Create SEO Friendly URLs With Mod Rewrite and PHP – Part II
More than a year back I had written a tutorial on creating SEO Friendly URLs with Mod Rewrite and PHP, where I had explained the basic SEO concepts of rewriting URLs to make them SEO friendly.
Though It has been over a year, numerous emails and comments have dropped in for me to write the second part of the series, so here it is 
In the first part I had explained the basic changes you would require to do in the .htaccess file to create SEO friendly URLs, the post explained how you can internally redirect a URL to any PHP page that is stored on your web server.
In this post I will explain how you need to modify the PHP files so that it will generate the SEO friendly links for your website.
The original URL we were dealing with would create URLs as this one http://www.yoursite.com/product.php?productid=2&categoryid=3, here is a example PHP code of that generates this URL. I am leaving the Database connection code out of the example to keep the examples short.
1: <?php
2: // Retrieve all products from the table
3: $result = mysql_query("SELECT product_id, product_title, category_id FROM products") or die(mysql_error());
4:
5: //fetch the result array
6: $products = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
7:
8: //iterate the products and create links
9: foreach($products as $product) {
10: $product_id = $product['product_id'];
11: $product_title = $product['product_title'];
12: $category_id = $product['category_id'];
13: //write the URL as http://www.yoursite.com/product.php?productid=2&categoryid=3
14: echo "<a href='http://www.yoursite.com/product.php?productid=$product_id&categoryid=$category_id'>$product_title</a>";
15: }
16: ?>
In order to generate SEO friendly links you will have to change the way you write the links to the page, the changes are pretty minor and here is the example code for writing the SEO friendly URLs on your pages with PHP.
1: <?php
2:
3: //iterate the products and create links
4: foreach($products as $product) {
5: $product_id = $product['product_id'];
6: $product_title = $product['product_title'];
7: $category_id = $product['category_id'];
8: //write the URL as http://www.yoursite.com/product/13/3/2-gb-mp3-player.htm
9: $product_title_url = gen_seo_friendly_titles($product_title)
10: echo "<a href='http://www.yoursite.com/product/$product_id/$category_id/$product_title_url.html'>$product_title</a>";
11: }
12:
13:
14: function gen_seo_friendly_titles($title) {
15: $replace_what = array(' ', ' - ', ' ', ', ', ',');
16: $replace_with = array(' ', '-', '-', ',', '-');
17:
18: $title = tolowercase($title);
19: $title = str_replace($replace_what, $replace_with, $title);
20: return $title;
21:
22: }
23:
24: ?>
In the code example, I changed the URL structure to match what we created in the .htaccess file, I am changing the product title to SEO friendly version by calling the method gen_seo_friendly_titles which takes the product title as a parameter.
The gen_seo_friendly_titles method basically lower cases the product name and replaces spaces and dashes to form a proper URL. You can use your own replacements in the method as you see it fit.
Also as you can see I am not directly manipulating the $product_title itself and saving it in another variable called $product_title_url, since we will be using the $product_title as the anchor text and would want it to remain as it is.
This concludes the series of creating SEO friendly URLs with Mod Rewrite and PHP, hopefully this should answer the many emails and comments about where the second part is , feel free to drop your question in the comments.
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Shantanu Goel
October 31st, 2008 at 1:08 pm #
Keith, your posts appears cut off/hidden slightly on the right side to me. Am using FF3 under linux..
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shubhodeep
November 1st, 2008 at 1:56 am #
thanks for the article. I emailed you and got a reply so early. thanks once again.
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shubhodeep
November 1st, 2008 at 1:57 am #
yeah, as shantanu pointed out, the post is a bit cut off on the right hand side. I’m suing FF3 under Vista.
