Hi,

Quote Originally Posted by highlander View Post
IS there somewhere I can read up on the purpose and real world benefits of URI mapping, and what it will do for people like me? The " URI Mapping for Dummies version" would be best.

How does it improve search engine ranking?
The module was primarily written so that stores could be in control of their own URIs, so you could set up easy to remember and type addresses for customers, which can be used on advertising flyers etc. (e.g. yoursite.com/april-specials)

The fact that it uses real language in the URI instead of product IDs and other technical codes means that keywords can be part of the URI, which is where the SEO benefits come in.

As I said, the primary purpose was not SEO but a side effect of the way the module works is that it does indeed improve rankings. Many people have written to me to say their rankings jumped after installing the module and creating mappings while sites they didn't have the software installed on remained the same. So that's a nice side effect. Of course the strength of that side effect will differ for everyone and depend upon the words used in URIs, how appropriate they are for the page's content (the main focus of any SEO obviously).

All the best..

Conor
ceon