Does the webpage play any role in SEO. Is HTML or HTM more favourable comparing to other extensions such as .php or less know extensions?

In my opinion there is no difference, whatsoever. HTML, PHP or ASP files are treated the same.

I don't think it matters either way for a simple page. If you are just talking index.htm vs index.php with no variables (ie no ?mode=reply.... type stuff) then no difference either way SEO wise.

HOWEVER - if the PHP Page is something like:
http://www.webmasterforum.com.au/posting.php?mode=reply&f=27&t=88 (the page i'm on)
vs http://www.webmasterforum.com.au/Search-Engines-and-SEO/Google/SEO/Webpage-extension-html-or-php-importance-in-seo.html (made up address - it won't work)
this would be a lot better. Not because of php vs html itself, but because variables with numbers are not as good for SEO as words.

If your site is dynamically generated using variables (as this one is) you can use a thing called mod_rewrite in the .htaccess file to internally rewrite everything to SEO friendly URL's. It is however VERY difficult even for most programmers as the syntax is quite complex. On the other hand programs like wordpress have SEO plugins that do basically just that, written by clever people who understand such things. For custom sites though, it's a big job!

Hope this helps

Matt
Marketing Web
________________________________________
Some sites I'm working on currently:
Lawn Mowing Albury
Laser Treatment Albury
Promotional Products
Resourcing Change
Christian Dating
Steel Cattle Yards

I guess most of us know the power of URL rewriting and the search engine optimised URL's containing keywords, but do you think that exactly two the same pages with the same strong backlinks, the same optimised content, and all other SEO things you can think of, would rank much different just based on SEO rewritten URLs.

I know this is little of the subject, because we are discussing file extension, but what I am probably asking is how important in SEO are really URL's and keywords within.

Number of years ago, some thought that registering domain names containg keywords was very important. Since Google bombing was invented and recognised, I think now it seems like the only important thing are the backlinks and the keywords in backlinks and the content that the backlinks are placed in.

And getting back to the subject, I also think that extension hardly matters.

Re digipro's comment, i agree the extension hardly matters PROVIDED it' just a pure extension.

However the comments about keywords not mattering I completely disagree with. As simple evidence of this Google makes words bold in it's search results that match keywords, including in the URL. I've also personally proven it in the past where I was struggling to get ranked well for a particular site, added in URL rewriting including proper keywords, and pretty quickly got a lot more google love. Having a keyword filled domain name or extension will not get you to the top of google automatically, but I can categorically say it does help.

The example you were talking about of google bombing has NOTHING to do with this - Google Bombing is making a page rank for a word DESPITE a lack of the word being on the page. If anything, to combat google bombing they are INCREASING the value of keywords being on a page, combined with link strength etc, and having one or the other will no longer work. The classic google bomb was "worst president ever" showing up George Bush's whitehouse page even though the word's worst and ever were both not on the page. This type of thing doesn't work as well any more, which proves the opposite of what you have stated.

I think it was actually ''miserable', 'failure' and 'miserable failure' searches that pointed to Bush's website.

P_Plater when you visit next time, you will probably be reading and thinking how did this topic turned into Google Bomb subject... It does happens sometimes. Here is the link for anyone interested about Google Bomb examples specially the ones related to politics

On the subject of extensions, I also don't think there is any difference between .htm and others.

you can name the pages with a .php or .html extension as long as it does not contain any special characters such as spaces and ampersand signs.

No difference they are treated as same

file extensions don't matter anymore. have you noticed wordpress? all post/links don't have extension anymore yet wordpress is the most seo friendly CMS.

Im told the search engines favour long tail keywords, as in http://www.huntervalleyhampers.com.au/v ... ducts.html although this is a little ugly it does have lots of keywords for hampers and gourmet wine.

Then there is http://www.huntervalleyhampers.com.au/c ... amper.html which is pure hamper and gourmet long tail address and keyword rich.

It works and its effective.
Cheers,
Brendan