HTML pages if you have WordPress
If your pages end in html they will appear static to search engines like Google. Static pages have a slight advantage as they are more trust worthy because php pages can be scripted and auto generate spam. This is just a theory. If you patiently write every one of my pages by hand so why not get the benefit of having an html page in the search engine ranking? I do not believe that HTML are higher ranking, but some people do. If you do here is a consideration for your WordPress blog. That post is how to remove the trailing slash in WordPress if you want to make it look clean.
Why use a hierarchy in WordPress in terms of structure?
I think a hierarchy is better as it organizes the data in silos and this is not only better for the Search engines but also better for user experience, especially when you add breadcrumbs.
How to have no trailing slash with html pages but a trailing slash with categories
Today I made a big break though! Ok maybe it is not big for other people, but for me I could not figure out an easy way to do it.
I turned my WP permalinks into html pages with a hierarchy. You may say aha Mark that is easy to do – just set permalinks to ->
/%category%/%postname%.html
But there is a problem.
That is if you set it to /%category%/%postname%.html/ your html pages have a trailing / , that is html/ and search engines will see them as directories not static html pages.
While if you use no trailing slash for your categories will not have a trailing slash. and this looks funny.
So there is a solution. I found a plug-in called smart trailing slash. This plugin is found here -> fastagent.de/res/download/smart-trailing-slash.zip. This WordPress plugin and it does not put it at the end of the html but does use this at the end or categories. Therefore, you get a hierarchy ( can use breadcrumbs) and a static look.
To transform your WordPress site or blog and and turn the pretty permalinks into static html posts (static posts get a little nudge in Google as they are less likey to be auto generated) use %category%/%postname%/.html – next step upload a plugin called ‘smart trailing slash’ that enforces the / with categories but not at the end of html.
Ok to many it might be trivial for WP website owners but even bit helps. I have seen sites like this wordpress.com/category or worst wordpress.com/category/mypost.html/
This is a huge break though WordPress SEO for honest writes of content who do not intent to spam, but use WordPress simply as a tool for creating content easily. Let me know your experience with HTML pages vs PHP pages. Also if you use WordPress do you:
- Use a hierarchical structure
- Care about a trailing slash?
- Think HTML or PHP has any particular advantage
- Think things like no trailing slash with HTML WordPress makes any difference?
I for the record believe less is more when it comes to WordPress out of the box install.
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