Which URL structure should I use?
-
-
I would agree with Miram Ellis, I try to make my URLs as small as possible and then use Google Custom Variables to categorise content on the site for Analytics.
Therefore my answer would be: samhillbands.com/Charlottesville-VA-Wedding-Bands
-
HI Brian,
Have you thought about what you want to target with such URL structure?
I believe that there should be two main targets that you shoul pursue:1- Making URL the most frendly as possible. e.g.: Domain.com/Charlottesville-VA-Wedding-Bands
2- Using the complete URL usefull for you or your visitros: e.g.: Domain.com/bands/Charlottesville-VA-WeddingOf course, there has to be some keyword research and planning there. I understand that the keyword you're using is "Charlottesville VA", including "bands" and "wedding" as long tails.
I do recommend you, as a guidance, to take a thorough read of these posts:
15 SEO Best Practices for Structuring URLs By Rand Fishkin Begginners guide - Chapter 4- Section - Go to the "URL construction guidelines" part.Hope it's usefull.
GR -
Are you going to have valuable category page at /bands/ or /wedding/ and /wedding/bands/? Using subfolders can be great for filtering in analytics, analyzing indexation as well as for the users who want to view things at a category level.
Consider what makes most sense for your users. Are they looking for a type of band first or by location first? I would imagine that I would want to look in my location first, then move on to the type of band. In this case, you might want to consider building your directory path to be samhillbands.com/charlottesville-va/wedding-bands/ or something similar.
-
Hi Brian!
Why not use:
samhillbands.com/wedding-bands-charlottesville-va
It's very simple. Is there a reason for using sub-folders?
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
-
Do old backlinks still help with new URL with 301 redirect? Also I added the www. How does this affect it all?
I changed my URL from exampledetailing. com to exampleautodetailing. com. It is redirected with a 301. Also, it is on Squarespace AND I opted to add the www. So will the old backlinks of exampledetailing. com still help the new URL exampleautodetailing. com or do I need to try and update all the links? Also, future links, do I need to include the www. or just the root domain of exampleautodetailing. com or even the whole https://wwwexampleautodetailing. com? I believe the www is considered a sub domain and a new entity on Google, so I am not sure how that works. Thank you!
Local Website Optimization | | Rmarkjr810 -
Should I avoid duplicate url keywords?
I'm curious to know Can having a keyword repeat in the URL cause any penalties ? For example xyzroofing.com xyzroofing.com/commercial-roofing xyzroofing.com/roofing-repairs My competitors with the highest rankings seem to be doing it without any trouble but I'm wondering if there is a better way. Also One of the problems I've noticed is that my /commercial-roofing page outranks my homepage for both residential and commercial search inquiries. How can this be straightened out?
Local Website Optimization | | Lyontups0 -
Ecommerce Site Structure -- "/our_locations" page: helpful or harmful?
Hello! We are a retailer with brick and mortar stores in different cities. We have a website (ourbusiness.com), which includes a blog (ourbusiness.com/blog) and a separate ecommerce site for each store in subfolders (ourbusiness.com/Boston-store and ourbusiness.com/Atlanta-store). NB: We do this for non-business reasons and have no choice. So, this is not like REI (for example) or other stores with lots of locations but one central ecommerce operation. Most experts seem to recommend a site structure that echoes REIs. IE: a home page principally devoted to ecommerce (rei.com) includes an Our Locations-type page (rei.com/stores) which links to local store pages like (rei.com/stores/fresno) I understand how this would help REI, since their homepage is devoted to ecommerce and they need a store locator page that doesn't compete with the shopping experience. But since we can't send people to products directly from our home page, is there any reason for us not to put the store locator function right on the home page? That is, is there any reason in our case to prefer (A) ourbusiness.com/our_locations/Boston_store over (B) ourbusiness.com/Boston-store? As i see it, the extra page (/our_locations/) could actually hurt, as it puts products one click further away from customers, and one link deeper for bots. On the other hand, it may make the multi-store structure clearer to bots (and maybe people) and help us in local search. Finally, would it make a difference if there were 10 stores vs 2? Thanks for any thoughts!
Local Website Optimization | | RankAmateur...1 -
What more can be done to get Google to change the landing pages it uses for certain search terms?
For one of my SEO campaigns, Google is using the website's home page as the landing page for the majority of search terms being tracked. The website splits its products by region and so we want specific region pages to rank for search terms related to that region, rather than the home page. We have optimised each regional page to a reasonably high standard and we have ensured that there is a good amount of internal linking and sign-posting to those region pages, however, Google is still using the home page. The only complication is that for the first few months there were canonical tags on these pages to the home page. These were removed around 3 months ago and we've checked that the region pages are indexed properly. Is there anything we are missing? Has anyone had any success in getting Google to change its landing pages?
Local Website Optimization | | ClickHub-Harry0 -
How to approach SEO for a national umbrella site that has multiple chapters in different locations that are different URLS
We are currently working with a client who has one national site - let's call it CompanyName.net, and multiple, independent chapter sites listed under different URLs that are structured, for example, as CompanyNamechicago.org, and sometimes specific to neighborhoods, as in CompanyNamechicago.org/lakeview.org. The national site is .net, while all others are .orgs. These are not subdomains or subfolders, as far as we can tell. You can use a search function on the .net site to find a location near you and click to that specific local site. They are looking for help optimizing and increasing traffic to certain landing pages on the .net site...but similar landing pages also exist on a local level, which appear to be competing with the national site. (Example: there is a landing page on the national .net umbrella site for a "dog safety" campaign they are doing, but also that campaign has led to a landing page created independently on the local CompanyNameChicago.org website, which seems to get higher ranking due to a user looking for this info while located in Chicago. We are wondering if our hands are tied here since they appear to be competing for traffic with all their localized sites, or if there are best practices to handle a situation like this. Thanks!
Local Website Optimization | | timfrick0 -
URL Keyword stuffing. service-city.com/product-service-city/ vs. service-city.com/product/
For example: tailoring-london.com/suits-tailoring-london/ or tailoring-london.com/suits/ The main keyword being targeted here is "suit tailoring london". The home page's main keyword is "tailoring london". Would love to hear your opinions. Many thanks 🙂
Local Website Optimization | | LondonAli0 -
What is the Best Keyword Placement within a URL for Inner Location Pages?
I'm working on a website with 100s of locations. There is a location search page (Find Widget Dealer), a page for each state (Tennessee Widget Dealers) and finally a page for each individual location which has localized unique content and contact info (Nashville Widget Dealer). My question is is related to how I should structure my URL and the keywords within the URL. Keywords in my examples being the location and the product (i.e. widget). Here is a quick overview of each of the 3 tiered pages, with the Nashville page being the most optimized: Find Widget Dealer - Dealer Page only includes a location search bar and bullet list links to states Tennessee Widget Dealers - Page includes brief unique content for the the state and basic listing info for each location along with links to the local page) Nashville Widget Dealer - Page includes a good amount of unique content for this specific location (Most optimized page) That said, here are the 3 URL structure options I am considering: http://website.com/widget-dealers/tennesee/nashville http://website.com/dealers/tennesee-widget-dealers/nashville http://website.com/dealers/tennesee/nashville-widget-dealer Any help is appreciated! Thank you
Local Website Optimization | | the-coopersmith0 -
If I mention a client in a blogpost about SEO, do I have to use a rel= no follow link?
I do SEO and webstuff (obviously, that's why I'm here). I want to write a blog post congratulating my client for getting to #1 in the local listings for a search for "plumber". When I include my link to my client's site, should it be rel=no follow? Could they be penalized if I don't? Thanks,
Local Website Optimization | | aj613
Adam0