HACKER Q&A
📣 Mike_Andreuzza

Is removing. HTML, .php, etc...bad for SEO in 2020?


I just removed my websites .html extension and is affecting gloriously my traffic, I would say.

Should I submit the new url on Google Search console?

The site. - https://www.colorsandfonts.com

Is hosted on netlify.

thank you / Mike


  👤 TechBro8615 Accepted Answer ✓
The problem is not the lack of extensions, but the fact you changed existing URLs. So now every existing URL looks like a dead link, which google does not like. Make sure you 301 any existing URLs to the new ones (should be fairly easy since it’s an obvious structure of extension to no extension)

👤 viraptor
Have you just removed the extensions, or have you permanently redirected the traffic, marked both urls as same, etc.

There are third-party-documented changes to the algorithm, like https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change where you can see what matters these days.

Things like extensions should be meaningless for decades now.