: What should I do to notify Google of a switch from ".php" to extension-free URL's? I've implemented a simple mod-rewrite rule that internally rewrites urls without a file extension (that are

@Sue5673885

I recommend using 301 Moved Permanently redirect. Until then, if you're concerned that Google may categorize the pages as duplicate content then providing a sitemap or adding the rel=canonical link element into the head of each document should resolve the issue. If it is not possible to add the rel=canonical markup to the document, e.g. PDF, the recommendation is to append a Link: in the HTTP headers.

LINK Syntax Example:

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/product"/>


HTTP Header Syntax Example:

Link: www.example.com/product; rel="canonical"

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@Sims2060225

Yes, if you have your URLs redirected properly.
Yes. You should be using a 301 redirect instead of internally rewriting the URLs.
No, this is completely unnecessary. If your old URLs are 301 redirected to the new URLs, then Google will know that those resources have been permanently renamed/moved. That's the whole point of having a 301 redirect code (as opposed to using the other 3xx response codes).

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