I used to get an awful lot of traffic from google searches.  Then I stopped blogging.  It was just a period of being terribly busy and having no time to really stay current.  Google has dropped me from their index almost entirely.  That's really not a problem for me, I have no revenue tied to this site and traffic is merely a novelty.  In fact, I didn't think I had any readers but it looks like Michael was hangin'  on!  (thanks for the support man)

Point being, the content didn't change and the posts are still there.  However, google stopped seeing updates.  I was not making contributions and therefore the index value fell of the edge of the world.  It makes sense to me the sites with frequent update are valued as they are likely including new information.  Even if that information is all jibberish, its fresh.  If other sites link in, then its authoritive. If it just sits stagnant, what value is it?  There is a perception that content at a url should never change if your intention is to increase page rank.  If you are talking about the content material and topic, yes.  If you are talking about the actual text... in a word: no!  This is, of course, my opinion based on personal experience.  One of my best friends is our SEO optimization specialist and he has been very successful with helping us show up appropriately on the search engines.  We are in slight disagreement about this point. 

I suppose I am merely pontificating on something that is always a restricitve consideration when developing dynamic websites.  You have to respect url consistency and the meaningfulness of url paths. Url paths are supposed to be meaningful.  Are they supposed to be static? 

The core thing to ensure is that a path that was reachable is still reachable and has the same meaning.  If you let a path fail in a 404, you have lost at least one visitor.  Its like writing directions to a restaurant ona billboard and then moving the restaurant.  Or, its like having your yoga schedule posted online and leaving a note on the door, "classes cancelled today."  No, I'll never let you live that one down.  Butyou might as well have left a note on the door that said, "404 - yoga teacher not found."

So now I have made my point.  Its not a good one or even an important one.  Its just an observation.  The path that you lead your visitors down should be the path you intend them to follow always.  If you realize you made a mistake and must move or change the location of their destination, make sure the signs are clear and the journey is simple.  Try to lead down the right path the first time and you won't have a problem later on.

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