Question Marks and Query Strings

[Northie]

Long ago, it was said that search engines didn't index URLs with querystrings in them.

Then, it became clear that SEs did index URLs with querystrings.

Then it was noted that SEs avoided URLs with session IDs in them, as these often get regenerated and a spider could get stuck in an infinite loop.

Guidelines popped up, such that a question mark is fine, but:

Don't use the letters "id" in any of the variable names
Limit the number of variables to 3
Be consistent in the variable order.

Anyway, I've never had a problem with "dynamic" URLs, but I'm trying to convince a client that they're okay - and I'm not having much luck.

Most stuff I read says not to use them, and although I could re-write using .htaccess or similar, is there anything wrong (from an SEO point of view) with the following format:

http://example.com/?Category/Details/forProduct/7

?

[cryptblade]

your client is right, you are wrong. they are not OK to keep. if you have a client paying you and you're supposed to give the client SEO advice and/or service, you should be giving your client all of the best practice SEO advice out there, including URL optimization.

[AussieWebmaster]

will the pages be indexed yes... do the names in the urls impact yes - so optimizing the urls is best practice