TOPIC:

I just noticed this evening that URLs in the pub directory don't aren't "SEO friendly". E.g.

[quote:3h0l5hqa]www.beoir.org/index.php?option=com_sobi2...mid=69&Itemid=69[/quote:3h0l5hqa]

would do better on google etc if it looked more like:

[quote:3h0l5hqa]www.beoir.org/pub-directory/Against-The-...eet-Dublin-2/4/49/80[/quote:3h0l5hqa]

Independent.ie is a good example of users of this type of URL:
[quote:3h0l5hqa]www.independent.ie/national-news/bertie-...fe-star-2873535.html[/quote:3h0l5hqa]

This is handy enough to do with mod_rewrite on apache, haven't done it on IIS, but a quick google and...
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.iis.net/download/URLRewrite">www.iis.net/download/URLRewrite

I'm not sure this is a major issue given that the search engines use a lot of different criteria to rank a page- For instance the Page Title which is what is usually referenced in the verbose URIs.

Just to add an example- do a google for 'Smithwick's Pale Ale'- The forum post here is ranked in 2nd place, without a 'SEO friendly URI'

Sorry, I meant specifically the directory, which is doing badly in the search rankings.

Google for against the grain, porterhouse, oslo galway, or lucan county. The beoir directory doesn't make the results. Search for bull and castle and the directory makes the middle of page 3. Google for beers, galway hooker, metalman, again the directory doesn't make the search results.

The Indo and others do the wordy URLs because they really do help.

They did help a few years back, but SEO has shifted a lot since then. If the words 'Bull and Castle' is in the directory then it will be given the same rank no matter if the words appear in raw html, the URI or even part of an image filename. I've tried to find some words of wisdom from Matt Cutts (the Google SEO guru) on this but anything I find from him is old- probably because of the changes in the rules.