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Keith Dsouza
November 1st, 2008 at 2:06 am #
@Shantanu @shubhodeep Thanks for the heads up, the issue has been fixed now
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sandip
February 18th, 2009 at 1:44 pm #
include_once “myconnect.php”;
include_once “date_time_format.php”;
if(isset($_REQUEST["cid"]))
{
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_pid=” . $_REQUEST["cid"]);
$rs=mysql_num_rows($cat_query);
if(($rs<=0)||($_REQUEST["cid"]==0))
{
header(“Location:”.”selloffers.php?cid=”.$_REQUEST["cid"]);
die();
}
}
function main()
{
$keyword=”";
if(isset($_REQUEST["keyword"])&&($_REQUEST["keyword"]“”))
{
$keyword=$_REQUEST["keyword"];
}
$config=mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_config”));
if(($config["sb_image_magik"]==”enable”))
{
$img_path=”thumbs1/”;
$img_pmt=”";
}
else
{
$img_path=”uploadedimages/”;
$img_pmt=”width=”.$config["sb_th_width"].” height=”.$config["sb_th_width"];
}
$cid=0;
if(isset($_REQUEST["cid"])&&($_REQUEST["cid"]“”))
{
$cid=$_REQUEST["cid"];
$sbqu_off=”update sbbleads_categories set sb_visit_sell=sb_visit_sell+1 where sb_id=$cid”;
mysql_query($sbqu_off);
}
/*$sell_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_offers where sb_approved=’yes’”));
$buy_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_offers_buy where sb_approved=’yes’”));
$product_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_products where sb_approved=’yes’”));
$profile_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_companyprofiles where sb_approved=’yes’”));*/
$catname=”";
$category=0;
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_id=” . $cid );
if ($cat=mysql_fetch_array($cat_query))
{
$catname=$cat["sb_cat_name"];
$category=$cat["sb_id"];
}
$catpath=”";
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_id=” . $cid );
while ($rs=mysql_fetch_array($cat_query))
{
$catpath =” > ” .$rs["sb_cat_name"].”“.$catpath;
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_id=” . $rs["sb_pid"] );
}
?>
<input name=”keyword” type=”text” value=”" size=”40″>
Sell Offers
Buy Offers
Products Catalogs
Company Profiles
Advance Search
Home
↓ Sell Offers
→ <a href=”cat_buy.php<?php if($cid0) echo “?cid=”.$cid;?>”>Buy
Offers
→ <a href=”cat_products.php<?php if($cid0) echo “?cid=”.$cid;?>”>Products
→ <a href=”cat_profiles.php<?php if($cid0) echo “?cid=”.$cid;?>”>Companies
Browse Sell Offers
NOW() $sbcat_str”;
$sboff_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_off_cat));
$sbq_buy_cat=”select * from sbbleads_offer_cats_buy, sbbleads_offers_buy where sb_approved=’yes’ and sbbleads_offers_buy.sb_id=sbbleads_offer_cats_buy.sb_offer_id and DATE_ADD(sb_postedon,INTERVAL “.$config["sb_expiry_buy"].” MONTH) > NOW() $sbcat_str”;
$sbbuy_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_buy_cat));
$sbq_product_cat=”select * from sbbleads_product_cats, sbbleads_products where sb_approved=’yes’ and sbbleads_products.sb_id=sbbleads_product_cats.sb_offer_id $sbcat_str”;
$sbproduct_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_product_cat));
$sbq_profile_cat=”select * from sbbleads_profile_cats, sbbleads_companyprofiles where sb_approved=’yes’ and sbbleads_companyprofiles.sb_id=sbbleads_profile_cats.sb_profile_id $sbcat_str”;
$sbprofile_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_profile_cat));
$sbtotal=$sboff_count;//$sboff_count+$sbbuy_count+$sbproduct_count+$sbprofile_count;
//die();
