URL formating is it worth changing?

[GrouchyKids]

One of my clients sites has almost OK URL's, set up something like the following:

keyword2_keyword3_keyword1

Ideally the URL's would be more like this:

keyword1-keyword2-keyword3

My question is is there any point in changing them and 301 redirecting them over just to get the target keywords in a better order and change the _ to a - ?

Has anyone tried this and its worked or not worked, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Justin

[gfiorelli1]

The first thing I would ask to myself is:

are these URLs over-optimized?

If the URLs looks like: www.domain.com/category/sub-category/keyword-keyword-keyword and keyword can be a three words query... then probably that url is over optimized and can be more a danger than a competitive factor.

Good practice tells us that is better to have the primary keyword in the url, better if matching, and not used like a digest of all the keywords we want to rank for in a page.

Apart that, you have to consider also these other two factors when it comes to urls:

1. Usability: too long urls are very hard to remember, therefore you are loosing the opportunity to receive direct traffic from users typing the url directly in the browser (for instance, as many of us do typing directly: www.seomoz.org/q to enter the SEOmoz Q&A
2. Too long urls tend to not be used as a way of creating natural linking citation, as when you cite - for instance - a post using its url and not creating a classic link with anchor text.

Therefore I would not use any of your alternatives, but this:

www.domain.com/keyword1

and 301 the old urls.

Finally, about on page optimization, I suggest you to read this old but still valid post by Rand Fishkin:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/perfecting-keyword-targeting-on-page-optimization

[irvingw]

If the client isn't ranking well for the terms, then it's highly unlikely that making this minor change to the URL will really help out. If the client ranks well, then I would for sure not mess with the URL and risk the loss of any PR. Bottom line is that I would look for other areas to optimize and make the URL change as a last desperate attempt.