URL for New Product
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Hi,
We run an established website (mindflash.com) selling online training software. We are getting ready to launch a new section of the site where our users can sell their own online training programs. This will be branded as the 'marketplace'. This section will have a main page, category pages, tag pages, search and individual course pages.
In our URL structure, I'd love to target the word 'training courses' but I don't want to neglect the product brand either. Is it better to use /training-courses in the marketplace urls or to use /marketplace? Or is it better to use both like /marketplace-training-courses or /marketplace/training-courses?
Option 1:
Example main section page: mindflash.com/training-courses
Example category page: mindflash.com/training-courses/software-training
Option 2:
Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace
Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training
Option 3:
Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses
Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses/software-training
Option 4:
Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses
Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses/software-training
Which option is better and why?
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a) the less deep you can go in directories the better, keep it as close to the root as possible so #3 is out.
b) marketplace should be in it's own directory since it's your brand and you should have a main landing page mindflash.com/marketplace
c) don't repeate keywords, looks like stuffing, so no to these ones:
mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses/software-training
mindflash.com/training-courses/software-training
therefore i would research the best combination or three word mid tail searches that can capture two main phrases and all three for example:
mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training-courses
"software training" "training courses" "software training courses"
mindflash.com/marketplace/software-courses-online
or maybe more specific fits into your model
mindflash.com/marketplace/php-software-training
or
mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training/php-courses
if you need more hiearchy/granularity, but don't add folders for SEO sake - add folder if you need to organize the pages more logically
use dashes not underscores
use all lowercase no caps
no spaces of course
no funky characters
drop the .html or .php extensions
better to not have a slash at the end (don't forget to canonical)
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