Re-write of url
-
Hi,
I would like your input on the following dilemma
I am wanting to target the keyword "download xml".
at the moment Google indexes us on page 2 and indexes the page www.ourdomain.com/download.aspx
I would like to rewrite the url to be /download-xml-editor.aspx
The current page is a pr5 and is our most trafficked and externally inked to page.
My thoughts are quite mixed on how to do this.
approach 1: re-write url of "download.aspx" and setup permanent 301 redirect of download.aspx to download-xml-editor.aspx
approach 2: create a new page called download-xml-editor and 301 redirect that to the current stronger page which is download.aspx
approach 3: create new page called download-xml-editor with unique content and try and get that page to rank over time, allowing it to build up links and not compromise the current page, then later 301 redirect
How would you deal with this and what are your recommendations
-
I have a few questions Andrew.
You want to target download.xml as a keyword and you do, but currently rank on page 2. Therefore you want to increase this rank to page 1.
Why do you need to set up another page?
Why is the current page not suitable for your needs, and can it be optimized better for this keyword?
What is your intent for the new page? Why do you see a need to have a second page to target this keyword?
You say you want to rewrite the URL. Are you saying you want to re-code the URL or do a re-write rule on the URL in the .htaccess file?
With the information you have provided, I see no reason to create a new page, but simply optimize further the page that is already ranking for this term. Perhaps running it through the on-page report card and building some inbound links with exact anchor text.
-
We had the same case in the past, rewrote the URL and told Google the old URL was permanently moved. In one week the new page ranked instead. Once you've done this and other on-site bits go and earn some links as that will me a much more fruitful way of getting the page to a better position.
-
I agree with the other posts. The URL name is one of many factors; I'd concentrate on making other on and off page factors to try and grow the relevance of the page as it is without any redirects. If it was a truly new page with no authority then I'd simply 301 it but that's your decision.
DD
-
Matt Cutts has been quoted as saying that they have probably been paying too much attention to page names, so if I were you, I would not worry about this too much as you can probably expect a change in the algorithm again soon.
Wish I had paid more attention to the article because I can't find it now, but this came through my news feeds when discussing a few other aspects.
Andy
-
Copy the page and name it download-xml-editor.aspx and redirect the old page to this 'new' one. Take the slight ranking hit now while you're on the second page since the higher up you're ranking the more you have to lose.
Just remember that changing the file name/url is not going to always increase your ranking for that keyword - it depends on lots of other factors too
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
-
Canonical URL on frontpage
I have a site where the CMS system have added a canonical URL on my frontpage, pointing to a subpage on my site. Something like on my domain root.Google is still showing MyDomain.com as the result in the search engines which is good, but can't this approach hurt my ranking? I mean it's basically telling google that my frontpage content is located far down the hierarki, instead of my domain root, which of course have the most authority.
Technical SEO | | EdmondHong87
Something seems to indicate that this could very well be the case, as we lost several placements after moving to this new CMS system a few months ago.0 -
Should I change or redirect this URL?
Happy Friday everyone! I just noticed that one of our Attorney Profile's url's is wrong. We used to have someone named "Dana Fortugno" as our Family Law attorney, but when he left, (over two years ago) we hired "Scott Finelli." The person who setup the site, just changed the information on the page not url. So instead of it saying "http://www.kempruge.com/scott-finelli-jd-llm/;" it says "http://www.kempruge.com/dana-fortugno-jd-llm/." I'm considering taking all the content on the page with the wrong url, copying it to a new page with the correct URL and 301 redirecting (what would now be a blank page) to the new page with the correct URL. Is this the best way to handle this? Also, I don't believe there are many SEO concerns regarding the pages specifically. The profile pages aren't what we rank for in any of our Family Law related keywords. I am worried about having a completely blank page that just 301 redirects as looking bad to google, but not sure if it would? As always, thank you for your time and any assistance you can provide. Ruben
Technical SEO | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Parked former company's url on top of my existing url and that URL is showing in SERPs for my top keywords
I have the URL from my former company parked on top of my existing URL. My top keywords are showing up with the old URL attached to the metadsecription of my existing URL. It was supposed to be 301 redirected instead of parked but my web developer insists this was the right way to do it and it will work itself out after google indexes the old URL out of existence. Are there any other options?
Technical SEO | | Joelabarre0 -
URL Mixed Cases and Duplicate Content
Hi There, I have a question for you. I am working on a website where by typing any letter of the URL in lower or upper case, it will give a 200 code. Examples www.examples.com/page1/product www.examples.com/paGe1/Product www.examples.com/PagE1/prOdUcT www.examples.com/pAge1/proODUCt and so on… Although I cannot find evidence of backlinks pointing to my page with mixed cases, shall I redirect or rel=canonical all the possible combination of the cases to a lower version of them in order to prevent duplicate content? And if so, do you have any advice on how to complete such a massive job? Thanks a lot
Technical SEO | | Midleton0 -
Can I redirect a URL that has a # in it? How?
Hi there - My web developer is saying that I can't do a URL redirect with a "#" in it. Currently, the URL is actually an anchored link within a page (which the URL indicates with a #). I want to change the content to a new URL, but our website links internally to the old URL, so we would need to do a URL redirect (assume 301). Can you tell me if this is possible and how? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | sfecommerce0 -
Urls with or without .html ending
Hello, Can anyone show me some authority info on wheher links are better with or without a .html ending? Thanks is advance
Technical SEO | | sesertin0 -
Canonical Tag Pointing To The Same URL
Does it matter if a canonical tag points to the URL in which the tag is on? Example Page: http://www.domain.com Canonical tag: rel="canonical" href="http://www.domain.com" /> I only ask because a client of mine has a CMS that automatically does that to every page on the site and there's no way to remove it. Will this have a negative impact or does it not matter at all? Any insights would be great because I can't find a clear answer anywhere online. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | MichaelWeisbaum0 -
Special characters in URL
Hello everybody, my question focus on special parameters in URL. I i am working for a website that use a lot of special entities in their URLS. For instance: www.mydomain.com/mykeyword1-mykeyword2%2C-1%2Cpage1.html I am about to make 301 redirect rules for all these urls to clean ones. IE: www.mydomain.com/mykeyword1-mykeyword2%2C-1%2Cpage1
Technical SEO | | objectif-mars
would become:
www.mydomain.com/mykeyword1-mykeyword.html I just wanted to know if anybody has already done this kind of "cleanup" and if i could expect a positive boost or not. Thanks0