Does this URL need rewriting?
-
Hello,
Does this URL need to be rewritten?
http://www.nlpca.com/DCweb/modelingwithnlparticleandreas.html
Bob
-
I'm actually not going to rewrite the URL since, based on the responses, it's not too spammy. I was just wondering if it was spammy since it was long and jumbled.
But what an awesome post by Paul Thompson! Taught me a couple of things!
Thanks!
-
Hi Bob,
Some good points by Thompson Paul.
I am more interested in knowing how are you going to rewrite the URL?
The website is hosted on nginx/1.4.5.
I know about IIS Server - You require an ISAPI rewrite module. For Apache you can do it manually, but how would you go about doing it in this server?
- Sajeet
-
If I were re-writing this URL, I'd do www.nlpca.com/DCweb/modeling-with-nlp.html in order to help the SEs understand the word boundaries in the keyword phrase.
But this is good example of getting lost in the weeds of SEO. Changing the URL is going to have only very slight effect. On the other hand, put bluntly, the article itself is very poorly optimised. You'd have vastly greater effect by spending your time improving the article itself instead of fussing with the URL. Prioritise the biggest effects first.
- I assume the target phrase is "modeling with NLP" and yet that phrase only appears in the meta title and title - nowhere else on the page. Obviously you don't want to spam the page with keywords, but only a single mention of the target phrase means you'll have a very hard time ranking the phrase. I realise it's a reposting of an existing article, but since it's your own article, there's no reason you can't update the content a little for web purposes. (If in fact you're targeting the term "NLP article" you're targeting far too broad (and essentially unrelated) a term with that page)
- The meta-description is essentially worthless as a call-to-action to encourage a searcher to want to read the page. It's awkwardly phrased and shows no value proposition to the searcher for reading.
- Page is visually a mass of text. I'm not a fan of decoration for the sake of decoration ("dancing macaroni" as my old designer friend calls it) but breaking this up with pull quotes, an appropriate related image, a flow chart etc would make it much more readable and less visually intimidating.
- The biggie: Page has only 1 incoming link and only 1 social share. Spending time getting social exposure and conversation going about the article would go a lot further than fussing with the URL. (Although the site also has no basic Open Graph schema, so that's a bit of a hindrance, but if you don't control the site, that point is probably moot).
So there's my perspective. Focus your time on the things that could seriously move the needle for the page, before fussing with a minor detail like changing the URL wording.
Dos that make sense?
Paul
-
You could re-write it to be http://www.nlpca.com/DCweb/modelingwithnlp but you don't have too. What are you trying to accomplish with this page?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Doing URL change losses SEO ranking or not?
Hi Webmasters, I would like to move shipwaves.me to shipwaves.aeHowever, our website is concentrated on middle east countries and moreover, we have though .me is middle east [United Arab Emirates} and later with SEO advice, we have taken .ae.Besides, our confusion is if the website move from Shipwaves.me to the new domain shipwaves.ae this makes our SEO ranking loss or not?some of our keywords has been started showing on various search pages. So, anyone knows about this concern, please let me know.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | LayaPaul0 -
Site build in the 80% of canonical URLs - What is the impact on visibility?
Hey Everyone, I represent international wall decorations store where customer can freely choose a pattern to be printed on a given material among a few milions of patterns. Due to extreme large number of potential URL combinations we struggle with too many URL adressess for a months now (search console notifications). So we finally decided to reduce amount of products with canonical tag. Basing on users behavior, our business needs and monthly search volume data we selected 8 most representative out of 40 product categories and made them canonical toward the rest. For example: If we chose 'Canvas prints' as our main product category, then every 'Framed canvas' product URL points rel=canonical tag toward its equivalent URL within 'Canvas prints' category. We applied the same logic to other categories (so "Vinyl wall mural - Wild horses running" URL points rel=canonical tag to "Wall mural - Wild horses running" URL, etc). In terms of Googlebot interpretation, there are really tiny differences between those Product URLs, so merging them with rel=canonical seems like a valid use. But we need to keep those canonicalised URLs for users needs, so we can`t remove them from a store as well as noindex does not seem like an good option. However we`re concerned about our SEO visibility - if we make those changes, our site will consist of ~80% canonical URLs (47,5/60 millions). Regarding your experience, do you have advices how should we handle that issue? Regards
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | _JediMindBender
JMB0 -
Submitting url to link directories seen as un-natural link building?
