Changing URL for SEO
-
Hi folks,
I'm a total newbie so please go easy.
I've published 4 blogs on my website and am using the free Yoast plugin to guide me on my SEO. The blogs have been promoted in various places using organic and paid social.
However, the more I look into SEO the more I'm realising that I did literally NO keyword research and the keywords I'm using are pretty useless.
The question is this: it should be easy enough for my to change the content of the blog, the meta description etc to reflect the new keywords, but what about the URL / slug?.
Is there any way to change this without causing me a massive headache or does having my new keywords in the slug even matter?
Thanks,
Mike.
-
Such a good point and thank you so much for going into this in such depth!
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the URL or even the slug. It's just from trying to do keyword research after the fact, there doesn't seem to be the search volume for the exact phrase I've used to suggest I should have used it.
Sounds like keeping the slug the same but working on optimising everything else is the way to go! That and being much more mindful of what I'm doing moving ahead!
-
There is no penalty per se. The catch-22 of this situation is that when you change URL structure, even if you do everything perfectly right (and it's hard to make sure you have all the redirects perfect), you run the risk of losing some link juice. Part of this is because any external links and bookmarks are going to the old page and having to redirect.
But if you don't change your URL structure, you're not quite as optimized for your terms as you might otherwise be. So moving forward do pay attention to the slugs and use keywords, but don't go backward and try to overhaul everything.
Another couple of thoughts: spiders and their algorithms change over time. If you focus on what they like today, you will likely end up in a situation where you need to keep making changes to keep up with them. Whereas if you do what is best for visitors, you will likely end up better in the long term, because as their artificial intelligence grows over time, they will catch up to you. So ask yourself this: if you were a visitor and you liked the content, would your current URLs prevent you from sharing? If they're super long or the wording looks awkward, that might be a possible deterrent, but if they're not crazy and nothing would make you feel weird for sharing the link, it's almost always better to leave them as they are.
-
Thanks that makes sense! The context of the article is exactly the same I'm just trying to optimise it better.
Does it penalise me in any way not having my focus keywords in my slug?
Thanks,
-
In my experience, you create more headaches by changing the URLs than you fix. If you completely change the subject of an article, it's fine to change the slug. But I'm assuming you are probably just going to research keywords and keep the same general content, just tweak some things here and there to optimize better for specific phrases, while the overall topic remains the same. If that's the case, stick with your existing slugs.
The only exception I'd make to this rule is that if you change category names, go ahead and change those slugs to match. Just research them well so you won't be changing them again. And make sure you add 301 redirects that cover all those URL changes so you don't lose link juice or have people ending up on error pages.
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
-
Is there a tool that can alert me whenever the first page of search results change for a certain search term in a specific region?
Is there a tool that can alert me whenever the first page of search results change for a certain search term in a specific region?
Keyword Research | | Amanda_Palmary0 -
Recommended basic credible SEO on youtube
Hello, I'm teaching a friend SEO and she wants very basic SEO videos on Youtube. I looked for some but there was a lot of incorrect information that some people were giving out. Does any experienced SEOs know of credible, basic SEO videos that the SEOs that make them don't give out backward information. Good quality videos. I will keep looking, but please, if anyone has some gems send them my way. Thanks. Bob
Keyword Research | | BobGW1 -
Wordpress SEO: Category page + Product page or only category page?
Trying to improving my website's ranks on google for a specific keyword (e.g. Samsung S6), I'm thinking about doing some experiments. I've a wordpress based blog. Now, I've the category "Samsung S6" (url: example.com/samsung-s6), with only the latest 6 news (with excerpts) + pagination. This ranks good, but it's a bit ugly as a landing page and I want a better rank. I could improve this page by customizing the template and adding some static text, but it could be a time-consuming solution considering that I'm using a third party theme and I should check this every update. Also, it's harder to customize this page then the next solution: I'm thinking about creating a new page Samsung S6 (url: example.com/samsungs6). This page will contain a product overlay (e.g. RAM, HD, screen size etc.), + product description with features and a small review of it's elements (e.g. camera description with results, suggested applications etc.) + some images/youtube videos + latest 6 news (without excerpts) + some links to other relevant pages in my website for that product, including a link to the category page. What will happen in terms of SEO? Any idea if the new page could rank better than the category page, considering that it has more static elements? Not sure if google could detects duplicates, or two page comepting for the same keyword on the same website is a bad thing. Which are your ideas? Is it ok to have two pages competing for the same keyword on the same website?
