Industry News & Trends

Search engine optimization specialists usually agree that keywords in a URL can influence rankings. Unfortunately, many websites are not designed with all of the search engine optimization standards in mind.

They have bland URLs like www.mygenricbusiness.com//main/newprod.html.

Not too many people jump out of bed every morning and search for "newprod," although there's always one in every crowd.

We prefer keywords in URL structures because they feed right into the themes that search engines (Google in particular) look for when sizing up a website.

If you place a keyword in the navigation, it will be tied to all of the website pages and particularly benefit pages that have similar content. A company offering a product category may reference that keyword in the many detailed pages that fall within that category.

Let's say a company offers sports clothing. Maybe the main product category can be called www.mygenericsportsbusiness.com/sports-uniforms.html.

Inside pages could be called:

/soccer-uniforms
/baseball-uniforms
/basketball-uniforms

It's even conceivable that the page could be called:

/soccer-shorts-uniforms.html

Or, you might have a separate page called:

/soccer-shorts.html

Regardless, the site is being developed with a core set of keywords in the URL/navigation, page headings, page titles, meta data, internal links and content. Additionally, inbound link descriptions should showcase these keywords.

Effective marketers also make an effort to incorporate other logical keywords people use, such as equipment, clothing, apparel, jerseys, shoes, etc.

It's somewhat reasonable to use "soccer-shorts-uniforms.html" because "shorts" represents an aspect of "uniforms." However, it would be pushing it a bit to use "soccer-shorts-uniforms-clothing-apparel-shoes.html." One hyphen is OK, two is open to debate and three or more simply looks spammy (overkill).

Unless you're going through a major redesign or trying to rename dynamic URLs to static URLs, it may not be worth changing the page names to include keywords. Search engines already know your website structure, but think about how you can include keywords with new pages.

The following Q&A provides insights into the practice of URL revisions and explores the benefits and drawbacks to making the change.

Q: Should the URL be adjusted via a subdomain?
A: Our position is that subdomains should be avoided if possible. Past abuses by companies make subdomains susceptible to negative consideration by search engines (i.e. how rankings are scored).

Properly created, subdomains are acceptable and there is no reason to believe a website will be penalized for using them. However, keep in mind that meta keywords sets are virtually overlooked by search engines because they have been overused in the past. Additionally, search engines have learned to ignore or downplay the value of image alt tags, comment tags, etc. Subdomains are appealing because they can easily contain critical keywords at the beginning of the URL string.

Ideally, a website domain name will include at least one keyword, but when a domain name doesn't have a single keyword, subdomains become even more attractive. If a company pursues subdomains, it should ensure that the following practices are used:

1. Feature considerable content associated only with the subdomain.
2. Incorporate a navigation structure independent of the main website.

These practices will signal to the search engines that the subdomain is independent and necessary.

Note: Fathom SEO still recommends avoiding subdomains.

Q: What is the preferred option?
A: Keyword-rich directory structures are the best option because it's easier to make them look like a natural part of the website. Although the keywords won't appear until after the root domain, the use of keywords can still reinforce keyword themes throughout the website. Directories have the added advantage of including specific keyword-rich pages as well.

Q: What is the best way to structure the directory/page names?
A: You could include a few directories followed by a page name provided that the structure follows accepted programming practices. However, Fathom SEO believes it's better to focus on one directory for related pages to minimize the risk of search engine spiders not going deep enough. In other words, don't make multiple directories just to include keyword after keyword.

Q. How many keywords should be in a directory name and a page name?
A. It's not uncommon to see dynamic to static URLs with multiple keywords. However, to ensure that the URLs aren't perceived as being spammy, we recommend no more than two to three keywords per directory or page name. Anyone at any time can report a website for spam.

Q. Should the URLs use hyphens or underscores?
A. Fathom SEO believes it's best to use hyphens rather than underscores to separate the keywords. It's not uncommon for some phrases to have hyphens so the structure appears natural. Although underscores are entirely acceptable, some SEO professionals have suggested that they may not be as useful as hyphens because the impact of underscores may be minimized given their original source code uses. In other words, they're not natural.

Some SEO experts suggest that the keywords on either side of the underscore may be combined into one jammed keyword in the eyes of an engine. Then again, we've heard arguments that search engines can detect "uniforms" in a page name called new_uniforms.asp even if it interprets it as "newuniforms." A hyphen is simply the best bet.

Q. Will search engines read the keywords without the hyphens?
A: Search engines likely can determine keywords without using a hyphen (i.e. "newuniforms"). However, we recommend using a hyphen to increase the odds of interpretation across all search engines.

Q. How should keywords be ordered in a directory vs. a page name?
A: The types of keywords really don't matter, but we recommend a logical approach to make it easier for teams to think through a presentation. In other words, a directory may simply be called "sports-uniforms" followed by a specific page name called "baseball-uniforms."

Q: What keywords should be used?
A: Since a directory will support many page names, it's worth putting the most competitive keywords in the directory name. The presence of a directory throughout the website will reinforce keyword/phrase themes (although keywords in pages matter the most).

Keyword-rich page names can support themes, but they don't appear as often as directories in URLs. Companies should also be careful to include the plural forms of keywords. Many SEO specialists are split over whether a singular expression will get credit if contained within a plural form, but clearly a plural expression won't get as much credit if only a singular version is listed. Focus on your strategic keyword set and incorporate as many keywords as possible.