In the latest installment of Google’s SEO Snippets Q&A videos, John Mueller addresses the inquiry:
“Will removing .html from my URLs help my site?”
The short answer is: no.
Mueller explains that Google doesn’t care whether URLs end in .html, .php, .asp, or have no file extensions at all. Regardless of a URL’s ending, it will still appear the same way in search results.
In fact, removing file extensions from URLs could potentially harm the site. This process is akin to restructuring a site, requiring old URLs to be redirected to new ones. Like any site restructuring, it will take time for Google to reprocess the changes.
If you find yourself in a situation where you must remove file extensions from URLs, such as transitioning to a content management system that doesn’t support them, Mueller advises doing this during a period when search traffic is less critical.
Here is the content of Mueller’s full response:
”URLs are important for search engines like Google. Do they care which endings your URLs use though? The answer is no.
Google uses URLs to identify pieces of content. Whether your URLs end with .html, .php, .asp, or just have words in them, doesn’t really matter to Google. All of these URLs can show up in search in the same way.
That said, if you need to change your URLs, for example if you move to a new content management system that doesn’t allow you to use .html URLs at all, keep in mind that this change would be a restructuring of your website. You would need to redirect the old URLs to the new ones.
This kind of change can take quite a bit of time to be reprocessed. So picking a time when you’re not dependent on search is a good idea. And because it can take time, we don’t recommend making this kind of change on a whim. When making URL changes, choose URLs that you’re sure can last a longer period of time.”
