URL best practices, use folders or not ?
-
Hi
I have a question about URLs. Client have all URL written after domain and have only one / slash in all URLs. Is this best practice or i need to use categories,folders?
Thanks
-
It's a trade-off, for both SEO and users, and I don't think there's one answer that fits every situation. The category level can add information, but it also makes URLs longer, which can be bad for both bots and people. If you have short, descriptive categories that aren't repeated in the product/page names, and those categories mimic your site structure, then I think it can be positive.
My argument was mostly against people adding categories just for SEO benefit (it's probably minimal, at best) or repeating every category, sub-category, etc. to the point of absurdity, causing keyword cannibalization and massive URLs. For example:
www.bobscamerashop.com/cameras/digital-cameras/canon-cameras/eos-cameras/camera-canon-eos-rebel-t3
Of course, that's also keyword stuffed, but I'm exaggerating to prove a point. You can go too far in either direction.
In general, though, I don't think categories in the URL are necessarily bad. In some cases, as Woj said, they could be a positive for users and possible even SEO.
-
Think about it from the user's point of view. What would work best for them? Maybe even get some feedback from some site users if possible
-
Will the site categories/products grow? If so, then the slash could be used to organise the structure & prepare for the future
In the example, you presented:
- www.example.com/accounts-titanium
- www.example.com**/**accounts/titanium
These are the same length & make no real difference
When we compare these 2, however:
You can see that #1 is shorter, doesn't repeat keyword (even though they are plural) & would be more likely clicked in the SERPs
Does that help some more?
-
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/should-i-change-my-urls-for-seo
In this article point 2 is saying that the unstructured is better
so i`m confused.
-
the site is small about 60 pages and max depth level is 3
-
I'd use folders or categories if the amount of products/items is large and/or going to expand
If it's a small amount & finite then make the URLs as short as possible
-
Information architecture is important from a usability and search engine prospective.
I'd say go for the categories divided by the /
www.example.com**/**accounts/titanium
www.example.com/accounts/open-demo-accountThis makes more sense and lends itself to scalability etc.
hope this helps.
there are some really good articles on information architecture on the seomoz and the web
-
URL is without any category or folder
www.example.com/accounts-titanium
www.example.com/open-demo-account
is this right or i need to use:
www.example.com**/**accounts/titanium
-
not quite sure what you mean exactly - can you expand with and example?
Thanks
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
-
What heading tag to use on sidebars and footers
Hello, I have some awareness of how to use H1, H2 and H3.
On-Page Optimization | | kowston
H1 only once per page as the main page heading.
H2's should be subheadings, H3's are sub-sub headings of the and so on.
This structure gives hierarchy and opportunities to use additional keywords in an order of priority. I can clearly understand how this would work in an article but what about other content on the page such as global/frequently repeated elements like sidebars and footers? I see sites - and in particular, I have examed SEO focused sites - that use H3, H4 and H5 in these instances seemingly giving themselves scope to use at least H2 tags as part of the page content and break out of the structure hierarchy when dealing with sidebars and footers. I suppose this could signal theses headings are sections of the page that are less relevant than the main article content but that is just an assumption. I don't know what is correct.0 -
Making Shopify URL's Simpler - Losing the words 'collection', 'product' and 'page' in a Shopify store URL. Any advice?
Hi Mozers! I have a Shopify store (of which there are many advantages) however one big SEO disadvantage, is that my URL structures contravene all Moz advice on dynamic URL structure and whats more I am reminded about this every week when I have a Moz site crawl and I have a batch of URL's that are longe than the 75 characters. A Shopify URL will run www.domain name.com/collections/collection-name/product/product-name. According to advice a it should be www.domain name.com/collection-name/product-name - Don't even get started on sub-collections! I sell portfolio books, album etc and keepsake memory boxes (so long keywords) AND, I have a long(ish) business name. So, For user experience and keyword length, do I just ignore trying to achieve a dynamic URL under 75 characters? When I have asked Shopify, the say their URL's are an integral part of the "Ruby on Rails" system, so nothing can be done Or can it ??? I can't be the only Moz member with this issue can I ??
On-Page Optimization | | nick_HandCo0 -
Product URL
Hey Mozzers, Nice quick and simple one for you. Which of these 2 options is better for SEO and userbility and why domain.co.uk/productname.html
On-Page Optimization | | ATP
domain.co.uk/shop/category/product.html The top one stops stops any funky problems with magento making 2 paths to the same product but the second option feels more natural and helpful to the user. I feel both a valid but I would like some opinions please0 -
Use of '&' in meta title
Hi, I know that use of '&' would be helpful to save space and also add more keyword variation to the title tag. But just want to make sure if it matters if I use '&' in most of my title tags? And also is it common to use more than & in one title? Would the following title be different in Google's perspective regardless of the title length? I am thinking they are all targeting the keywords 'fruit cake' and 'fruit bread', but the first one is the best. buy fruit cake & bread buy fruit cake & fruit bread buy fruit cake and fruit bread Thanks in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | russellbrown0 -
Sorry, but that URL is inaccessible
Our site is all on the https protocol so every time I use the on-page grader it tells me the link is unavailable. What can we do? When I use the http protocol (which is 301 redirected to the https) it still gives me the same message.
On-Page Optimization | | whiskeyfl1 -
Is there a guide to best practices for site content and blogs?
We have been working hard producing good content for our sites and now we need to know what are the most current best practices regarding placing and organizing content. We do the usual social media blast with Twitter, FB, G+ with each blog post. But it seems there is more that can and should be done. What about authorship and schema tags?
On-Page Optimization | | devonkrusich0 -
Best article about internal linking structure?
Hi! Could you please recommend me a good and deep article about best practises in internal linking structure? I need to rethink the structure of a big site (lucky me it's very hierarchical) and I would like to have a look at some great articles about this to consolidate some ideas and have some new ones. I've read some but I would like some recommendations 🙂 Some articles about information architecture would be appreciated as well! Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | jorgediaz0 -
Best meta tite - description writing tool
Hi I am in the process of writing meta titles and meta descriptions for a clients product portfolio. I have the complete list exported from the cms system in to excel. I know I can add some clever logic to build the meta information but for this purpose I want to do this manually. Does anyone have a editor online or an excel sheet that shows you the charactor limits when writing the titles and descriptions. This would be handy if someone has, otherwise it's a case of having to write the excel sheet to do this, not that hard to do but i thought i'd ask the question.
On-Page Optimization | | seohive-2227200