Best site structure for SEO

[JamesJacobs]

Hi,

I'm currently in the process of redesigning/rebuilding a well ranking but a dated looking and structured website.

Using analytics info I'm trying to put togerther an optimied site map plan for the site based on keywords.

Currently the site is structured like this (a few examples) for some of its best ranking keywords / landing pages

www.companyname.co.uk/frames/software/companyname-software/keyword/overview.php

www.companyname.co.uk/frames/software/companyname-software/keyword/keyword.php

I'd like to simplfy this as part of the re build so url's look like this

www.companyname.co.uk/companyname-software/softwarecatogry/keyword

Obviously I would 201 the old urls.

My question is :

A. is this a good idea? (From what I've read it is?)

B. is there any benifit from having the company name repeated in the url (ie www.companyname.co.uk/companyname-software). My thinking before this is that companyname-software currently ranks well and brings a good amount of traffic. Or should I just go with

www.companyname.co.uk/software/softwarecatogry/keyword as opposed to www.companyname.co.uk/companyname-software/softwarecatogry/keyword?

Many thanks in advance!

[Hondaspeder]

I agree with not repeating company name, unless it's a different company than in the base url. Try only making those deep links if you absolutely have to! Good luck!

[Dan-Petrovic]

Exactly

[JamesJacobs]

I've never used a flat structure before - are there SEO benifits in this?

[JamesJacobs]

Hi, the only reason I was thinking of repeating the co name is that looking through analytics a lot of our keywords (mainly to do with software) seem to be appended with the company name.

For example - "companyname software".

I suppose the company name is in the domain name anyway...

[petrakraft]

Hi James,
A) you are talking about a 301 redirect (not 201 I suppose) --> you have to do that definitively!
B) I seems to me kind of spammy if the company name is added a 2nd time and additionally the shorter the url the more the people can remind it. I see no advantage of having it twice in the url.

[AlanMosley]

Repeating the company name is not likly any bemifit, i would use a secondary keyword.
I would also use a flat linking stucture, link all pages from the home page if you can, every other page sould link back to the home page, but not all pages. Obviously you would need to break this rule, but as close as you can keep to it is best.

i dont know what technology you are developing the site with, but ASP.MVC is perfect for this sort of url stucture and pumps out very clean code for seo

[Dan-Petrovic]

/frames/ is a useles element in the URL so I would get rid of it, basically your new URL structure shows improvement. You should 301 the pages (not 201, I think you just made a typo).

a: Yes. Google will fairly quickly pick up on the new structure.
b: Don't repeat company name, that would not be helpful to anybody.

Good luck!