(Magic 2 clicks from the homepage)

Firstly, let me tell you what a dynamic link is. Every URL which contains ‘?’ can be probably called ‘dynamic’. Dynamic URLs pass variables names and their values. As you might feel, these variables are important in dynamic scripting languages, which co-operate with databases and other data sources. Some people say that dynamic URLs are bad and you should avoid them.At first, any dynamic URL can behave like a static URL if it’s variables and values don’t change how time goes by. For example, take ‘var_name_1=56′ as a variable and it’s value. If you won’t change 56 into any other number, then this URL won’t change anytime. So once it is created and found, it will be regulary crawled unless it’s importance is zero.

Dynamic links can be divided into two basic types. The first type is an URL with stable variables and values. If you own an online store, this type of link can determine path to your products. If you run a database, variables may point at the records. This kind of URLs is SEO friendly if only they contain regular characters. Generally, use only uppercase or lowercase letters, numbers and basic characters which can be found at the position 127 or less in the ASCII table. Not all of the characters which are present between 0 and 127 should be used in URLs. Let me show you some examples:

• 1) http://…/index.php?product_id=5
• 2) http://…/index.php?product id=5
• 3) http://…/index.php?product_id=5&page=38f
• 4) http://…/index.php?product_id=5&page=38 f

The first and third examples use correct syntax. Both, the second and fourth example, are bad, because they use space in the URL. Please note, that any variable name can be called anyhow and the same goes to their values. So a variable can be of integer type, string or so. I recommend you to avoid long names as well as long values. Sometimes, it’s not possible to avoid this situation. Let me show you another examples:

• 1) http://…/search.php?order=alp&page=10&cat=7&min=120&max=779&spec=heavy
• 2) http://…/search.php?order=alp

The first example shows us some URL where man searches for something and the URL is based on the search conditions. The second example shows us very simple search, which will probably result in the list of data which are arranged by alphabet only. Unlike the first example, a visitor will get very long set of data. You can see, that database operations need dynamic URLs especially when a visitor is able to determine the search query.

Just for fun, I’d like to show you some things which don’t look like dynamic URLs even they’re worse solution. Some programmers tend to use Cookies in order to pass variables and their values. A cookie is good for security, especially when SSL is used. But when a search engine crawls any site with numerous cookies, it will get lost. A cookie has simply the same meaning like a variable in the URL. Unlike URL, which is stored by search engines, cookie isn’t usually stored. Why? Search engines consider that cookies are used within on-line shops, so they would fill their basket or even buy some items!

Why are PHPSESSIDs bad in any URL? For progamming purposes and for some other stuff, PHPSESSID is sometimes good. Anyway, I haven’t used it yet and I haven’t had any need for it. Generally, any page generates some ID which is unique for 1 visitor at a moment. This variable is stored as a cookie and it has no value for SEO purposes. Some programmers need to pass this variable within URLs. As you might feel, this variable is different each time a crawler visits the site. This results in different URLs, no PageRank and so. I strictly recommend you to avoid passing the PHPSESSID variable within the URL.

The conclusion of URLs is that you must avoid things like PHPSESSID and you should build your URLs very wisely with focus on their stability in time.

Once your site is using clear URL structure, you should focus on the accessibility. Any URL, which is burried somewhere in the deep, will probably get very low importance in search engines. What’s more, if you’re using dynamic URLs, MSN won’t be able to reach this URL if it’s linked from dynamic pages only. So what is the solution?

Consider you’re running an on-line store on your site and you want your products to be included in the Google’s index quickly. The best and the fastest way is the following strategy:

• 1) Create a page with all your products. If your products are categorized, create one file for each category. Of course, if there are 15 or more categories, try to „pack“ them. Use static URL for these files. The URLs should look like http://…/cat-hair-products.php, http://…/cat-tooth-products.php and so on. Simple, isn’t it?
• 2) Link all products lists from your homepage. This idea isn’t a suggestion, it is a MUST! You will wonder how fast your products will be indexed not only by Google, but by Yahoo and MSN too!
• 3) Just to make things better, interlink the products too. Naturally, it isn’t good idea to place 1000 links into one product’s profile. Use very clearly placed links. 5 outgoing links to other products will be a good solution. Interlink related products only. Use categories, names or other ways how to determine which products are related.

The importance of your products in search engines will reaise heavily. Also, the PageRank will be assigned to your products very quickly. What’s more, you will get more visitors, your visitors will visit other products on your site, so your business and income will be much better than before.