Changing a url from .html to .com

[SEODinosaur]

Hello,

I have a client that has a site with a .html plugin and I have read that its best to not have this. We currently have pages ranking with this .html plug in. However If we take the plug in out will we lose rankings? would we need a 301 or something?

[josh-riley]

Any time you change a URL you need a 301 redirect. If you set it up properly and go from a .html to a .com URL as your primary there shouldn't be too much fall out.

[SEODinosaur]

Sorry. I was not referring to .com... My mistake..

This is the current url http://www.domain.com/something**.html** would taking out the .html hurt our current rankings. For this type of change would it be best to do 301 a canonical or just leave it?

[josh-riley]

The advantage of the 301, although sometimes trickier to implement (my site can't handle canonicals, so I am used to everything being trickier!) is that with the 301, it tells Google that the page content has moved permanently from the old URL. Eventually then Google will un-index the old URL and it will essentially cease to exist.

If implemented properly you shouldn't be hurt as you're still telling Google where to go so they can follow.

[josh-riley]

And, if you are interested, here's a nice blog on it: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/301-redirect-or-relcanonical-which-one-should-you-use

[SEODinosaur]

Yes I have read this thank you we just did both 301 and canonical. Do you think this is fine? using both? or can it hurt our current SERP results?