if($cnt%3==1)
{
?>
<a href=”index.php?cid=”>
<a href=”cat_sell.php?cid=”>()
Featured Offers
NOW() order by sb_id desc”;
$sbrs_off=mysql_query($sbq_off);
$num_rows=mysql_num_rows($sbrs_off);
$max_allowed=$config["sb_cat_featured"];
$number[0]=-1;
if($num_rows>$max_allowed)
{
for($i=0;$i<$max_allowed;$i++)
{
$unique=0;
while($unique==0)
{
$j=rand(0,$num_rows-1);
for($k=0;$k(count($number)-1))
{
$unique=1;
}
}
$number[$i]=$j;
}
}// end if num > no_allowed
/*for($k=0;$k<count($number);$k++)
{
echo $number[$k].” “;
}*/
$row=0;
$cnt=0;
$offer=mysql_fetch_array($sbrs_off);
while (($offer)&&($cnt$max_allowed)
{
for($k=0;$k
<? if ($images) {echo ““; } else
{
?>
<img src=”images/nopic.gif” >
<a
href=”view_offer.php?id=”>
50)
{
echo substr($offer["sb_title"], 0, strrpos( substr($offer["sb_title"], 0, 50),’ ‘ ));
}
else
{
echo $offer["sb_title"];
}
?>
[
]
Posted by
[
] on
100)
{
echo substr(strip_tags($offer["sb_description"]), 0, strrpos( substr(strip_tags($offer["sb_description"]), 0, 100),’ ‘ )) . “..”;
}
else
{
echo strip_tags($offer["sb_description"]);
}
?>
=$max_allowed))
{
?>
Default Ad
Become a Gold member and your
Offer will appear here.
Default Ad
Become a Gold member and your
Offer will appear here.
Reply to this comment
sandip
February 18th, 2009 at 1:47 pm #
Right now below script is giving me url like this
http://www.mysite.com/bb/cat_sell.php?cid=1
where as i am looking for url like this
http://www.mysite.com/bb/1/agriculture.html
where 1 is cid of agriculture
looking forward for your reply
include_once “myconnect.php”;
include_once “date_time_format.php”;
if(isset($_REQUEST["cid"]))
{
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_pid=” . $_REQUEST["cid"]);
$rs=mysql_num_rows($cat_query);
if(($rs<=0)||($_REQUEST["cid"]==0))
{
header(“Location:”.”selloffers.php?cid=”.$_REQUEST["cid"]);
die();
}
}
function main()
{
$keyword=”";
if(isset($_REQUEST["keyword"])&&($_REQUEST["keyword"]“”))
{
$keyword=$_REQUEST["keyword"];
}
$config=mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_config”));
if(($config["sb_image_magik"]==”enable”))
{
$img_path=”thumbs1/”;
$img_pmt=”";
}
else
{
$img_path=”uploadedimages/”;
$img_pmt=”width=”.$config["sb_th_width"].” height=”.$config["sb_th_width"];
}
$cid=0;
if(isset($_REQUEST["cid"])&&($_REQUEST["cid"]“”))
{
$cid=$_REQUEST["cid"];
$sbqu_off=”update sbbleads_categories set sb_visit_sell=sb_visit_sell+1 where sb_id=$cid”;
mysql_query($sbqu_off);
}
/*$sell_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_offers where sb_approved=’yes’”));
$buy_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_offers_buy where sb_approved=’yes’”));
$product_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_products where sb_approved=’yes’”));
$profile_num=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query(“select * from sbbleads_companyprofiles where sb_approved=’yes’”));*/
$catname=”";
$category=0;
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_id=” . $cid );
if ($cat=mysql_fetch_array($cat_query))
{
$catname=$cat["sb_cat_name"];
$category=$cat["sb_id"];
}
$catpath=”";
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_id=” . $cid );
while ($rs=mysql_fetch_array($cat_query))
{
$catpath =” > ” .$rs["sb_cat_name"].”“.$catpath;
$cat_query=mysql_query(“Select * from sbbleads_categories where sb_id=” . $rs["sb_pid"] );
}
?>
<input name=”keyword” type=”text” value=”" size=”40″>
Sell Offers
Buy Offers
Products Catalogs
Company Profiles
