Page Names & HTML Page Names

[Charles Bastari]

I changed the wording of dozens upon dozens of section names under the section details general tab about a month ago, but realized today that the html page names under the section details layout tab didn't change with the page names. From a SEO point of view, do they need to match? It's going to cause a whole bunch (gross understatement) of 404 errors for awhile if I make them match. I'm real proud of my new custom 404 page, but after all it is a page I would rather never be seen. Making them match would also mean recoding a kazillion hand coded links.

What should I do?

c

[pinbrook]

it is not necessary for pagenames and html page names to match.

some people have keyword rich html page names in the hope that it is better SEO. I feel that whilst it may help it is not crucial if you have a good page title and good body text.

If you do go down the route of changing your page names then you should be looking at a 301 redirection on the old page name to the new one. This will preserve all your traffic whilst the new name becomes indexed.

301 is better for your visitors as it will take them straight to the new replacment page rather than making them find it themselves using the 404 custom page.

There are plenty of posts about 301. Search for 301 permanent redirect

[Charles Bastari]

it is not necessary for pagenames and html page names to match.

That's the answer I was hoping for. No addition to the current work load.

I'll learn about 301 redirects another time.

Thank you Jo.