Should URL Follow Navigation Of A Site?
-
Following an SEOMoz webinar the other day, where the presenter made a case of eliminating folders in URLs, as these could confuse a bot when crawling a site.
I love the idea. However, there are still a lot of Best Practices and guidelines out there that will suggest there should be a logic in the URL, just as there should be in your Navigation.
My question in that regard is whether or not there is any value for a bot to crawl a website URL that follows the navigation by "stuffing" the URL with folders, identical to the navigation present on the site, and even a secondary navigation present on all pages?
Example: the navigation of a site goes [Domain > Folder > Sub folder > Sub-sub folder > product]. What is the benefit of using a URL such as [www.domain.com/folder/sub-folder/sub-sub-folder/product] vs [www.domain.com/product]
Thank you guys for your insights!
PS this is a WP site we are talking about.
-
Thanks Mike, for your interesting views on other issues that come with a short URL. So true!
I agree on the domain/DX600 and the domain/NX600. This is a WP site, so it should be fairly easy to go with example: [**www.**domain.com/nikon-DSLR-camera-NX600]
Not that my personal opinion matters here, but there is a value for a visitor to see that short URL, rather than the [www.domain.com/cameras/compact/all-in-one/DSLR/20mp/2013/Nikon/NX600], right? As logical as those folders and sub folders may be, it is a blur for a visitor and can very well be confusing for a search bot with all those folders it now has to verify.
The question is purely about the bot: would a bot find it better to have the folders or would it not matter to the bot.
-
Depending on the size of your site I would think from a usability standpoint that may be confusing, but you could implement breadcrumbs to remedy the confusion.
From an SEO point of view, I would think that it would be a lot easier for Google to see the differences between two products. For instance, if you have two products DX600 and NX600...
/cameras/point-and-shoot/sony/DX600
/cameras/point-and-shoot/nikon/NX600
would be pretty easy for a crawler and/or user to figure out what the page is about.
If it were just /DX600 and /NX600 that might be a little more complex for users and crawlers - is it a camera, computer, coffee maker, napkin dispenser???
And depending on your site, CMS, and industry, you may have to get creative with your URLs so you do not create duplicates and it may even be difficult to manage if you do not know exactly where to find a page is that you need to edit.
That is just my personal opinion on the subject. I would be interested in viewing the webinar you are talking about - if you have time, please post a link.
Again, I am not saying this is a bad idea by any means, but I think it definitely could make for some interesting issues if not planned out well beforehand.
Mike
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
-
Site "Internal" Search Full-Text Indexing vs. Manual Tagging
I’m looking for recommendations on how to power site search in an efficient way. Ideally, I would like to get recommendations on platforms, tools, trends, technology and resources. This discussion does not really refer to SEO or site search optimization. It is more related to the technology used to power site search. I would like to get an idea on the differences between full-text indexing site search and site search that requires manual tagging.
SERP Trends | | burnseo0 -
"&" in search for site:domain.com
Hi, a few days ago we talked to a seo agency. They told us something about the "site:" search, that we hadn't heard before.
SERP Trends | | Sandra_h
As they told us, a search for "site:domain.com/&" would give you the number of relevant pages that Google indexed for your domain. We tested this search with some domains. Lots of the results showed up to 25% less indexed pages, than the search for site:domain.com/ Has anyone heard of this before, or is it just a sales gimmick?0 -
Is there anyway to find the Keyword from which a site getting the Traffic??
Hi , I am researching on a site and i am trying to find the main keyword from which this site is getting it's majority of traffic . I am also trying to find out all the posts published by that site .. Is there any way to get it ? Any tool available here in Moz ? Thanks
SERP Trends | | SinbadKonick0 -
External URLs - ones you can't reach out
My fellow Mozzers, I have been reviewing our Google Webmaster error reports and noticed high url errors. These URLs are generated from international sites, mainly China. Upon further inspection, these look to be links to dynamic URLs that are no longer active on our site. (search pages) China is linking to old URLs that simply spew out a 'Bad Request' pages now. Problems I face is that: I can't contact these chinese sites to remove/edit the URLs. I could work with my developers to identify the urls and direct them all to the homepage, but is that good. The URLs are still present. Some of these look like pages that haven't been updated in a while, so now I have links from sites that are archived, or "dead" Have you tackled anything like this before? Thoughts are welcome Thanks
SERP Trends | | Bio-RadAbs0 -
Backlinks from complaints site?
Our brands deal quite a lot with a complaints site that the public may post a complaint and then our clients respond - if the response is the answer the complainer was looking for, they can convert the complaint into a compliment however this is 80% not the case. Hence would including a link back to the clients site from a complaints website have any negative effect or can we turn a negative into a marketing opportunity?
SERP Trends | | Ctrlroom0 -
Google EMD algo hurt my site pls give me suggestion to out come from this penalty
Guys i have site and its EMD , but google yesterday update the algo and my all keyword ranking goes out of 100....in some keyword its not showing and rest of the keyword are out of 100-200 position..i have quality copy scape content ...also i have very stable link building is going on...my purchase this domian before 3 month ..again guys i m not geting any msg in webmaster. site:www.eacnecream.com Keyword:Acne cream , Best acne cream , Acne treatment Pls guys give me suggestion.i always trust this community.. Thanks
SERP Trends | | Brayvez0 -
Pros and Cons Google Site Search
I'm having a hard time finding the actual pros and cons of implementing Google Site Search on a website. Thoughts? Any data on bounce rate of internal SERP because UX doesn't look like the website? I know you can customize, but most examples I've seen still look pretty different from the stie's native style. Any other cons? Data issues, etc?
SERP Trends | | Aggie0 -
Does google follow text links without the link?
Hi A short question. Lets say I have been mentioned in an article online like "also mentioned on www.domain.com is" but the url mentioned is not a link does that give any seo value at all to my site? Does it count towards building a brand i googles eyes by being mentioned a lot but not awarded a link? Hope you can help clarify
SERP Trends | | AndersDK0