URL Keyword Variations?
-
I'm aware that keywords in the url aren't as effective as they used to be, but I'm still convinced that they do have a significant impact (based on results in one of the niches I'm in).
My question is, will variations of keywords and "hidden" keywords have as much value as an exact keyword? For example, let's say that I'm trying to target the keyword "day." Will including variations like "daily" in the url work just as well? What about a brand name that includes the keyword hidden in its name, like "Dayest"?
And, as a followup question, does including "stop" words have any effect? For example, if I'm trying to target the keyword "Day of the Month", would including "day" and "month" in the url be just as effective as including "day of the month"?
-
I think this you're over-thinking it on this one personally. I think that if you simply write the URL based on what you think will be most useful to your visitor, without making it over-complicated that you'll be fine. If there is benefit to be had, having the keywords there in a simple manner will give you that benefit, but you'll be spinning wheels if you spend too much time on it.
I think you'd be fine cutting out words. We always cut unnecessary words out of the URL as you mentioned doing above simply to keep the URL's a bit shorter.
I know it's cliche, but if you write the URL so it make sense to the visitor, without being over-complicated and spammy, then I think that's the best way to get whatever strength may be available to be passed by "the google machine".
-
Chris,
Admittedly, I don't have any testing to backup my hunch. The only thing that I can say is that the entire first page of results are from urls that include the keyword in the url. Now, that might simply be because all of these sites were started long ago when keywords in the url had more of an impact, and since they're older sites, naturally they have more backlinks and rank the highest. I just find it odd that not one ranking site on the first page includes a url without the keyword.
You mention, "it's satisfactory to simply throw something keyword related in the url." So, let me ask a question with a more specific example. Let's say you were targeting the keyword "Quotes by Topic" . . . would the following url work since it has "quote" in the domain's brand name, even though the brand name isn't truly a dictionary word (and therefore Google might not pick up the word, "quote"?):
Or would you gain value by adding quotes in the url string? As follows:
-
JABcchetta,
I'm interested in knowing what convinces you of the ongoing significant impact of keywords in URLs in your niche when in most niches, it's satisfactory to simply throw something keyword related in the url and be off to spending time on other aspects of SEO. If you've done testing to that effect, it would certainly be valuable information for the rest of us.
I think that in most niches, the difference in value of using keywords in the various ways you describe is negligible. I'd recommend to keep up the testing and do some niche-specific verifications on which of your choices work best. As for the stop words, I never put any value in that concept.
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
-
Schema.org Article, itemprop keyword, what is it?
I've wanted to know the answer to this for a couple of years now and haven't found anyone ever talking about it. So here goes ... For schema.org markup on articles, http://schema.org/Article there's an itemprop for keywords: http://schema.org/keywords keywords
On-Page Optimization | | SteveRDM
Canonical URL: http://schema.org/keywords
Keywords or tags used to describe this content. Multiple entries in a keywords list are typically delimited by commas. What's that do? Like if I use that markup with an article I publish on my site, will that get those words given that property keyword value? Will that affect SEO value? Do those replace what metatag keywords used to be? Or are they just like what metatag keywords are these days, no real value?0 -
Appropriate Keyword Usage in Document
Moz on page grader - Text content is very important for modern SEO. In order to optimize your chances of ranking higher for the targeted keyword(s), we recommend using the targeted keyword(s) at least 4 times. Recommendation: Add at least 4 instances of the targeted keyword(s) to the document text of this page. Is there any preferred word count for the web page/blog? for example it is not good to add keyword 4 time in 200 words content. and We need to add exact keyword 4 times in the content?
On-Page Optimization | | marknorman0 -
Keywords dropping
My website http://www.refrigeratedtransportuk.com/ is dropping like a stone for the keyword 'refrigerated transport'. Even though the page gets a grade A, can anyone help?
On-Page Optimization | | CreativeCow0 -
Long url > 115
Hi, in my web code I have link to my images that are resize online and the link is very long. like this src="http://img.espectador.com/mediadelivery/?fn=&i_enc=1&i_a=L2hvbWUvZXNwZWN0YWRvci93d3cvaW1hZ2VuZXMvMjUwMTY2XzEzNDk5NTQ0NjFfY29uc3RydWNjaW9uLmpwZw==&i_cl=1&i_tr=100&i_q=70&i_rt=0&i_w=250&i_h=188&i_wtmrk=" alt="Paro parcial de Sunca" border="0"/> I have a lot of warning in my reports with this and I would like to omit this warnings How can I do that? noindex? nofollow? Thanks The original page that contain that code is this http://www.espectador.com/noticias/250166/paro-parcial-de-sunca Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | informatica8100 -
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
On-Page Optimization | | 77Agency0 -
How many times to use keyword
So if I have my main site, blog and article directory section, can I use keyword in all three places, but obviously different, unique content? And if so, can I link them to make it even more powerful?
On-Page Optimization | | azguy0 -
Impact of removing category sidebar with keywords?
Our site (a niche financial publication: insideARM.com) requires some more room in the sidebar. We're considering removing the categories (we call them topics) sidebar block, or cutting down the number of items displayed within it. My concern is that we'd be removing a direct link to landing pages for important keyword terms from our most powerful page (the index). Sure, we have the terms listed in the footer, but I am worried that the position change will lower the value of the links. Our users don't really use these links for navigational purposes, which is why it comes up as a potential removed item. Am I wrong to worry about this? Would we be crippling our category pages by doing this?
On-Page Optimization | | insideARM0