File Extension Change

[Cyanide]

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For technical reasons I have to change a number of my pages from .htm to .php. Unfortunately, I already have a number of inbound links to the .htm pages. If I were to change the files from example.htm to example.php, but in the example.htm page place a redirect to example.php, would I still receive the PR benefits of the link?

Sorry if that isn't very well phrased.

Thanks,
Cyanide

[KirstyM]

If you put a mod_rewrite in place on your site, you could make your URL's still look as if they had a .htm file extension.

That way, you'd get the technical benefit of your php functionality and still retain the benefit of your incoming links to your existing .htm pages.

You'll need an apache module enabled on your site. I personally can't do this, but I've had it done on database driven sites that I own, and the search engine benefits are quite significant.

Here's a guide I found that talks more about how to do it: -

http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/sitema...rewriting.html

I hope it helps!

[tbp]

Do you necessarily have to change the .htm files to .php?

If you use Apache, you can use the ForceType directive in the config file (or in .htaccess if they host has allowed it) to make Apache parse .htm files as PHP.

It makes no difference to .htm files with no PHP in them, but .htm files with PHP code in them will work correctly.

That way you could still use PHP in your pages (which I take it is the need for the change), but don't have to change the links.

[Barry]

You can also get php.exe to run all the htm files on a windows server too. What server op system are you using Cyanide so we can give some more advice?