How to Remove File Extension (.php, .html) from URL using .htaccess

The SEO experts says, there is no effect on SEO if your website URLs having .php, .htm or .html extension in there URL. Then why we need to remove these extensions from the URLs. As per experts says and my opinion that there are multiple benefits of not having file extensions in the URL, like:

• Back-end technology is hidden from end users. But it’s still not hard to identify the technology for experts.
• The best pros of this is that we can easily change backend technology without affecting SEO of the pages.
• Read more about .htaccess here

To implement it, first you need to create a .htaccess file. Put it under the website document root. Then add the setting in the file as per your requirement to remove file extensions.

Removing .php Extension from URL

For example, You need to change URL from http://example.com/demo.php to http://example.com/demo. Edit .htaccess file and add following settings.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.php [NC,L]

Now, If user accessed /demo in the browser, it will show the content from /demo.php. But still, if any user typed completed URL as http://example.com/demo.php, this will not redirect. Now you need to add some more rules to the .htaccess file.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NC,L,R]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.php [NC,L]

Removing .html Extension from URL

For example you need to convert your url from http://example.com/demo.html to http://example.com/demo. Edit .htaccess file and add following settings:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^([^.]+)$ $1.html [NC,L]

Now, If user accessed /demo in the browser, it will show the content from /demo.html. Now, You may need to redirect users which typed complete URL as http://example.com/demo.html to the new URL http://example.com/demo

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /([^.]+)\.html [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NC,L,R]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.html [NC,L]