Changing old style WP menu built with child pages or not?

[DoMiSoL]

Hi Mozzers,

the very old theme of my client's site doesn't support the new WP menus, so the menu structure is built in the old way, with parent and child pages.

For example the page whose url is www.site.com/rent/ is top level and the sub pages are like www.site.com/rent/cars/ or www.site.com/rent/trucks/

Also there are third generation pages like  www.site.com/rent/cars/fiat500/

Since I am changing the theme, I am going to use the new WP menu system and I'd like to know if this parent/child url structure may hurt link equity propagation.

My question is: should I detach the child pages from the parents and, according to that, change the urls of the child pages from:
www.site.com/rent/cars/

to

www.site.com/rent-cars/ (and of course 301 redirect them) ?

Or is it ok to leave the pages' url in the old parenting way?

What is the best practice?

Thank you very much!

DoMiSoL Rossini

[evolvingSEO]

How big is the site? If it's say, under a few hundred pages then you can just leave the structured URLs, and I usually prefer this for good UX and architecture. If the site is much bigger, it might be a little more complex and the specifics could affect things a little.

[DoMiSoL]

Thank you Robert,

I am sorry I think I didn't explain it well.

I am not changing domain, I am only changing the theme, so that I can use the "new" WP menu feature and do submenus with drag and drop in the menu editor rather than using child pages

Now, with a new theme I have the choice, so I rephrase the question:

isn't a normal sub page (www.site.com/rent-cars/) closer to the home page than a child page (www.site.com/rent/cars/)?

This second url implies in some sense more distance from the home, isn't it?

To make it simpler: let's say my home page has Page Authority 20: which one of the 2 pages will get more of this page authority? The child page (with "/" separator) or the subpage (with "-" separator)?

Usability and keyword presence in the urls won't change much (let's say the keyword is "rent cars") so here I am only focusing on link equity.

I know I might be overlooking, but if this is the case I'd like to hear from you

Thank you again!

DR

[Toddfoster]

Hello DoMiSol,

In this case, link equity will not be affected if you retain the same domains. Breaking them up and creating new routes may actually cause you some harm from a link-equity perspective so I would suggest you retain the old structure and ensure proper 301 redirect practices.

Being honest, either way works fine. It is predominantly a matter of preference and what your traffic flow is like. If you are attaining good rankings with your current propagation system, I would keep it. If you are not attaining rankings you are looking for, it might be worth shaking it up and seeing what a new domain setup does for you - however, I think this is probably the less-attractive option.

One other factor to consider is user experience - if you feel that a new setup would greatly influence customer interaction with your site (and thereby lead to greater conversions, brand awareness or reviews), then by all means, try it out.

However, all things being equal, I would retain the previous set up and make sure I crossed my T's and dotted my I's on the 301's.

Hope this helps and feel free to fire me any follow-up questions.

Rob