Help... To Optimize Category Page or Not?

[M_D_Golden_Peak]

My question is about whether to optimize a category page or not, but it’s a rather odd situation. Here’s a bit of background to start.

When we relaunched our site, about six months ago, we had primary, secondary, and tertiary categories created. A user could reach all three levels by clicking through the site.

Then we decided instead of linking to the tertiary categories, that we’d turn them into filters which can be applied at the secondary level. Thus, there is not actually a direct link to the 3rd level categories on the site. An important side note, I did check and confirm they are still included in the sitemap file.

My initial thoughts were to forget any further optimization of those 3rd level categories, but as it turns out we still have rankings for some of them.

Now the question… Because some of these pages are ranking and are found in the sitemap, should I include them in my SEO plan to build up and optimize, or because they are no longer linked to directly on the site will they eventually fizzle out (and I shouldn’t do anything further).

This is such a unique situation that I am really looking for some insight from the community. Thanks!

[Toddfoster]

Hello,

There are a lot of factors to consider here. In addition to Bryan's excellent breakdown of time vs. reward, another thing to consider is where these pages are sitting in the rankings, how long it might take to put them in an excellent traffic-gaining situation, and what you can leverage out of them in terms of value.

In situations like this, if I choose to take action and begin ranking pages, I give myself 6 months to see what kind of rewards I can reap. If within 6 months I haven't seen promising movement of the bottom line, then I move on to a new tactic.

Hopefully this helps - best of luck moving forward!

Rob

[Lumina]

I'd say this depends entirely on time vs. reward. If you have the time and resources, there's no reason these shouldn't be included - especially if they're still ranking. They may very well continue to do so, even after the new structure you've implemented is recognized in crawls. However, if time is a factor and you need to prioritize only what's truly necessary, I'd suggest figuring out the actual worth of these pages and making a decision. What role they play in your sales / related, how many users and conversions they generate, etc.