiders, dynamic URLs cause indexing problems, and pages with lots of variables being passed in the URL are at times ignored by the Search Engines and not indexed at all.
With the navigation plan of Static URLs, a proper directory structure is being followed, with the first level categories being displayed a level below the main page of the site, and further sub-categories being displayed at the second level. Such a URL structure is easily followed and indexed by the Search Engine Spiders. It is also easy to remember and useful for the readers. Moreover, the use of keywords as category names in the URLs of the site gives an idea to the viewer as to what the page is about. Also, a user will be more inclined to click on the Static URLs instead of the Dynamic URLs, if they both come up in the Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPs).