Hi I have been a lurker for a long time, so I finally took the step to make my 1st post, and will hopefully start giving back more in the future since I have gained invaluable info from this great site Background I hired a new freelancer on our team of SEO consultants ("specialists") During the course a month he (the new consultant) submitted our website to numerous link directories (he assured me this is good), today I received the report of the work he had been doing for the past 4-weeks. I opened the report and I was furious and wanted to sack him there and then The Problem / My Question He had submitted our website to 150 directories with various levels of page rank, ranging from 7-1. Most of the directories are totally irrelevant to our niche (we are in the catering business) and he had gone and submitted the site to directories such as "finance busters", "questfinder" etc For all 150 submissions he used: exactly the same url exactly the same title exactly the same description exactly the same keywords My Concern Am I right to be worried about this? Or am I completely wrong and may this actually have an effect (even if none)? The way I see it is that Google is seeing 150 duplicate links coming from irrelevant directories all within a months time, which will trigger a red flag and possibly do major damage to my site, which has always been strictly white hat and been doing pretty well. p.s does link directory submissions even count these days anyway? Thanks for reading and advice very much welcome
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | timthetanker0 -
Where is the rule here that force "www." in URLs?
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)/(1)?$ /search/$1/sort-$2 [R=301]
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | esiow2013
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=search&q=$1&page=$5&sort=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)/(1)?$ /search/$1 [R=301]
RewriteRule ^search/([a-zA-Z0-9,-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=search&q=$1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^([r|R])-([0-9]+)((-)([0-9a-zA-Z-]+))?$ index.php?cmd=propertyPage&id=$2&group=1 [L]
RewriteRule ^([s|S])-([0-9]+)((-)([0-9a-zA-Z-]+))?$ index.php?cmd=propertyPage&id=$2&group=2 [L]
RewriteRule ^reset-password$ index.php?cmd=retrievePassword [L]
RewriteRule ^reset-password/([0-9]+)/([a-zA-Z0-9]+)$ index.php?cmd=retrievePassword&act=retrievePasswordConfirm&code=$1&key=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^map-page.php$ index.php?cmd=mapPage [L]
RewriteRule ^advertise.php$ index.php?cmd=advertiseWithUs [L]
RewriteRule ^my-account.php$ index.php?cmd=protectedMyAccount [L]
RewriteRule ^bookmarked-properties(/((R|S)-([0-9]+)))?$ index.php?cmd=protectedBookmarkedProperties&id=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^bookmarked-properties/([0-9]+)$ index.php?cmd=protectedBookmarkedProperties&page=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^bookmarked-properties/delete/([0-9,]+)$ index.php?cmd=protectedBookmarkedProperties&act=protectedBookmarkedProperties_delete&id=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^register.php$ index.php?cmd=register [L]
RewriteRule ^about-us.php$ index.php?cmd=aboutUs [L]
RewriteRule ^news(/([0-9]+)(.*))?$ index.php?cmd=news&id=$2&title=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^registration/confirm/key=([a-zA-Z0-9]{150})/code=([a-zA-Z0-9]{5})$ index.php?cmd=register&act=registerConfirm&key=$1&code=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^terms-and-conditions.php$ index.php?cmd=termsAndConditions [L]
RewriteRule ^privacy-policy.php$ index.php?cmd=privacyPolicy [L]
RewriteRule ^contact-us.php$ index.php?cmd=contactUs [L]
RewriteRule ^sitemap.php$ index.php?cmd=siteMap [L]
RewriteRule ^members/login.php$ login.php [L]
RewriteRule ^rss$ index.php?cmd=rss [L]
RewriteRule ^resources.php$ index.php?cmd=links [L]
RewriteRule ^links.php$ /resources.php [R=301]
RewriteRule ^resources2.php$ index.php?cmd=links2 [L]
RewriteRule ^results.php$ index.php?cmd=results [L]
RewriteRule ^residential-properties((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&mainDivision=1&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^commercial-properties((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&mainDivision=2&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&mainDivision=1&str=1&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&group=2&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsRoot&group=1&page=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&str=1&sort=$2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&str=1&sort=$4&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&str=1&sort=$5&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&str=1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&str=1&page=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^short-term-rentals/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&str=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&sort=$5&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&sort=$2&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&sort=$2&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