Sizes and numbers in friendly urls - syntax

[jbcul]

Ok, I'm trying to establish some business rules of syntax for SEO friendly URLS.

I'm doing this for an OpenCart online store which uses a SEO-url field to construct the "friendly URL's".  The good news of that is I have total control over the urls' the bad news is I had to do some tricky Excel work to populate them.

That all said, I have a problem with items that have sizes. This is a crafts store so many of the items are differentiated by size. Examples:

Sleigh Bells, come in 1/2", 3/4", 1", 1 1/2" etc.

So far Ive tried to stay away from inch mark "  by spelling it out.  Right now its inch but could be in.

The numbers, fractions, sizes etc. create some ghastly friendly URL's.  Is there any wisdom or syntax standards out there that would help me. I'm trying to avoid this:

www.mysite.com//index.php?route=craft-accessories/bells/sleigh-bells/sleigh-bells-1-one-half-inch-with-loop

I realize that the category (sleigh-bells) is repeated in the product name but there are several 1 1/2" items in the store.

Any thoughts would be useful, even if it's links to good SEO sites that have mastered the myriad of issues with dimensions in the urls.

thanks

[jbcul]

I'll have to dig deeper than my local big-box retail store.  This is a url from a random screw at Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Grip-Rite-8-x-2-1-2-in-Phillips-Bugle-Head-Coarse-Thread-Sharp-Point-Polymer-Coated-Exterior-Screws-1-lb-Pack-PTN212S1/100173447

This product exhibits the issue.  Product name, size (8 x 2 1/2), style (Phillips, Bugle Head), Thread (Coarse), Point (sharp), Coating  etc.

[jbcul]

This is a good question and harkens back to original data modeling.  Each size item is a different sku.  There are modules for OpenCart that will make a "series" record to mask via interface that they are all different records (think click on different color) but in our case they have different sku's, can be out of stock, can even have different prices.  The nature of the crafts store is American Indian supplies.  So just in seed beads there are five common sizes, up to 200 different colors per size and some of those can have faceted beads or non-faceted (we call them cuts).  Add all that up and there are a ton of products that come in and out of stock etc.

That's it generally. My comment about sizes is that there are many many things across the materials (bells, silver broaches, etc.) that are chosen by the buyer by material (brass vs silver) but then by size (1", 1.5" etc.)  The size is a key component so since each one is a different "product record" it will naturally have its own URL.  All these inches, millimeters, fractions and odd sizes (thread come D, O, OO, YO etc.) it's enough to make one bonkers.  I have an SEO url for each product and am looking for input from others thougths before I go medieval on shortening them.

Hope that answers your question.

[MoosaHemani]

Some very powerful resources shared by Patrick as always but while I was reading the question several ideas were popping up in my mind.

You are saying you have several different products that are in different sizes. If this is the case, why not you make it one product and in the product section offer the size in the dropdown? #justwondering

In my opinion the best URL structure for you would be domain.com/category/product-name.php

Once you decide what URL structure you will follow, do go through the instruction given by Patrick so that there should be no technical problem with regards to indexing and ranking.

Hope this helps!

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi John

Okay cool - keep me posted - want to make sure you get to here you need to be! Good luck!

[jbcul]

Thanks. I've read many of these but will do so again looking for details on the technical data in the URL. It strikes me that hardware stores (Home Depot and Lowes) must have this issue with screws etc.  Will go there too.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi John

Take a look at the following resources:
URL Best Practices (Moz)
15 SEO Best Practices for Structuring URLs (Moz)
SEO Cheat Sheet: Anatomy of A URL (Moz)
SEO Optimal Ecommerce URLs (PracticalEcommerce)
Information Architecture for SEO - Whiteboard Friday (Moz)
Canonicalization (Moz - in case aliases or parameters appear)

Don't forget to update your sitemap, upload it to Google and Bing Webmaster Tools, and also check your internal links so they are up to date.

There is a lot here, but these resources should help you get started on structuring your website and also your URLs in a logical and user friendly fashion. Let me know if you need anymore help! Good luck!