301 redirect and then keywords in URL
-
Hi,
Matt Cutts says that 301 redirects, including the ones on internal pages, causes the loss of a little bit of link juice.
But also, I know that keywords in the URL are very important.
On our site, we've got unoptimized URLs (few keywords) in the internal pages.
Is it worth doing a 301 redirect in order to optimize the URLs for each main page. 301 redirects are the only way we can do it on our premade cart
For example (just an example) say our main (1 of the 4) keywords for the page is "brown shoes".
I'm wondering if I should redirect something like
to
In other words, with the loss of juice would we come out ahead? In what instances would we come out ahead?
-
Awesome, yes Matt Cutts in that video does imply what you are saying. I also agree with higher CTR (another thing I hadn't thought of!)
Ryan, this is great. Thank you.
-
The closest thing I could find is the below Matt Cutts video. At 40 seconds in Matt specifically states that when using a URL shortener like Bit.ly the URL anchor text and PR will flow through the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMkltd6dZzU
Even if anchor text did not flow through URL links I would still focus on having user friendly URLs. User CTR is higher on a page with a friendly title versus a page with a bunch of numbers that are otherwise meaningless.
Also, we have limited control over how users link to us. We prefer they use good anchor text but for those who simply copy and paste your URL there isn't much that can be done so it's kind of a moot point.
-
If you're going to redo your URLs, you might look at this post by Lunametrics about Google Analytics friendly sites. It offers a few things to think about so your URLs can also provide you value in your analytics.
http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2010/09/22/designing-google-analytics-friendly-site/
-
Hi Ryan,
I know that anchor text is really important. In my career I've used anchor text such as, if one of the four keywords on a page was "Brown Shoes" then the link would look like
for the best anchor text, but I didn't know that
http://www.zappos.com/brown-shoes
also helped by providing anchor text for "brown shoes" As you said, many times people just use the URL, and I didn't know that Google would separate the URL into pieces and give weight to "brown" and "shoes" since it's in the URL.
In my experience, there's been quite a bit of difference in anchor text between
brown shoe
and
brown shoes
where an exact match is important, and I thought the keywords in the anchor text had to be just words (with spaces) and it is new to me that the URL string works too.
I can see that Google might want to do that, is there any documentation on this? It's OK if there's not.
-
I second all the comments below. That should give you enough professional consensus in this arena to head in the right direction. Redirect with teh keywords, and this will have the best long-term results.
As for Google parsing keywords out of urls or anything else... You will need to remember that for the most part google ignores special characters and parameters in both content and urls. It doesnt matter if the url is in a link or the actual url bar up top, google will treat it the same. Google knows its a url string, and applies its "url parsing logic" to it. So it only makes sense that a full url link would be parsed, just the same way your website url is parsed because it includes the keywords. Its the same logic.
-
I would be happy to supply supporting evidence on any point.
I am a bit unclear on what you are requesting. You want to see documentation that the use of anchor text offers a SEO value?
-
Hi Ryan,
I see what you mean about the technology extensions, I'll avoid them from here on out.
As to the anchor text, I didn't know that Google parsed the anchor text like it does a URL to extract keywords. You are an excellend SEO, so I'd like to just take your word for it, but could you give me more understanding of how keywords in anchor text works just like keywords in URL (parsing the "-" and "/") or a link to a Matt Cutts video that implies this (I just searched and didn't find one).
I can't just take your word for it, even though you're an amazing SEO, since I've found that many advanced SEOs are wrong on a few details (though I think you are great)
Thanks again, this is invaluable information
-
There are a few reasons for not using technology extensions with urls (i.e. html, htm, php, etc)
-
any time you use a redirect there is work involved for you, the server has to check incoming URLs against the list of 301s, etc. They are a normal part of online life, but their use should be minimized. There is a high likelihood you may decide to upgrade your site which would change your .html pages to .php pages. Your URL would be identical except the extension, which would require a 301 for your whole site.
-
any time a 301 is used there is a loss of link authority
-
the extension is not helpful to users and makes your URLs appear more complex and possibly confusing to users
-
a site that shows their extensions is making things easier for anyone who wishes to attack your site. Sure it's a small item, but good security is about taking all the steps you can to make things more difficult for attackers.
With respect to the URL, Google fully understands and adjusts for the slash and dashes in URLs.
how you know it works?
It's fundamental to the concept of anchor text. Take a look at the below two links:
Both of the above links lead to the same place, the SEOmoz home page. What varies is the anchor text. Google is a multi-billion dollar company. They understand to remove the http:// prefix along with the .org/ suffix.
There are many discussions and resources on this topic. One relevant video from Matt Cutts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRzMhlFZz9I
-
-
Ryan,
I am very impressed by your comments. I've been doing this a long time and I never thought of that.
So if someone's anchor tet is www.shoes.com/brown-sandles
and my keyword is brown sandles
then google will see "brown" and "sandles" even though there is a "/" and an "-" in there too? Could you go into detail about this, and how you know it works?
Also, what is the reasoning besides keeping the .html off of the end of the keyword rich URL?
Again, amazing advice.
-
A couple thoughts to add...
A primary reason keywords in your URL are so important is primarily due to their anchor text value. Yes Google will offer a boost but what amplifies this factor is the fact that most links to your site will include the keyword. People can be lazy and lack knowledge, so they link to your site simply by copying and pasting the URL rather then using anchor text. When that happens the URL is the anchor text. So if your domain is shoes.com then every URL link to your site includes "shoes" in it.
Having keywords deeper in your URL is very helpful for several reasons, but they will never match the power of having them in your root URL.
Also, if you are going to restructure your site I strongly recommend you use technology-free URLs. Remove the .html from the end of your URLs.
