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Making URL's search friendly can be difficult if you are using a complex content management system, but the rewards of having very usable filenames are well worth it.

A URL is search friendly if it is broken down into the most basic components.

For example, here is a common shopping cart product URL:
site.com/detail.aspx?opid=D01&dia_refno=35875

it would be much better to rewrite this as:
site.com/jewlery/diamonds/3carat/marquis-diamond.html

Rewriting the URL has benefits for search engines and users. Search engines can clearly determine the nature and meaning of the page as well as its taxonomy in your website structure, and users can "read" your URL in the search results and know that it matches their search query.


here is an example of rewriting filenames:
site.com/detail.php?opid=contact

rewritten:
site.com/contact.html

I prefer to use .html as the filename extension because it is the most commonly known and people wont be confused by it. Its best not to confuse people with .htm .shtml .aspx .php .py etc. Remember, if you want people to forward your links to others and have people successfully type in your website pages, they need to be as simple as possible.