How should directories be set up on ecommerce?
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I have a ecommerce site. I am trying to figure out the best layout for my directories. Here are my two options.
Option 1. - Each directory in root domain.
Carrying Cases - plastic.com/carryingcases/
Case Type - plastic.com/casetype/
Specific Product - plastic.com/sproductOption 2 - Put them in subdirectories
Carrying Cases - plastic.com/carryingcases/
Case Type - plastic.com/carryingcases/casetype/
Specific Product - plastic.com/carryingcases/casetype/sproductI know this is a very basic question but I am looking for the right answer. I keep getting conflicting answers from different sources.
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It depends a bit on the depth and breadth of the products/categories you've got, but assuming the site has only a few dozen categories and maybe half a dozen brands/types, I'd go with option 2 and use subdirectories. They can help you in your analytics to sort and see what's happening in specific areas, can show up in Google with the category > subcategory delineation in place of the URL (which can help enhance CTR), and provide more detail (and a tiny bit more keyword relevance) for anyone looking at the URL in a browser, in email, in social media, etc.
However, I'd stop before going overboard, e.g. site.com/laptops/thin-light/samsung/series-9 is fine, while site.com/laptops/thin-light/black/gray-highlights/samsung/series-9/make140/model2334 is not
Use good judgement and you'll be fine!This post is still a reasonably good reference: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/11-best-practices-for-urls (though I should probably do a rewrite sometime soon)
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