URL Structure "-" vs "/"? Are there any advantages to one over the other?
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An example would be domain.com/keyword/keyword2 vs domain.com/keyword-keyword2
Are there any advantages / disadvantages to one over the other?
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Lots of great feedback has been offered. In short, it's up to your personal preference.
I can't help but add a link because I have watched too many Matt Cutts videos (they are starting to auto-play in my head) and he answered your exact question.
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the /keyword/ tells the search engine that you have a folder, the other does not. If your Keyword1 has a lot of sub/related keywords then creating a folder would be helpful. Google does search the index files of your folders... without being prompted to.
If you don't have a legit sub category then I would stick with the -.
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The beginners guide to seo is a great place to start in terms of how to structure your URLs. I personally avoid the "domain.com/keyword/keyword2" type of URL structure. I'd stick with the latter format, but would make sure to not keyword stuff. Just keep it simple with one or two keywords as you mentioned. It's really ugly when you see a url that looks like http://www.domain.com/keyword-keyword2-keyword3-keyword4-keyword5-keyword6-keyword7. I know I hate it when I see those URLs show up in the SERPS. I believe Rand touched on this in The Future of LInk Building webinar from a while back.
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Well your first example would be referencing 2 separate directories, where the second example is one directory.
Here's a quick snippet of an article from Rand. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/11-best-practices-for-urls
These last examples have done nearly everything right:
- http://www.discoverohio.com/visitors/map.asp
Brilliant - it's short, descriptive, static and obvious. - http://web.mit.edu/is/usability/usability-guidelines.html
Despite the subdomain, everything else is near perfect. - http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jk35.html
I'm letting the White House off the hook for not using "john-kennedy" as the page title, because they've wisely also provided his number (the US' 35th President).
- http://www.discoverohio.com/visitors/map.asp
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