Why use Url Re-Writing and Redirection ?

What is web redirection and why would you want to use it?

Experts in web usability recommend that:

• URLs should be short and memorable
• URLs should be are easy-to-type
• URLs should help visualize the site structure
• URLs should be are "hackable"
• URLs should be consistent and persistent

There are several reasons you may want to redirect URLs on your website so that you can satisfy these goals:

Create friendly URLs with URL Re-Writing

Often the URLs that our dynamic database-driven websites generate are not the friendliest or most memorable. By re-writing URLs the long, ugly, querystring-type URLs can be shortened to much friendlier and more memorable ones.

Use friendly URLs to improve search rankings

Many search engines such as Google take the URL into account when indexing a site. Some ignore the query-string altogether and may not even index your pages. Having the relevant keywords and product names in your URL can help to dramatically increase your search engine rankings and site traffic.

Create 'Hackable' URLs

QueryString URLs make sense to programmers and web-developers who understand their purpose and how the site and database are likely to work behind the scenes but they are less intuitive to end-users who find a hierarchy of folders easier to visualise. By making your site appear to contain a folder-like hierarchy, it enables users to more easily manipulate the URL to find the information they require.

Use short email-friendly URLs

Long URLs can run into problems when they are automatically wrapped at 78 characters in email clients, breaking the URLs.

Rather than having instructions to copy and paste the URL fragments into one URL in the browser address bar (and having to rely on the users following them) it is much better to have shorter URLs that can be kept to one line.

With the increase in 'phishing' and spoofing, shorter URLs are also friendlier to users as they are quicker to visually scan and users will be more confident in clicking them without complex QueryString parameters.

Use URL redirection to track offsite clicks

It's impossible to know what off-site links your visitors are following if you provide direct URLs in your site. By using a simple redirect though you can have the links appear in your IIS logs for later analysis.

Keep consistent URLs during site reorganisation

You may have reorganised your website due to a redesign or growth and changed the name and/or location of some pages. Rather than lose traffic from people who have either bookmarked the old pages or from existing links and search-engine results you can instead redirect the requests to the new pages to avoid the 'linkrot' that can equal lost traffic.