[ic] Rewriting URLs for SEO purposes - help!

[Cameron G]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: interchange-users-bounces at icdevgroup.org 
> [mailto:interchange-users-bounces at icdevgroup.org] On Behalf 
> Of Sandy Thomson
> Sent: Monday, 11 April 2005 6:25 PM
> To: interchange-users at icdevgroup.org
> Subject: Re: [ic] Rewriting URLs for SEO purposes - help!
> 
> Cameron G wrote:
> 
> >Hi guys,
> >
> >I'm certain I'm not the first person in the history of IC to 
> want to do 
> >this, and right now I'm pulling my hair out in frustration. 
> Here's the deal.
> >
> >
> >We've all seen /scan/ URLs in IC, right?
> >http://www.store.com/scan/st=db/co=yes/sf=prod_group/se=produ
> ct_to_find
> >, or whatever it needs to be for your specific search. Well, 
> that URL 
> >is all well and fine, and it works perfectly, but it's terrible for 
> >search engines. What I'd really really like to do is be able to use 
> >http://www.store.com/something/product.htm, and have that as the URL 
> >displayed to the browser. Simple enough?
> >
> >I've tried action maps. I either completely suck at action 
> maps, or I 
> >just completely don't understand them. I'm not even certain 
> action maps 
> >are suitable for this type of task. Next up, I tried URL rewrites - 
> >something I've done in the past with a fair amount of success, using 
> >them to 301 to a cgi-binless URL after installing 
> mod_interchange. So, I try this:
> >
> >RewriteEngine on
> >#cgi-bin removing rule
> >RewriteRule ^/cgi-bin/store/(.*) /$1 [R=301] #rewrite for SEO 
> >RewriteRule test/(.*)\.htm$ 
> /scan/st=db/co=yes/sf=prod_group/se=$1 [L]
> >
> >Which, if I were any less stupid, should work. However, it doesn't. 
> >Now, I understand that this isn't an apache support forum, 
> and I'm not 
> >really asking for that, all I'm asking is: Surely, SURELY, 
> someone has 
> >done this sort of thing before with IC? Surely someone has 
> hidden some 
> >goopy URLs away from a client's browser before? I thought this stuff 
> >would be far easier than it's proving to be so far. Any help at all 
> >that could point me in the right direction would be 
> overwhelmingly appreciated.
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Cameron
> >  
> >
> 
> You are not. Instead of using more lists (if you are using 
> sql), you can use 'offset' and 'limit' with filtered cgi variables.
> 
> http://mysite.com/browse.html?offset=2:limit=3
> (go to page 2, show 30 items per page - i.e show items 61-90)
> 
> SELECT * FROM products OFFSET 60 LIMIT 30;
> 
> Sandy.
> 

Which is nice, except I'm still left with a URL that isn't terribly search
engine happy. That's why when a client wants to buy a claw hammer, I'd like
the url for him to read

http://www.store.com/hammers/clawhammer.htm

Or even

http://www.store.com/hammers.htm

And have that invisibly map to whatever it needs to in the background, all
the while presenting that clean, simple, keyword happy URL to both the
client and the SE bots. 

Regards, 

Cameron