Shorter URLs

[FXDD]

Hi

Is there a real value in having the keywords in the URL structure?

we could use the URL:

Mybrand.com/software/tablets/ipad/supertrader.html

Or instead have the CMS create the shorter version mybrand.com/supertrader.html

and just optimize this page for the keyword 'supertrader ipad software'

[FXDD]

Thanks for this awesome recommendation!

Do you see any problem in shorting only the software  (money making) category, while leaving other categories long?

such as

mybrand.com/services/money-managers

mybrand.com/resources/education/how-to-trade

[Anthony_NorthSEO]

Hi Mozter,

I tend to agree with Cyrus on this issue, and both answers have already provided a great deal of insight.

But.. I'll throw my own two cents in as well, just in case you're still torn. There are Pros and Cons to each approach, as already mentioned. This dilemma most commonly arises when optimizing eCommerce based sites with multiple categories and subcategories, and a lot of times the best approach depends on the industry in question.

A little bit of keyword research is always important and will likely shed a lot of light on how users search for products in a particular niche. Google's Keyword Tool and SEOMoz's Keyword Difficulty Tool are both great resources.

Cyrus already noted several benefits of a shorter URL structure, and I'll expand on that as it relates to commerce driven platforms.

Like over-optimization, keyword cannibalization can be a major issue when optimizing products within the same category. For example, the URL you mentioned will likely have several similar URLs:

Mybrand.com/software/tablets/ipad/supertrader.html

Mybrand.com/software/tablets/ipad/product2.html

Mybrand.com/software/tablets/ipad/product3.html

and so on...

The result of this structure is that you have multiple URLs that are competing to rank for the same keywords (software, tablets, and ipad) and 9 times out of 10, all of the URLs will rank lower in Google, rather than a single URL ranking higher in the results.

If you were a potential customer, what would you search for? "SuperTrader Software for Ipad Tablet" or "SuperTrader for Ipad"? My guess would be the 2nd.

Assuming a more short-tail keyword search i.e. "Ipad Software", again you'll have multiple URLs containing those keywords, and likely a lower ranking for each.

Also remember, the shorter the URL, the more relevance that is placed on each keyword in that URL.

My suggestion is to use a flat structure that contains more descriptive keywords such as:

Mybrand.com/tablet-software/ (Category Page w/subcategories for each OS)

Mybrand.com/ipad-software/ (Category w/ software products for Ipad)

**Mybrand.com/supertrader-ipad/ **(Product - SuperTrader for iPad)

Mybrand.com/android-sofware/ (Category w/ software products for Android)

Mybrand.com/supertrader-android/ (Product - SuperTrader for Android)

This should allow better optimization for long-tail and short-tail keywords and help to avoid multiple URLs competing for the same keywords. It will be much easier to process for the user as well.

Also "Apps" may be a better choice than "Software" but I'm sure the competition is much fiercer.

Finally, on a side note, if you're using Magento as your CMS, I'd suggest removing the ".html" URL suffix from the URLs and Categories and replacing it with a trailing slash by going to System --> Configuration --> Catalog --> Search Engine Optimization. I'd be glad to help you with enabling the shorter URLs and Rel Canonical Meta Tags to best optimize this structure in Magento as well. If you're running another eCommerce Platform, I got nothin' for ya.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Anthony

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Hi Mozter (nice username

I liked Martin's answer, so let me just add my own 2 cents.

Yes, there are advantages to having keywords in the URL, but there are also drawbacks as well. The keywords can not only be used as a contextual signal for Google - improving your rankings in some cases, but keywords can also help your click-through rate when the URL appears in search results.

Then there's the downside.

• Longer URLs are harder to share socially
• Longer URLs tend to rank slightly worse, for whatever reason
• Keyword stuffing / Over-optimization

Finally, many SEO believe in creating a flat directory structure, meaning most pages of your site should be as close to the root directory as possible. i.e. homepage.com/your-page-here. In my opinion, this is a better solution that having several directories in the same URL like homepage.com/keyword/keyword/keyword.

In cases like this, it's best to default to the user and try to optimize for their experience.

Hope this helps. Best of luck with your SEO!

[SamPenno]

"edit - sorry my iphone bunched my post up!"

Hi

Having the keyword in the URL is helpful in a number of ways;

1.) relevancy to the page
2.) branding
3.) easy of navigation (user experience)
4.) categorisation

It would be far better to include the keyword in the URL for the above reasons but also for future development of ur site.

For example, how would you target the title, page content, alt tags, images, technical info, metadata etc for search engines once you have say 5 different types of tablets? Rather than using ur short URL where all the products are competiting on the same page for rankings it would be much better for each to have a seperate page on ur website.

This will help you not only build targeted, keyword rich, relevant and helpful pages that have seperate rankings but will help to improve your conversion to sale & help lower bounce rates as you customers will land on a page of products they have searched for, as opposed to searching through a page of similar products for what they want.

Hope this helps but I can expand on this if you need!