Search Engine-Friendly URLs & Google

[pv25]

I'm using the third method (ForceType Directive) that Aspen describes in his article on search engine-friendly URLs.

My concern stems from the number of variables contained in the array/url (which can be as many as four) and the way that I understand Google spiders my site (which may be wrong).

A url on my site may look like this: http://www.mysite.com/page/9/10/3/1. Does this kind of url inhibit Google? As I understand, it's possible that crawl depth is related to PageRank.

If so, can I simply change the "/" to another character, like "X", making the URL http://www.mysite.com/script/9X10X3X1?

[aspen]

Directory depth has nothing to do with PageRank.

This is a myth that gets perpetuated because of a "Feature" of the Google toolbar.

If the toolbar has a PR for a domain, but not for a page on that domain (ie a new page it hasn't spidered) then it will guess a PageRank based on the number of directories from the root. This is why brand new geocities pages (go ahead, go make one and test this) are ranked highly. However, once Google spiders the page the toolbar will then display an actual PageRank, often much lower.

That being said you could use "X" as you mention, however these URLs are not just SE friendly, they're also people friendly, and using the X would make it less people friendly.