&sort=$2&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&sort=$2&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=2&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1®ion=$2&city=$3&area=$4&group=2&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=2&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&group=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$1&group=2&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z,()0-9_-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&group=2&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2&category=$1&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/residential-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=1&country=$2&category=$1&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^lease/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2&category=$1&group=1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/commercial-properties/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&mainDivision=2&country=$2&category=$1&group=2&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()0-9_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&sort=$6&page=$9 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()0-9_-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&sort=$6&page=$9 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&sort=$5&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&sort=$5&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&area=$5&category=$1&page=$8 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2®ion=$3&city=$4&category=$1&page=$7 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2&category=$1&sort=$3&page=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)/sort-([a-z0-9-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2&category=$1&sort=$3&page=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=1&country=$2&category=$1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z,-]+)/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain&group=2&country=$2&category=$1&page=$5 [L]
RewriteRule ^rent/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain_categories&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=1&page=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^buy/([a-z()-]+)((/)([0-9]+))?$ index.php?cmd=divisionsMain_categories&mainDivision=1&country=$1&group=2&page=$4 [L]0 -
Do I need to undo a 301 redirect to dissavow links from the source domain?
A client came to me after being hit by Penguin and had already performed a 301 redirect from site A to Site B. Site B was subsequently hit by the penalty a number of weeks later and we are planing on performing link removal for Site A. Only the webmaster tools account for Site B exists, none is still available for site A. I assume that I cannot dissavow links to site A from Site B's webmaster tool account (even though website A's links show up in the GWT account). So do I need to undo the 301 and then create a new GWT account for site A in order to disavow the links pointing to site A, or can I submit from Site B's GWT account since they are 301'd to site B? Thanks! Chris [edited for formatting]
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SEOdub0 -
Help needed i have lost huge rankings
help needed guys, i run a website http://www.happyhop.co.za they sell jumping castles, and thats it, i have worked on this site for the last 3 years and its been preforming very well, after the 2.0 penguin update I lost huge rankings was 1 in google for jumping castles now on page 10... I went onto webmaster tools reviewed Manual Actions got this (No manual webspam actions found.) then reviewed my links, ran them through http://www.penguinanalysis.com and my score came back at 125% which is high, but then ran a competitor who is ranking number 1 and they are at 145%... i have now disavowed a few bad links, and have removed alt tags on my blog http://www.happyhop.co.za/News-and-Articles .... the articles I write are not bloggy and are informative. I then sent Google a manual reconsideration request, but havent heard back from them? Still nothing has changed and its been over 3 weeks. Can anyone help me.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | nick_pageone0 -
Suggestions in redirecting an old URL to new URL with parenthesis () ?
What should I use in .htaccess if I will redirect an old URL with parentheses to a new URL like below? RedirectMatch 301 http://www.olddomain.com/buy/nike-shoes/kobe(7)/red http://www.newdomain.com/buy/nike-shoes/kobe(7)/red Or RedirectMatch 301 http://www.olddomain.com/buy/nike-shoes/kobe(7)/red http://www.newdomain.com/buy/nike-shoes/kobe(7)/red
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | esiow20130 -
Google Bombing For A Specific URL
The term "Beruk" which means "Ape or Monkey" in english brings up this page of wikipedia amongst the first page result: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khairy_Jamaluddin The page does not contain the word "Beruk". External links to the page do not contact the anchor-text "Beruk" Given the above scenario, how is the page still ranking on first page for this keyword?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | rajeevbala0