301 Redirects From a URL without Keyphrases to one With Keyphrases
-
I have a client that sells services. Each service offered currently has a URL structure like this:
www.companyname.com/product/asp$view-id-page3022-item-24
These pages are pretty old, and I would love to have a more user-friendly URL like this:
www.companyname.com/product/purple-swatch-watch
If I rename the URL and do a 301 redirect, what impact will that have on search? Ideally, this page will be optimized for "purple swatch watch", but the current URL structure is so... well, you know.
My apologies if this has been answered before. I tried looking through archived of 301 issues, but lost hope after my first 10 or so attempts at answered didn't help this specific issue.
-
Agree with everything although I understood a 301 gives a very slight shave off the optimum link value, but the benefits in terms of user experience and keyworded URLs outweigh that.
I'm a fan of Fiddler for watching header responses.
-
Thanks, Tom. I appreciate the comment. Our tech guru is ready with the proper 301 redirect, so I feel confident there. Even if it is a small benefit, I feel like it's best practice anyway, so I'm glad you agree!
-
Hi Erica
In my eyes, this should be a positive move.
Implementing a 301 redirect will pass all of the link equity, which should bring the new URL up to par very quickly. Combine that with the fact that there is evidence to suggest correlation between having keywords in the URL and ranking higher for the term, albeit a slight benefit, means that for SEO purposes it could be a positive move.
In addition, I think this is a much more friendly URL structure for the user and enhancing the user experience can also result in conversions.
I'd definitely make that change, just be sure you implement the 301 correctly. This Moz guide can help.
Hope this helps!
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
-
Solve Redirect Chains
I've gotten a few Redirect Issues that involve Redirect Chains, with the https:// version redirecting to the www. version and then redirecting to the right URL. Here is an example:
On-Page Optimization | | Billywig
Schermafbeelding 2021-12-07 om 11.04.32.png I've tried setting a direct redirect between the first and the last URL, but WordPress doesn't seem to allow that (it's overwritten). I've also tried checking the internal links to make sure that none of the links are the first one. They don't seem to be there. Does anyone have any tips on solving these Redirect Chains?0 -
Complete redesign of website and 301 redirects
I did a complete redesign and content change for my website. I have my new webpages indexed but they still haven't replaced the old ones after 1 month. In search results I see both the old ones and the news ones. How long of a delay should I expect (approximately) for the old pages to be replaced by the new ones knowing the entire website was changed. Thank you,
On-Page Optimization | | seoanalytics0 -
After HTTPS upgrade, should I change all internal links, or a general 301 redirect is better?
I recently upgraded to https. Of course most internal links of my old posts are still http. So I set up a 301 redirect in order to make the old link works. In terms od SEO this is good or it is better to update all the internal links to https, manually? In that case can I do it in batch with a search/replace command in the phmyadmin database? any other suggested method? thank you
On-Page Optimization | | micvitale0 -
301 Redirect to product page or category?
We manage an ecommerce website that sells health products. A few products have now been discontinued. I’m just wondering what would be the best practice in this case. Should we 301 redirect to a similar product or to a similar category page? ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!
On-Page Optimization | | odegi0 -
URLs and folder structure for an E-commerce
Hi there !-) I´m helping a friend who has a e-commerce about nail polish in Brazil. I´m a little in doubt about the urls and folder structure. Two questions: 1. There are 10 products per category and 50 categories. Should I put them all in the root folder or creat 2 major categories ( 25 sub-categories each one)? 2. Whats the better product page url ( the store has around 500) nailpolish.com/IMPORT/BRAND/NAME-OF-THE-PRODUCT OR nailpolish.com/COMPLETE-NAME-OF-THE-PRODUCT Whats the best recomandation?
On-Page Optimization | | SeoMartin10 -
Page authority 1 for new URLs
Hi There Quite a beginner question. I have changed url structure last week and is already avaliable on google.What i find strange is that the PA reported by SEOMOZ is 1 and there's no google cache. If the page has to crawled yet, why it's avaliable on google index already? Dario
On-Page Optimization | | Mrlocicero0 -
How to deal with tracking numbers in URLs
I am working on a site at the minute that has links like this: Jobs in London URL looks like: domain.com/jobs-in-london/ However, my developers insist that they need to use tracking codes, so everytime someone clicks on the above link, they are redirected (301) to a new URL that looks like: domain.com/search/1234567(unique search id) This is killing me when I am trying to get internal pages, like /jobs-in-london/ ranked. What to do?
On-Page Optimization | | MirandaP0 -
With a slash and without a slash
I have noticed recently on open site explorer that pages are listed that contact the ending / and that dont. so for example- www.onlinemediadirect.co.uk/blog-setup and www.onlinemediadirect.co.uk/blog-setup/ They also have slightly different page authority. Is it worth setting up a redirect or does google not need this ? The page ranks well of course.
On-Page Optimization | | onlinemediadirect0