[thelist] SEO and 404 on Win2k Server

[Maximillian Schwanekamp]

With Apache's mod_rewrite and simple PHP, creating search engine friendly
URLs is easy.  With Windows and classic ASP, it seems that an ISAPI filter
to mimic mod_rewrite is necessary (Googling shows a bunch of them).  Not
having that option available for a particular site, I thought of using a
custom 404 script to emulate that.  The idea is: a link points to
example.com/content/article_title/ which does not physically exist, so the
404.asp gets called, which looks up article_title in the SQL database and
finally uses
Response.Redirect(http://example.com/content.asp?articleid=12345).

My question is, does this work effectively for SEO, or am I just spinning my
wheels?!?


<tip author="Maximillian Schwanekamp" type="Testing the server with
phpinfo()">
Before you start on a website project that will include any PHP scripting,
get the lay of the land by using phpinfo() *first*.  Create a file called
"phpinfo.php" or something similarly descriptive which contains a call to
the function phpinfo();  Keep that somewhere handy, and before you start a
PHP project, upload and view that file in a browser.  You'll get all sorts
of useful info about the server such as enabled modules, configuration
defaults, server and environment variables, and much other goodness useful
in beginning a new project.  If you're moving a PHP site from one server to
another, quickly comparing phpinfo() output for the two servers can help
ensure that your site will behave correctly on the new server.
</tip>

Maximillian Von Schwanekamp
NeptuneWebworks.com
voice: 541-302-1438
fax: 208-730-6504