Which is the better taxonomy?

[CsmBill]

Which of these is the better taxonomy?

www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing/hr-outsourcing solutions

www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing/solutions

[Merkle-Impaqt]

Hi, keywords located in the file path or file name of a document will appear bolded in search results. This bolded appearance is what can affect your CTR. A higher CTR will provide higher authority which is a signal that affects organic rank. It also depends on the keyword you're targeting. If your keyword is "hr outsourcing solutions" and you are also targeting "hr outsourcing" then the latter makes more sense in terms of taxonomy. In a world of Penguin updates I would avoid the former in case your audience pulls in the URL as your anchor text frequently. The double use of your target phrase in the URL would then also "over optimize" your anchor text signals and may get a Penguin penalty.

[CsmBill]

Irving:

Is there anything wrong with www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing/hr-outsourcing-solutions from a ranking perspective?

From my point of view, it's easier to keep things organized.

And Mysite.com/hr-outsourcing and mysite.com.hr-outsourcing/hr-outsourcing-solutions are separate pages with the long-tail reinforcing the parent in the Silo.

[irvingw]

a lot of people aren't aware of that. yea

www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing-solutions is better than www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing because it includes longtail, could be two separate pages even, with long tail versions pointing to the main www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing parent page to make it stronger

by filename i mean whatever is the page name, www.mysite.com/page-name

but yes it applies to image files as well for instance

www.mysite.com/zombie-pics/image-123.jpg   no SEO benefit for the image

www.mysite.com/zombie-pics/walking-dead-zombie-girl.jpg  good for SEO (use in conjunctiomn with alt tags)

[MonsterWeb28]

Irving,

When you refer to "filenames", are you talking about .jpg .png .pdf or could it be the last /whatever of the url?

Thanks for the information!

[CsmBill]

Wow! I did not know that folders don't push rank. So if my keyword is "hr outsourcing", does www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing-solutions push rank?Can I assume that it does?

[irvingw]

what is your keyword phrase for this page? if it is "hr outsourcing solutions" then neither example is best. this is best:

www.mysite.com/anything-can-go-here/hr-outsourcing-solutions

keywords in folder names DO NOT push rank, keywords in filenames do

good luck - Irving

[MonsterWeb28]

Hey CsmBill,

I would say the 2nd option is better because it is easier for visitors.  Even if your keyword was "hr outsourcing solutions" the SEO impact of your url have been decreasing, to my knowledge. Especially when the url starts getting longer and longer because of it.

Remember, Google wants things easier for searchers and if the url structure is something easy and makes sense structure-wise, then it will look favorable.