WooCommerce category naming conventions
-
I am managing a woocommerce store selling prescription glasses/spectacles.
We have a lot of categories with similar names and I want to adopt the best possible naming convention to get the best from search.
So we have a number of similar categories for both Men's and women's glasses. Currently they are named as follows:
Women's Glasses-Women's Rimless Glasses
-Women's Semi Rimless Glasses
-Women's Plastic Glasses
-Women's Metal Glasses
-Women's Retro GlassesCurrently, this results in the following URL structure for sub categories:
https://www.glassesonspec.co.uk/product-category/womens-glasses-2/womens-rimless-glasses/
(For some reason WooCommerce is adding -2 to the end of the primary category name, it will not let me change it for some reason, this is the subject of a further investigation!)
So first question, is there too much duplication of the word glasses on the sub items? for example, should they read;
Women's Glasses
-Rimless
-Semi Rimless
-Plastic
-Metal
-RetroHence giving this URL structure:
https://www.glassesonspec.co.uk/product-category/womens-glasses-2/rimless/
OR, should we change the top level category name to just Women's and let the sub categories complete the picture?:
Women's
-Rimless Glasses
-Semi Rimless Glasses
-Plastic Glasses
-Metal Glasses
-Retro GlassesGiving this example URL structure:
https://www.xxxxxxxxxxxxx.co.uk/product-category/womens/rimless-glasses/
This would solve my hyphenation problem, however my fear is the top level category on it's own is not descriptive enough when viewed as stand alone:
https://www.xxxxxxxxxxxxx.co.uk/product-category/womens/
The second part of my question relates to how to deal with the change in URL structure. I am using Yoast Premium, so will that pick up the changes and automatically redirect to the new one as it does when done manually? Or will I need to take a different approach using HTACCESS commands?
I hope the above makes sense,
Many thanks,
Bob
-
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your response and suggestions. I think I've found a solution to all of the issues I'm currently experiencing!
https://www.perfectseourl.com/
This should fix the -2 problem, as I can now dispense with the "product-category" slug completely and also follow your suggestion of going with the "womens" category name etc.
Many thanks!
-
The reason for the -2 added to the category permalink is because you have a duplicate name. Even if this category is in the trash it will cause the -2 to be added if a new category is made. Delete any duplicate names in the trash to fix this.
I would recommend using the shorter category "womens" and if possible shorten the "product-category" slug so that your keywords have a chance to appear in bold the search listing preview.
Usually your product category links and breadcrumbs will update automatically when the permalink is changed. If you have placed manual links to these categories you may want to consider adding 301 redirects to the updated URLs.
Hope this helps. Best of luck with your updates.
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
-
Homepage optimized for main keyword - adding the same keyword to category
Hello, We have a listing / classified advertisement website. The homepage is optimized for the main keyword lets say Prague clubs. The homepage shows around 50 latest listings. Now the homepage is not ranking well for the keyword. (By not well i mean in 3 months we have no ranking in the target SERP) Im thinking the issue might be that the keyword "Prague clubs" is not in any of the URL or category names. What do you think if i name one of the categories also to lets say "best prague clubs". This way i will have around 50-80 urls having the target keyword in them. (advertisements + the category itself) Will this help or actually dilute the keyword? What you think?
Technical SEO | | advertisingtech0 -
Assigning WooCommerce products to more than one category - Correct methodology?
I manage a store selling prescription glasses, many of which are unisex or apply to more than one category. I have already assigned the canonical URL for each category, but my question is, if a product appears in more than one category, do I need to set the canonical URL in each product to reflect the category I want it to index under? Therefore, any additional categories that product appears in simply refers the link value back to the canonical URL. I note that in Yoast, under each product, there's note in the canonical setting to leave it empty to default to permalink, so this has confused me a little. I'm just concerned that by applying a product to multiple categories, it may be causing duplicate content, as I have a lot of duplicate issues which I'll raise in another question. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | SushiUK1 -
Help: domain name change and Google News
Hi. I work for a regional news source, and our (separate) Spanish-language news publication recently changed its domain name. The publication lost its Google News inclusion. Most of their traffic came from Google News, so traffic tanked. They're trying to get back in. They reapplied but didn't get approved. They're now in the 30-day waiting period to reapply again. The website is run by a third-party company, which handled the domain name change in April (2015). That company has been running their site for a couple of years. Our in-house devs' hands are tied on helping, because we (at the mother company) don't manage their site. This third party has not been responsive. The Spanish pub folks have reached out to me to help them prepare for Round 2 of reapplication. I'm the mothership in-house SEO, but I've never experienced this situation before. Because everything seems to be in order besides the ham-handed changes, my best advice to them so far is: You'll have to wait until Google gets to know you again, unfortunately. Does that sound right? Any pointers out there for bringing their best possible A-game to the next round?
Technical SEO | | christyrobinson1 -
How to Delete the slug /category/ from wordpress category pages
Hi all, I would like to ask you what's the better way to eliminate the slug /category/ form the wordpress category pages. I need to delete the slug /category/ to make the url seo frendly. The problem is that my site is an old site with the page indexed by Google for a long time. Thanks for your advice.
Technical SEO | | salvyy0 -
Should I use my competitor's name in my content to help my rankings?
If I have a competitor that ranks higher than me, would it be helpful to use their name in my content, or in my meta information?
Technical SEO | | greaterstudio0 -
Domain Name Acquisition
Hi Anyone know how to get contact details for a domain owner beyond those provided by the likes of whois, archive etc etc ? Cheers Dan
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Name Address Phone NAP For Dentists
I've been working with dentists for a about 6 months but there is something that I feel I need to nail down. When looking at directory listings and trying to standardize a dental practice NAP, many dentists have their company name in many different formats. Here is what I have seen so far. Advanced Dental Care of Chicago
Technical SEO | | Czubmeister
Advanced Dental Care of Chicago - Angela Davidson DDS
Advanced Dental Care of Chicago Drs Davidson, Richardson & Smith
Angela Davidson DDS
Davidson, Richardson & Smith - Advanced Dental Care of Chicago What happens here is that with dentistry, the doctors name is as important as the practice name. Many people hear about a doctor and Google by the doctors name. Others Google the practice name. It almost makes sense to put both the practice name and the doctors name in the Business name but as you can see, the practice name can get real long especially if they have 5 other doctors working there. On top of that, some doctors don't stick around the practice that long so you end up with business listings containing old dental partners. Trying to come to a consensus on the best way to list a dental practice.1 -
Keyword stuffing found, how does Google treat my business name that contains keyword?
Hi, SEOmoz found 72 occurances of my keyword 'widgets' on our front page. I'm trying to cut it down but alot of the time the keyword appears alongside the company name 'Mega Widgets' . Will Google distinguish between the use of the keyword within a typical sentence and having it alongside the company name? Or should I put in a hypen (mega-widgets) or surround the company name with quotes ("mega widgets") to tell Google its a legit combination/phrase and I'm not trying to stuff in the keyword?
Technical SEO | | SpecialCase0