Alternatives to dynamic pages?

[NavySeals]

I'm in charge of performing the majority of the SEO on the clients at my SEM firm, and normally I have their tech guys just perform mod_rewrites to turn the dynamic pages into static ones. Now I'm faced with a bit of a problem. A few of our most recent clients are not willing to perform the mod_rewrite we've asked them about, so aside from an extremely large direct and deep linking campaign to make up for the huge lack of static pages, how else can we optimize their pages? Are there alternative methods other than mod_rewrite that we can perform on stubborn sites? Any help is always greatly appreciated, so thanks in advance.

[rustybrick]

Just how bad are the URLs? I mean, how many variables are in the typical URL?

[rcjordan]

I've framed the dynamic pages, each page with it's own frameset "wrapper." Then build your nav, sitemaps, etc, to the static framed page url. Finally, load a static copy of the "usual" dynamic output for that page in the noframes. Blacken to taste.

[rustybrick]

Is it because they won't give you any server access? Kind of need to know what rights are given to you.

[seomike]

Tell them you're the freaking doctor and if they don't like your diagnosis then they can suffer in the search engines.

Otherwise you can just make static pages with a dynamic include.

example.

blue-widgets.php

<?
// code for blue-widgets.php
include("product.php?product_id=234&color=blue&type=widgets");
?>


you'll have to do that per dynamic url. So slap them in the head and say I'll charge ya 100 hours to do a static site this way. or 1 hour to do a mod rewrite. :D

[NavySeals]

Tell them you're the freaking doctor and if they don't like your diagnosis then they can suffer in the search engines.

Otherwise you can just make static pages with a dynamic include.

example.

blue-widgets.php

<?
// code for blue-widgets.php
include("product.php?product_id=234&color=blue&type=widgets");
?>


you'll have to do that per dynamic url. So slap them in the head and say I'll charge ya 100 hours to do a static site this way. or 1 hour to do a mod rewrite. :D


HAHAHA!!! I'm sure they'd be thrilled... Sad thing is, if it would get to having to do it at such a slow pace, then I would be editting them for the next 5 years. Their site has nearly 100,000 dynamic pages, and yes, their URL's are HUGE and ugly.

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

If you are focusing entirely on mod_rewrite you are missing out a whole lot of other ways to change an otherwise un-indexable website My priority list usually looks something like this:

1) Fix the system
2) Ad a "transformation layer" of some kind (mod_rewrite is one)
3) Ad "replication layer" of some kind (static replication, frameing etc)
4) Use external promotion domains (which off course, dosen't fix anything on the real website!)
5) Use paid inclusion and paid placement (same issue as above)

However, if the client won't give you access to their servers and won't let you make, or suggest, any changes to the system then your options are very limited. As you probably already know SEO is not a magic bullet. It actually does take actions and sometimes changes to the way things are done now. Some clients will never understand that - most will.

Personally I would not have a problem dropping a client that really don't trust my advice anyway. But thats just because I can afford to say no. I know many companies can't. In that case I think you issue is more "human" that SEO-related dealing with that client :)

[rogerd]

Don't forget the human element. Sometimes, a client may say, "You can't do that" for no good reason. For example, the marketing guy checks with the IT guy, who says, "They want to change our URLs? What for? They don't need to do that, it's the same page either way. Tell them NO."

Before you fire this client, have a sit-down with management. Show them their current ugly URL. Ask them how easy it would be for one of their customers to write it down or type it in. Show them some SERPs for their keywords and show them that the top ranking pages are either static or have short queries (I'm assuming that to be the case). Then briefly explain what your changes will do.

Top managers often don't argue with their IT people because they lack the technical knowledge to do so. If that is the situation here, you'll have to present your case simply and logically.