best way to change website structure without losing serp

[unwashed potato!]

currently one of my sites uses the following structure co.uk/pictures.php?p=photography&x=album2 which really needs to change as it looks very ugly on search results and links in general.

I think a mod rewrite would be best so that i can get something like .co.uk/pictures (i like not having the .php) but i don't want to lose any serp so would appreciate any advice as to how i should go about doing this.

if mod_rewrite is the way to go then how do i change links on my site? will i need to go through and make links now point to /pictures/photography/album1 rather then /pictures.php etc? also the same for links to the old pages? i guess htaccess to redirect to new pages?

thanks

 

[unwashed potato!]

serp?!

search engine results page. did i not use it correctly or you not heard of it?

so mod_rewrite wont hurt my position on google search results? taken ages to get where i am now don't want to go making it worse just yet

 

[unwashed potato!]

ok i'm still a little confused with how mod_rewrite works. do i continue to internally link to pages as normal e.g. ?p=services&s=webdesign, and then mod_rewrite will automatically change this for me to something nice i specify such as .co.uk/serivces/web-design and it'll also automatically redirect the user that clicks on an old link to the ugly url to the nicer new one?

if not can someone explain. i'm doing a new site and i'm not sure if i should set it up without mod_rewrite now so linking to pages such as about/faq.php, and then let mod_rewrite change this to something nicer, or should i link now to about/frequently-asked-questions ?

i feel like if mod_rewrite doesn't auto change my internal links to the nicer urls then whats the point of it as i could change the urls and then the structure without mod_rewrite to the same surely?

 

[unwashed potato!]

thanks for the reply.

so for the second example you gave which was to change the ugly query string into something nice, is this not internally done then with my links? i can leave them as they currently are and then just enabled the mod_rewrite and it's all done assuming i get no errors?

 

[unwashed potato!]

sounds like perhaps mod_rewrite isn't what i want but just a redesign of the structure of my site.

 

[unwashed potato!]

an example of what i want to change is

http://www.greencleansolution.co.uk/?p=services&s=office

to

http://www.greencleansolution.co.uk/office-cleaning

as i said i think perhaps just a re-structure of the whole thing will be best as mod_rewrite i suspect will quickly get ugly and will end up doing what sub folders can easily do any way