Keyword Research | | daimpa0 -
Does a dynamic meta creation harmful for seo?
Hi guys another newbie question. I have this 20 categories and i want each of it to have a dynamic meta to save time rather than doing it manually. All the 20 categories are name of countries. Target keyword: rent a car (category) Lets say im browsing malaysia category. Meta Title: Find affordable rent a car in malaysia Meta Description: Find affordable rent a car in malaysia only here at website.com, call and book for a car now! Meta Keywords: rent a car in malaysia, malaysia rent a car, affordable rent a car malaysia, cheap cars in malaysia Now i move to another category lets say hongkong, the meta should change dynamically by changing just the name of the category Meta Title: Find affordable rent a car in hongkong Meta Description: Find affordable rent a car in hongkong only here at website.com, call and book for a car now! Meta Description: rent a car in hongkong, hongkong rent a car, affordable rent a car hongkong, cheap cars in hongkong and this goes to all other categories as well. Will it hurt my seo? i mean it could be a form of duplicate content or whatever. Also please correct me of doing my meta, if its correct especially in meta keywords i dont want keyword stuffing as a problem why im not ranking. Thanks a lot guys. Im still in the process of learning the basics 😄
Keyword Research | | geefex6nsy0 -
Are my urls too long or spammy?
Hello, what are your thoughts on these urls. I have had them like this for years, I got hit hard from Google in May last year. Do you think this contributed? Would it be beneficial for me to make them shorter? http://www.ditalia.com.au/couture-dressmakers-seamstresses-tailors-couturiers-and-fashion-design-advice/cocktail-gowns http://www.ditalia.com.au/wedding-dress-wedding-dresses-and-bridal-gowns-designed-and-made http://www.ditalia.com.au/designer-fabrics-designer-fabric-italian-material-and-french-lace/french-lace http://www.ditalia.com.au/wedding-dress-wedding-dresses-and-bridal-gowns-designed-and-made/vintage-wedding-dresses
Keyword Research | | infinart0 -
Should i change title tags?
I want to change all of the title tags on my website by adding a couple of more keywords (not keyword stuffing) but our previous media company chose words that were not aas relevant as ones I found. However I was warned this is a bad idea, it will make traffic drop and if it works we will only see about 5% increase to pages. Please advise. Should I change them and hwo should I do it? One by one slowly while changing content to match or all at once?
Keyword Research | | slipnot0 -
Should we change our site domain name to include our keyword?
Our niche has one keyword phrase that is much, much more active than any other comparable phrase. Let's call that phrase "math problems". Within this phrase, the "math" is absolutely the most important keyword, as it is also used in every spin-off search phrase, like "math answers", "math practice", etc. We've had our domain since 1996, and is currently the company name - "Rocketproblems.com". Over the last year (2010-2011) our SERPs have steadily dropped to the point where we're not getting a sustainable level of business from organic search, whereas in 2009 we were doing fantastic. However, we've also had "Rocketmathproblems.com" since about 2000, just gathering dust. What I've noticed from the top search results is that nearly every domain has either "math" or "math problems" in its URL. Do you think it's worth it to switch to the keyword-rich URL? It is a bit more verbose, and the "Rocketmathproblems.com" v.s. "Rocketproblems.com" example perfectly captures the different feeling. My inclination is that SEO is only becoming more competitive, and if we aren't getting worthwhile business from organic search at the moment then we should bite the bullet and make the switch for the future, along with ramping up our content generation. However, I also noticed that in late 2009 a previous webmaster switched to "Rogermath.com" but switched back within a month when our SERP for the key phrase was a page lower - I gleaned this from a Moz Juicy Keywords Report :). Thoughts?
Keyword Research | | ACann0 -
What keyword research tools do you recommend to help with SEO?
We are looking for a keyword research tool to help with our SEO efforts for our ecommerce site. We sell food gifts and are looking for a tool to help us identify which keywords we should go after. Beyond Google's free tool - what tools would you recommend? We are willing to pay for a tool.
Keyword Research | | agolomb1