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
-
Keyword Stuffing Question
Say your on a e-commerce category page "Shirts" every lower level category has "shirts" in it such as: T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweat shirt, v-neck shirt, and so on. Is this page going to be penalized in google for the keyword "shirts" just because it is in the title and on the page a thousand times because i'm targetting words like "long sleeve shirt? and if it is, will the "long sleeve shirt" keyword be negatively affected as well? Answer much appreciated,
On-Page Optimization | | Mike.Bean
Thanks in advance.0 -
Titles - Should they be short or long and descriptiive with keywords?
I just asked a question about ALT tags and then this got me to wondering....I have 300 products, so coming up with titles is not the easiest at times. Some have my keywords and some do not. Should they all have my keywords, despite making the title and the URL longer? It seems like you would want the keyword in the title, but then again the category itself it long. Here is an example: www.site.com/sea-glass-jewelry/by-the-sea (not too long) www.site.com/sea-glass-jewelry/blue-sea-glass-necklace (longer...I have some even longer than this) Thoughts?
On-Page Optimization | | tiffany11030 -
Duplicate URL for homepage
Hi Gurus, Thank you for reading this question My site is developed in Classic ASP How can i make sure the homepage is not duplicated for http://www.partyrama.co.uk/ http://www.partyrama.co.uk/default.asp http://partyrama.co.uk/ http://partyrama.co.uk/default.asp Regards Sri
On-Page Optimization | | partyrama0 -
Regarding the META KEYWORDS tag
Two questions regarding the META KEYWORDS tag: Does Google actually penalize you for using the KEYWORD META tag, or does it just ignore it? On a related matter, I've noticed that when I use the On-Page Optimization Tool, it indicates that my header includes the KEYWORD tag, although I've taken great pains to remove keywords from pages that had been optimized by a previous SEO. I'm using Magento - Could it be a legacy issue? Would that make a difference?
On-Page Optimization | | RScime250 -
Blog URL
I know that this question has been asked in the past, and that website.com/blog is better for seo purposes than blog.website.com. We want to setup a custom blog on our site, using Wordpress. Our designers/host are telling us that buy using website.com/blog can causes issues b/c Wordpress is open source, and our site could be hacked? Is there anything we should do about this? Any suggestions? Any Advice appreciated!!! Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | TP_Marketing0 -
How to fix keyword self-cannibalization?
page in question: www.bison-builders.com/lots-plans/bison-meadows-lots-1-6/ This page is the landing page for 6 custom home lots, available via Bison Builders. I fixed the overstuffing of 'Bison Meadows', it was on all image title, alt, etc. Should be right around 15. We are using 'Bison Meadows' as a keyword, because that's the name of the custom community. I don't want to change the names of the links, and I don't want to change the name of the keyword. How do I fix this self-cannibalization? FYI, I was thinking of directing all canonical URLs for individual pages to this page, but will wait til I know how to fix this first... Thank you! Avoid Keyword Self-Cannibalization Easy fix <dl> <dt>Cannibalizing link</dt> <dd>"Bison Meadows Lot 1", "Bison Meadows Lot 2", "Bison Meadows Lot 3", "Bison Meadows Lot 4", "Bison Meadows Lot 5", and "Bison Meadows Lot 6"</dd> <dt>Explanation</dt> <dd>It's a best practice in SEO to target each keyword with a single page on your site (sometimes two if you've already achieved high rankings and are seeking a second, indented listing). To prevent engines from potentially seeing a signal that this page is not the intended ranking target and creating additional competition for your page, we suggest staying away from linking internally to another page with the target keyword(s) as the exact anchor text. Note that using modified versions is sometimes fine (for example, if this page targeted the word 'elephants', using 'baby elephants' in anchor text would be just fine).</dd> <dt>Recommendation</dt> <dd>Unless there is intent to rank multiple pages for the target keyword, it may be wise to modify the anchor text of this link so it is not an exact match.</dd> </dl> <a class="more expanded">Minimize</a>
On-Page Optimization | | IngridWood0 -
Custom Landing Page URLs
I will begin creating custom landing pages optimized for long-tail keywords. Placing the keywords in the URL is obviously important -- Question: would it be detrimental to rankings to have extra characters extending past the keyword? I'm not able to use tracking code, but need to put an identifier in the URL (clp = custom landing page). For example, is "www.domain.com/silver-fish.html" going to perform meaningfully better than "www.domain.com/silver-fish-clp.html" for the kw phrase "silver fish"? There will obviously be a lot of on-page optimization in addition to just structuring the URLs. Thank you. SIMbiz
On-Page Optimization | | SIMbiz0