Repeating brand name on all subcategory levels

[stephenfishman]

As part consolidating our site navigation, I have an opportunity to change how we name url s on child pages.  At present,  I think there are 2 problems that could be fixed. 
1.As you drill down, the brand name is not part of  each url.
2. Also, the urls show abreviations that are not customer friendly.

Are these worth changing? I am redirecting pages whether I change the naming or not.

Below  is my current navigation and below that the changed navigation I am considering.

Many thanks to all that look and share their thoughts.

Handcrafter

--- details --

This is an e-commerce site with on hand products and similar products which are custom ordered from a catalog:

Current Navigation Drill Down:

/ctgy/brandname.html

/ctgy/brandname-onh.html
           /ctgy/onhmir.html

then the specific products:
                    /onhmir/30322-onhmir92_741.html
                   /onhmir/30324-onhmir96_743.html

The catalog has more products and so has 1 extra level of child category pages:
 ctgy/brandname.html
     /ctgy/brandname-cat.html
                /ctgy/brandname-catmir.html
                       /ctgy/design1catmir.html
                        /ctgy/design2catmir.html

then the specific products:
                           /catmir/30322-catmirhappy.html
                          /catmir/30324-catmirhappy.html

Changed Naming Under Consideration:
On pages above the  product page, (category pages) spell out all words and place the brand name in the parent url.  The result would be:

/ctgy/brandname.html

/ctgy/brandname-on-hand.html
            /ctgy/brandname-on-hand-mirror.html

then the specific products:
                    /brandname-on-hand-mirror/30322-onh-mir92_741.html
                    /brandname-on-hand-mirror/30324-on-hand-mir96_743.html

The catalog has more products and so has 1 extra level of child category pages:

/ctgy/brandname-catalog.html
            /ctgy/brandname-catalog-mirror.html
                /ctgy/brandname-catalog-mirror-style1.html
                ctgy/brandname-catalog-mirror-style2.html

then the specific products:
                   /brandname-catalog-mirror-style1/30322-cat-mirhappy.html
                    /brandname-catalog-mirror-style1/30324-cat-mirhappy.html

[stephenfishman]

Thank you Doug-

This site sells work by 100s of artisans under a url  like smalltownartisans.com.  The "/brandname" is one of our better know artisans with  a wide range of products. So it is not repeated in the url

Do you think the "smalltownartisans.com". brand should be included in the page titles along with the artisan-brandname? And could you expand on the simple ways to ttest what works best?

Thanks again for all you your comments

Handcrafter

[DougRoberts]

Hiya,

Your full URL also contains your domain name so if your brand name is included there then it's going to be repeated. So with URLs like:

http://www.brandname.com/brandname-category/product.html

You're repeating the brand name and pushing the bit of the URL that people are interested in increasingly to the right. The small, if any, increase in relevancy for your product keywords is going to be lost...

Personally, I would make my url structure as concise and as meaningful as possible (avoiding abreviations if at all possible.)

Does it makes sense to the prospective visitor. Does it help convince them that they're going to find what they're looking for? Does it help with the "Am I in the right place" question?

A bit of keyword research, and maybe taking a look at your own site-search (if you've got it on your site) will help reveal what people are really looking for. (Are they looking for the materials or the rooms they're going to place the items in? Bathroom mirrors over wooden framed for example.)

Make sure your URLs aren't so long that they make it difficult to share (email, social etc)

You may want to think more about the inclusion of your brand name when it comes to your page title.

Standard practice for title usually is along these lines:

Primary Keyword - Secondary Keyword | Brand Name
or
Brand Name | Primary Keyword and Secondary Keyword

See: http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/title-tag

Even then, I would think about the value, and perception of your brand name when included in the titles (it's an easy thing to test). If you've got a well recognised brand, with lots of authority/trust then having the brand name in the Title can make a big difference.

That said, it's common for businesses to be a little optimistic when it comes to the value of the brand. It might be better to use the space in the title to include the benefits of your products, something to differentiate them or some emotion rather than the brand name.

Hope this helps,