I've been advised by the developer of my sitemap generator to not only institute a 301 Redirect from index.php to the root of my site, but to remove all references to index.php in my blog.

The thought is to remove all redundant references, thus maximizing SEO and making things simpler for Google.

Is this second step advisable, or is the Redirect sufficient?

Thanks.

Either version is fine, with the page name or without. It doesn't actually matter.

What matters is that you are consistent, and only use one version when linking internally and externally.

You have to be VERY careful when setting a redirect from index page name to site/folder root as it is all too easy to set up a closed loop.

What matters is that you are consistent, and only use one version when linking internally and externally.

OK, then. I'd prefer to institute the redirect but continue to use the links as my blog creates them, starting with index.php.

Unfortunately, though, the redirect causes my sitemap generator to create two sets of links -- one with index.php and one without.

The index.php links are all titled "301 Moved" by the sitemap generator.

Should I filter this set of links from the sitemap, and keep the new ones? Or filter the new urls and keep the index.php set?

Thanks.

OK, then. I'd prefer to institute the redirect but continue to use the links as my blog creates them, starting with index.php.

I'd say that would be the exact opposite of being consistent.

My first part of the solution would be to get rid of the "sitemap generator" completely

Originally Posted by chrishirst

My first part of the solution would be to get rid of the "sitemap generator" completely

Fine. I'll do that. And after that, I'll get rid of the redirect, too.

Thanks for all your help!