Exact Match Domain + shorter permalink vs. longer permalink?
-
So here's the scenario...
You own the exact match domain for "Acupuncture Intake Form" and want to create a page that targets the phrase, "Acupuncture Intake Form Template"...
In terms of SEO, which of the following permalinks does a better job targeting the term "Acupuncture Intake Form Template" :
A) www.acupunctureintakeform.com/template/
B) www.acupunctureintakeform.com/acupuncture-intake-form-template/
From a user-friendliness perspective, I can definitely see why the /template/ is more ideal. It's more memorable, easier to link to, and logical.
I'm just wondering whether there is some edge that the /acupuncture-intake-form-template/ has that I'm not aware of, or if there's some gray area.
I can also think of scenarios where the longer version might be better. For example, if there were several different kinds of acupuncture intake form templates. If that were the case, then /template/ might be too vague (e.g. is it the normal "acupuncture intake form template" or is it the "acupuncture intake form template with diagram"). So in that respect, the longer one might be less concise in certain situations, but in others provide more clarity.
(Note: I'm looking for answers to this situation as it applies to any website. I just chose this extremely small niche exact match domain because it's an example that illustrate my questions).
Thanks in advance for any answers, insights, or comments! I'm not sure if there's a specific answer, but I'm sure there are some key points to discuss.
Michael
-
Rebekah, Igor, and Greg - thanks for the helpful (and quick!) responses, I appreciate it.
-
www.acupunctureintakeform.com/template/ is a much better idea.
There will be no benefit in terms of SEO for you to repeat the keyword in the URL
As for the future pages, you could always do the following
www.acupunctureintakeform.com/template/
www.acupunctureintakeform.com/template-with-diagrame/
www.acupunctureintakeform.com/template-with-pictures/
etc
Hope that helps.
Greg
-
Hello Michael,
In my opinion since you already have an exact match domain and making your URL to the template as www.acupunctureintakeform.com/acupuncture-intake-form-template/
is kind of redundant, long, doesn't look that good, and might look like you're trying to manipulate rankings by doing keyword stuffing.
I would recommend something like:
www.acupunctureintakeform.com/template-forms
www.acupunctureintakeform.com/templates
etc..
I think its better to concentrate on the ON PAGE SEO, its far more important to have good content that will lure in visitors and make them link and share you content VS getting a headache from worrying about the URL address. Obviously I'm not talking about completely ignoring it and putting your template under something like /contact us/ section. Just make it easy and straight to the point, I think that is the best way to do it. In my case I tend to over think things which is not a good thing, so lately I go with the first idea that comes to me that looks and sounds simple!
-
I personally think it would be best to use /template. Or in the case of specific templates, shorten the full phrase to /intake-template/ and then take advantage of the Title tag, H1s and other on-page content to target the keywords you are looking for. With the second scenario you are relying too much on the URL for your keywords and this may send a spammy signal - especially if combined with other optimization efforts.
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
-
Word Count - Content site vs ecommerce site
Hi there, what are your thoughts on word count for a content site vs. an ecommerce site. A lot of content sites have no problem pushing out 500+ words per page, which for me is a decent amount to help you get traction. However on ecommerce sites, a lot of the time the product description only needs to be sub-100 words and the total word count on the page comes in at under 300 words, a lot of that could be considered duplicate. So what are your views? Do ecommerce sites still need to have a high word count on the product description page to rank better?
On-Page Optimization | | Bee1590 -
Snippet showing as domain name with apostrophe, instead of page title when searching for the domain name.
Hi, We have an issue with one of our websites, with the snippet dispaying differently in Google serps when searching for the domain or the website name rather than a search term. When searching for a search term, the page title shows as expected, but when searching for the site by the domain name either with or without the tld, it shows the snippet as the domain name with an apostrophe at the end. Domain is subli.co.uk Thanks in advance for any advice!
On-Page Optimization | | K3v1n0 -
Unique Geo-targeted domains v. simple landing pages
I have a client with multiple locations in a central area. Is it better to purchase unique geo-targeted domains i.g. DowntownTopekaPlumber.com and MidtownTopekaPlumber.com and create area specific splash pages with links back to the main site -OR - is it better to simply create landing pages on the main domain - www.GoodGuyPlumbing.com/DownttownTopekaPlumber?
On-Page Optimization | | SearchParty0 -
Exact keyword vs connecting words.
Hi guys, I'm wondering if there's a huge difference between exact keywords vs connecting words. i.e. "limo service chicago" vs " limo service in chicago" or something similar. It's tough to have 4+ keywords on a page sound great without using some form of connecting word. Will google still rank the page as high if I use connection words in a few instances of the keyword? Or should I just leave the exact keyword fir all instances. Thanks in advance. Aron
On-Page Optimization | | aronwp0 -
Two different domains with the same content
Hi all, I just figured out that my client has two different domains with the same content, so the site will be penalized by Google: www.piensapiensa.es www.piensapiensa.com Should I do a 301 redirection from one domain to the other one using the htaccess file as usual chosing one of them as canonical? redirect 301 piensapiensa.es www.piensapiensa.com? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
On-page score vs adwords quality score
Dear Sirs. According to your on page SEO card my page gets an A grade. But in google adwords the quality score is 3. Why is that? What's the difference? Thanks for your reply. Gela
On-Page Optimization | | gelakiev0 -
Seo'ing Sub domains for images
We are currently adding some performance improvement to our websites, to improve user experience. One of the things we are looking at is splitting of images over several sub-domains, to increase the number of images that can be downloaded at the same. We have seen that using key phrases within image names has an improvement in rankings. So, the question is should we create sub-domains as key-phrase.example.co.uk or as i1.example.co.uk? K
On-Page Optimization | | soltec0 -
Correct use of Canonical link vs 301 redirect
Hi All, Seeking yet more advice. SEOMOZ tools have told me I have duplicate content on one of my sites and I am keen to clean this up. I am not to familiar with the following so thought I would ask. The duplicate content is shown on : www.mysite.com www.mysite.com/index.html Obviously I only see index.html when I check the code so what is the best method of resolving the duplicate content, Canonical or 301? Can you give me an example 🙂 Thanks all
On-Page Optimization | | wedmonds0