301 Redirects From a URL without Keyphrases to one With Keyphrases
-
I have a client that sells services. Each service offered currently has a URL structure like this:
www.companyname.com/product/asp$view-id-page3022-item-24
These pages are pretty old, and I would love to have a more user-friendly URL like this:
www.companyname.com/product/purple-swatch-watch
If I rename the URL and do a 301 redirect, what impact will that have on search? Ideally, this page will be optimized for "purple swatch watch", but the current URL structure is so... well, you know.
My apologies if this has been answered before. I tried looking through archived of 301 issues, but lost hope after my first 10 or so attempts at answered didn't help this specific issue.
-
Agree with everything although I understood a 301 gives a very slight shave off the optimum link value, but the benefits in terms of user experience and keyworded URLs outweigh that.
I'm a fan of Fiddler for watching header responses.
-
Thanks, Tom. I appreciate the comment. Our tech guru is ready with the proper 301 redirect, so I feel confident there. Even if it is a small benefit, I feel like it's best practice anyway, so I'm glad you agree!
-
Hi Erica
In my eyes, this should be a positive move.
Implementing a 301 redirect will pass all of the link equity, which should bring the new URL up to par very quickly. Combine that with the fact that there is evidence to suggest correlation between having keywords in the URL and ranking higher for the term, albeit a slight benefit, means that for SEO purposes it could be a positive move.
In addition, I think this is a much more friendly URL structure for the user and enhancing the user experience can also result in conversions.
I'd definitely make that change, just be sure you implement the 301 correctly. This Moz guide can help.
Hope this helps!
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
-
Anyone know the benefit of URLs being in the target language?
For example, a page targeting the spanish language, does it make a difference if the URL is site.com/i-don't-speak-spanish vs site.com/no-habla-espanol
On-Page Optimization | | LennyO0 -
After 301 redirection non-English keyword points to English language pages
We had multilingual website on .co.uk domain and somewhere in April, we've done 301 redirection from domain1.co.uk pages which were in Polish language to domain2.com/pl domain and now for some Polish keywords Google SERP sometimes shows English pages (.com) and sometimes polish pages (.com/pl). Previously co.uk/en had English content and that got redirected to .com. What could be the reason? Thank you for all responses.
On-Page Optimization | | Optimal_Strategies0 -
301 vs 410
Hello everyone! I'm going through a large list of old 404 links that search console has given me and a lot of these links need to be 301'd. My question is, should I 410 some of these links if I can't find a good place to 301 to? Or is there another thing I should do that is better practice. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | KathleenDC0 -
My website is being opened by multiple URLs?
Dear Friends, I have a website which is being opened like example.comand example/index to same page. Is there any problem SEO point of view. By the way I have placed the Rel= canonical tag in source page. its working fine but
On-Page Optimization | | docbeans0 -
Temperary redirects
I have a problem with temp redirects, I have a dating site and the redirects happen when guests on the site are prompted to purchase a subscription while trying gain access to the sites contents. I was told to change them to 301 redirects but don't know how. any help, thanks guys.
On-Page Optimization | | clickit2getwithit0 -
Canonical URL tags help I am not sure what this is
I am trying to get an A grade on my webpage and this is one of the critical steps canonical URL tags I cant find much information as to what this even is never mind fixing it. Thanks I am a total newbe at this any advice is appreciated
On-Page Optimization | | gemfirez0 -
URL Rewrite
(By Google Traductor) Hello, I wanted to ask about some changes that we are evaluating for the issue of passing the url with variables to be more descriptive, for example: http://www.agroads.com.ar/detalle.asp?clasi=139592 tohttp://www.agroads.com.ar/humedimetro-para-cereales-draminski-gmm-139592.html In this case corresponds to the breakdown of a product if you have long published andcan be well positioned to change the title of this position would be lost unless youmanage it with a 301, as one would manage when you have more than 30000 products and title may change several times? There are tools to manage this? Finally, we must apply this to all listed with their respective filters, recommends doingtheir part with 301 redirects and analyze what funciene well to continue with the rest or implement a complete change? I hope I can bring a little light to implement this. Greetings and thanks! Roberto
On-Page Optimization | | romaro0
