Google rankings when going from html to xml

[Don]

I am translating a large (1,100 webpage) website from xhtml to xml,
which will change the file extensions from .html to .xml
How can I keep my excellent Google page rankings if my xhtml webpages
are replaced by xml webpages?

[Stefan Ram]

Re: Google rankings when going from html to xml

"Don" <donald_firesmi th@hotmail.com> writes:[color=blue]
>I am translating a large (1,100 webpage) website from xhtml to xml,
>which will change the file extensions from .html to .xml[/color]

This will not change the URI ending.

It is not required for the URI of an XHTML-resource or an
XML-resource to end in ".xml" or not to end in ".html".

[Don]

Re: Google rankings when going from html to xml

Are you suggesting that I keep my old URIs so that the new xml file
then has an html extension?

[Stefan Ram]

Re: Google rankings when going from html to xml

"Don" <donald_firesmi th@hotmail.com> writes:[color=blue]
>Are you suggesting that I keep my old URIs so that the new xml
>file then has an html extension?[/color]

As far as I know, this would be in accordance with all
specifications. It might be possible, that individual clients
could use the URI-ending to identify the resource type - I am
not aware of such clients. However, problems are posssible.

In order to keep the URI, I would even keep the ".html"
ending, when changing the resource to JPEG or PDF, to me,
".html" has no meaning or significance in this regard
whatsoever. A ".html" ending might be part of a URI for
historical reasons.

See also:

http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI

[Andrzej Adam Filip]

Re: Google rankings when going from html to xml

Don wrote:[color=blue]
> I am translating a large (1,100 webpage) website from xhtml to xml,
> which will change the file extensions from .html to .xml
> How can I keep my excellent Google page rankings if my xhtml webpages
> are replaced by xml webpages?[/color]

Have you considered keeping html version (generated by xslt from xml)?

You can put link to alternative format on every page and map
http://your.site/ to page in format of your choice e.g. based on web
browser type.

--
Andrzej [en:Andrew] Adam Filip anfi@priv.onet. pl anfi@xl.wp.pl
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
nothing" -- Edmund Burke (18th century)

[Andy Dingley]

Re: Google rankings when going from html to xml

On 13 Jun 2005 08:32:23 -0700, "Don" <donald_firesmi th@hotmail.com>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>I am translating a large (1,100 webpage) website from xhtml to xml,[/color]

_WHY_?!
[color=blue]
>which will change the file extensions from .html to .xml[/color]

There are no file extensions on the web. There are URIs, and these may
contain character strings that map onto file extensions stored on a
server. However these are not a fundamental part of the "web experience"
via HTTP and any competent web crawler (including GoogleBot) won;t care
about them.
[color=blue]
>How can I keep my excellent Google page rankings[/color]

You can't - you can't make XML web pages. "The web" uses HTML. Even if
you can make "XML pages" work for some obscure combination of specific
browsers and dependencies on client-side technologies, this is no longer
"a web page" by any useful meaning of the term.

You're throwing away wide-audience web standards and usefulness. Google
shoudl dump you, and rightfully so.


--
Smert' spamionam