Question on URL wording and structure best practices
-
We're mapping out some URL structures and trying to figure out what would be best for separating folders for articles and videos regarding wording in the folder say:
www.site.com/category/article/name-of-article/id#/ ---- www.site.com/category/video/name-of-video/id#/
vs.
www.site.com/category/a/name-of-article/id#/ ---- www.site.com/category/v/name-of-video/id#/
Second option came about the ''shorter is better' way of thinking. Downside I see to it is if the link would be copied and pasted somewhere probably would be best for a user to make it clear they are clicking into an article or a video, don't think just an 'a' or a 'v' would be very telling in that scenario.
Would it be better for search engines to make it clearer with the whole word in there? Any other pros and cons to each? Not sure what's the best route here.
-
I agree
-
Definitely the shorter the better but don't abbreviate words, If you can just go www.site.com/videos/[video name] that would definitely give an improved signal over and above longer URLs of competition.
Or you could possibly get away with www.site.com/blog/videos/[video name] this would carry a little bit less weight but be more descriptive.
Definitely rule of thumb the shorter the URL the better, do not abbreviate, (Google may not know what it means).
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
-
My Last Question Regarding URLs - I Promise...
Hello I've recently asked the community which urls would be best for a company with a variety of wood flooring products. This question relates to "keywords" within the url which relates to each and every product. Which would you choose, 1. a or b? 2. a or b? 1. - Product: CIRO a. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/rustic-oak-ciro - Keyword Match, YES. "Rustic Oak Flooring" b. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/ciro - Keyword Match, NO. "Rustic Oak Flooring" 2. - Product: VOGUE a. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/prefinished-oak-vogue - Keyword Match, YES. "Pr_efinished Oak Flooring"_ b. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/vogue - Keyword Match, NO. "Pr_efinished Oak Flooring"_ Although seemingly a basic part of SEO, I find myself revisiting this question time and time again - what is really better for SEO? Shorter URL's or "slightly" longer to achieve keyword match? _After researching many keywords which we have chosen to use as part of this project, it seems to have any chance of ranking on the first page, the key word (or part of the keyword) must appear within the url. _ I would like to get some "extra" clarification. Thanks for your help!
Technical SEO | | GaryVictory0 -
URL Structure
I'm going through the process of redesigning our website, and the URL structure was brought up. We currently have our URLs structured as domain.com/keyword. It seems that some people think setting your URLs up to look like: domain.com/directory/keyword makes more sense from a user's perspective, and from a search engine's perspective. With our directories labeled as services, solutions, clients - I see no value in adding directories as it dilutes the keyword and brings the keyword further away from the domain. Are there situations where adding a directory before the page in the URL makes sense? If anyone has data showing the difference between the two that'd be great! Thanks, Brian
Technical SEO | | PrasoonGoel0 -
URL spacing help
Hi all, easy question: I have a client URL...example.com/giftbags that has been indexed for a while. Should I change the URL to example.com/gift-bags to separate these words for better KW ranking, or would the change be useless at this point? Thanks, -Reed
Technical SEO | | IceIcebaby0 -
Structure of urls
**Hallo from Athens, Greece. We have to implement the following project and i need your help: ** We will build a company guide for the whole country and company local guides for each city for the same client. **Information of the country guide is the sum of information of local guides, so when a user is at the country guide he sees information from companies from all cities and when the user is at city guide he sees info only for the city. ** The problem is the structure of the url we should have. Should the page of presentation of each company should have structure as domain.gr/id/company? or city.domain.gr/id/company and the one to be canonical to the other? is this good for seo? Should both urls be included in the sitemap? Thank you
Technical SEO | | herculesopa0 -
Canonical URL
I previously set the canonical Url in google web masters to the non www version, when I check my on page opt, it tells me that I have a critical issue with this. Should I change it in google web masters back to the www version? if so is there the possibility of negative results? Or is there a better way to deal with this? Note, I have inbound links pointing to both types.
Technical SEO | | bronxpad0 -
URL structure
Hi, I am in the process of having a site created which will focus on the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PS3 Vita. I would appreciate some advice when it comes to the URL structure. Each category mentioned above will have the following subsections News
Technical SEO | | WalesDragon
Reviews
Screenshots
Trailers Would the best url structure be? www.domain.com/xbox-360/news/news-story-headline
www.domain.com/ps3/reviews/ps3-game-name Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.0 -
Local SEO best practices for multiple locations
When dealing with local search for a business with multiple locations, I've always created an individual page for each location. Aside from the address and business name being in there, I also like to make sure the title tag and other important markup features the state/city/suburb, or, in the case of hyper-local, hyper-competitive markets, information more specific than that. It's worked very well so far. But, the one thing you can always count on with Local is that the game keeps changing. So I'd like to hear what you think... How do you deal with multiple locations these days? Has Google (and others, of course) advanced far enough to not mess things up if you put multiple locations on the same page? (Do I hear snickers? Be nice now) How does Schema.org fit in to your tactics in this area, if at all? Cheers (Edit: dear SEOmoz, stop eating my line breaks)
Technical SEO | | BedeFahey0
