Knowledgebase Search Engine Optimization

Are Keywords in Dynamic URLs Important?

Keywords in the variable names after the question mark (?) in dynamic urls are in fact considered by search engines like Google. However, it has been the standard practice of many web programmers to use numbers or short strings of letters for variable names in php (dynamic) urls, never thinking of them as being included in the part of the url that Google considers when determining a web page's search engine position.

Example:

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/books/movie-books.php?year=2004

You can see evidence of Google placing emphasis on keywords in the variable names of dynamic urls by performing a Google search. Similar to the example dynamic url shown above, you will need to find a dynamic url search result returned by Google that has the string '.php?' in it followed by one or several variable names and values. Each variable-name/value set will be separated by an ampersand '&'. Then repeat your original search, only this time include one of the variable names that comes after the question mark (only do this if the php variable name wasn't already in your initial search string). This way we can see if Google does in fact recognize the dynamic url variable name when it is used as a keyword in the Google search string.

For further proof, let's look at the example url displayed above. In the Google search box, if we type in 'chasingthefrog Movies Based on Books year 2004', the first search result that we see in Google looks similar to the search result we see below. In the example below, look at the dynamic URL shown underneath in green text. Notice that both the php variable name 'year' and its value '2004' are in bold, because they are keywords that Google has in fact found in the dynamic url.

How much weight does Google put on keywords in the variable names of dynamic urls?

Even though we have proven above that Google does consider keywords in dynamic urls when determining a web page's search engine position, the overall emphasis that Google puts on these keywords is most likely very small. Basically, if you're able to use keywords in your php variable names, then you should probably consider it, but if doing so requires you to go back and make significant changes to your code, then don't worry about it. It's going to make very little, if any difference in your overall search engine position.