Advance Search
Home
↓ Sell Offers
→ <a href=”cat_buy.php<?php if($cid0) echo “?cid=”.$cid;?>”>Buy
Offers
→ <a href=”cat_products.php<?php if($cid0) echo “?cid=”.$cid;?>”>Products
→ <a href=”cat_profiles.php<?php if($cid0) echo “?cid=”.$cid;?>”>Companies
Browse Sell Offers
NOW() $sbcat_str”;
$sboff_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_off_cat));
$sbq_buy_cat=”select * from sbbleads_offer_cats_buy, sbbleads_offers_buy where sb_approved=’yes’ and sbbleads_offers_buy.sb_id=sbbleads_offer_cats_buy.sb_offer_id and DATE_ADD(sb_postedon,INTERVAL “.$config["sb_expiry_buy"].” MONTH) > NOW() $sbcat_str”;
$sbbuy_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_buy_cat));
$sbq_product_cat=”select * from sbbleads_product_cats, sbbleads_products where sb_approved=’yes’ and sbbleads_products.sb_id=sbbleads_product_cats.sb_offer_id $sbcat_str”;
$sbproduct_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_product_cat));
$sbq_profile_cat=”select * from sbbleads_profile_cats, sbbleads_companyprofiles where sb_approved=’yes’ and sbbleads_companyprofiles.sb_id=sbbleads_profile_cats.sb_profile_id $sbcat_str”;
$sbprofile_count=mysql_num_rows(mysql_query($sbq_profile_cat));
$sbtotal=$sboff_count;//$sboff_count+$sbbuy_count+$sbproduct_count+$sbprofile_count;
//die();
if($cnt%3==1)
{
?>
<a href=”index.php?cid=”>
<a href=”cat_sell.php?cid=”>()
Featured Offers
NOW() order by sb_id desc”;
$sbrs_off=mysql_query($sbq_off);
$num_rows=mysql_num_rows($sbrs_off);
$max_allowed=$config["sb_cat_featured"];
$number[0]=-1;
if($num_rows>$max_allowed)
{
for($i=0;$i<$max_allowed;$i++)
{
$unique=0;
while($unique==0)
{
$j=rand(0,$num_rows-1);
for($k=0;$k(count($number)-1))
{
$unique=1;
}
}
$number[$i]=$j;
}
}// end if num > no_allowed
/*for($k=0;$k<count($number);$k++)
{
echo $number[$k].” “;
}*/
$row=0;
$cnt=0;
$offer=mysql_fetch_array($sbrs_off);
while (($offer)&&($cnt$max_allowed)
{
for($k=0;$k
<? if ($images) {echo ““; } else
{
?>
<img src=”images/nopic.gif” >
<a
href=”view_offer.php?id=”>
50)
{
echo substr($offer["sb_title"], 0, strrpos( substr($offer["sb_title"], 0, 50),’ ‘ ));
}
else
{
echo $offer["sb_title"];
}
?>
[
]
Posted by
[
] on
100)
{
echo substr(strip_tags($offer["sb_description"]), 0, strrpos( substr(strip_tags($offer["sb_description"]), 0, 100),’ ‘ )) . “..”;
}
else
{
echo strip_tags($offer["sb_description"]);
}
?>
=$max_allowed))
{
?>
Default Ad
Become a Gold member and your
Offer will appear here.
Default Ad
Become a Gold member and your
Offer will appear here.
Reply to this comment
omer
September 9th, 2009 at 5:10 am #
hi i am using your code for seo friendly urls but some how when i click the link that i have made it goes to that page and makes the url; friendly but the CSS appears to be missing when i visit through the lik that i have made as per your suggested method what should i do
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Sergio
October 11th, 2009 at 5:32 pm #
Having problems, i’m getting the urls to work, but the page shows up with no styles
Other than that, the article was great
Reply to this comment
Keith Dsouza Reply:
October 11th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
@Sergio The problem will be seen, if you are using an external CSS stylesheet using relative path like /style.css or ../style.css, try changing the stylesheet to use a full path starting with http:// this should solve your problem.
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