-
hi -
i've been through this and can offer a few suggestions:
1.) see if your server can use some sort of rewrite program like isapi rewrite. you can create code to have the page rewrite the url to what you want.
2.) consider moving to a new ecommerce platform (scary, i know) and then using 301's from your old stuff to your new stuff. any ecommerce vendor that is not using seo friendly product url's in 2011 does not deserve your business. if they aren't doing that chances are they may also be behind on such things as pci compliance, security, and general features.good luck!
-
hi -
i've been through this and can offer a few suggestions:
1.) see if your server can use some sort of rewrite program like isapi rewrite. you can create code to have the page rewrite the url to what you want.
2.) consider moving to a new ecommerce platform (scary, i know) and then using 301's from your old stuff to your new stuff. any ecommerce vendor that is not using seo friendly product url's in 2011 does not deserve your business. if they aren't doing that chances are they may also be behind on such things as pci compliance, security, and general features.good luck!
-
The amount of juice you will lose will be made up in the long run by having the keyword in the page name.SEO should be a long-term goal, and having the keyword in the page name is the best situation.
I have, and would recommend, doing it.
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
-
Is this method of redirecting of 404 okay?
Hi all, This is my first post at this forum 🙂 I'am running a Opencart shop with a SEO extension installed. This extension has a redirect module which works like this. When visiting the site on 404 url (and if there is setup a redirect for that url). It serves the correct content but on the 404 url with the correct url set in rel canonical. For example: Try visit this url:
On-Page Optimization | | mrmagnecom
https://makitech.no/ventilasjon/ventilasjons-pakketilbud
Here i have setup a redirect to the correct content, which is actually this url https://makitech.no/pakketilbud I am used to use a 301 header redirect so the user get redirected to the correct url. So my question is this. Is it a okay practice to serve the content on the 404 url (it responds 200) when the correct url is set in canonical? Any thoughts?0 -
URL Keywords
I am doing SEO on our eCommerce website and read that I should include keywords in the URL The original URL is: http://thegiftlinks.com/personalized-wedding-glass.html
On-Page Optimization | | abdulw
Title page: Wedding gift Dubai - Anniversary gift Dubai - Personalized Wedding Glass
Meta Data:
Wedding gift Dubai - Anniversary gift Dubai - Personalized Wedding Glass
It is great for a wedding gift and anniversary gift for friends and family members. If I will include the keyword to the url it will be like this
http://thegiftlinks.com/personalized-wedding-glass.html/Wedding-gift-Dubai is this the correct way to include keywords in the URL? Thanks0 -
Search Console shows structure keywords more significant over content keywords. What is wrong?
Search Console shows non content related - website structure keywords as:
On-Page Optimization | | Yaz-
"categories, account, facebook,..." as top significant keywords. And after those comes the website's content keywords.
These words come from the header as I can notice. Am I repeating the content keywords less? Is there a way to adjust this? I am sure this affects my Adsense targeting.
What am I doing wrong? Any suggestions?0 -
Keyword at homepage
Hi there! Is it true that the most relevant keyword should it be located in the home page of a website since it has the most link-juice or this statement is a "myth"? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
Should ".html" in the URL or not?
Does URL like /wedding-dresses.html/f/price/2,100 with "html" in the middle do harm to SEO? Should I drop the ".html"?
On-Page Optimization | | StevenRoland0 -
Mentioning own site and keywords on here?
I have noticed that sometimes posters will talk about a site without mentioning what it is. I assume this is because it one of their clients so there is confidentiality, is there any other reason I should be aware of? its just that as I am new I am usually cautious and am considering posting my own site and mentioning all my keywords to ask for people’s verdict for my on-page SEO. Still working on it, will be ready soon, thought I would ask in advance. Regards,
On-Page Optimization | | Zoolander0 -
Close URL owned by competitors.
The following example is exactly analogous to our situation (site names slightly altered😞 We own www.business-skills.com. It's our main site. We don't own, and would rather avoid paying for, www.businessskills.com. It's a parked domain and the owners want a very large sum for it. We own www.business-skills.co.uk and point it to our main site. We don't own www.businessskills.co.uk. This is owned by our biggest competitor. We also own www.[ourbrand].com and .co.uk, and point them to the main site. My question is - how much traffic do you think we may be missing due to these nearly-but-not-quite URL matches? Does it matter in terms of lost revenue? What sort of things should I be looking at to get a very rough estimate?
On-Page Optimization | | JacobFunnell0 -
Meta refresh - nojavascript url
seomox is telling me that I am getting a page that is not being indexed or crawled and since the crawl status code is 200 and there are no robots the meta-refresh url must be the problem. the meta refresh url is different than the on page report card url as it's the nojavascript url which my developer says should be ok. see his comments below. The is redirecting to http://mastermindtoys.com/store/nojavascript.html only in case if the JavaScript is disabled in the client browser. This is the right way to do it, I don’t understand why this might be a problem, otherwise MM has to implement Noscript pages that have a real content. I didn’t get what’s wrong about accessibility. The code 200 means it is accessible, and yes there is nothing to access if JavaScript is disabled on browser. I think there are no modern retail sites that would do any sensible business with the scripting disabled in browsers.The H1 is really present 2 times and second occurrence can be removed, though I highly doubt about importance of this change.Regarding duplicates – what URLs are considered duplicates? Can you please send me examples?I am not aware of canonical URL problem for MM site unless we consider old .asp links as duplicate links of the canonical product pages. I would appreciate if SEOMoz gave us an example what they mean.I suspect that the page is not getting indexed as a result of this or I'm just not getting a good score. Which is it?
On-Page Optimization | | mastermindtoys0