Keyword location in Permalink structure for custom post types
-
I am in the process of a large rebuild and redesign of my real estate website. It is Wordpress based with custom post types organized by category archives for neighborhood pages. Through this process, I am expanding my content and number of internal pages by a large amount. I am at a decision point with permalink structure for my site and can choose two different directions to go, not sure which is best or if there is any impact on SEO for the two options. Most of it comes down to location of keyword search terms being placed in my permalink structures.
When I first built my site, exact domain match was still a thing for SEO power, and now days I hear it doesn’t hold much weight… so my domain name of http://dwellarizona.com still remains the same either way which does contain an important keyword, but might be redundant if using the keyword “Arizona” elsewhere in a permalink.
Is there any difference in SEO power for the following keywords whether they are placed all at the end of the permalink, versus being distributed more throughout the entire link address when there is a hierarchy to the address and some in the domain name, partly in a parent page address, and partly in the child page link address?
Target keywords: grayhawk, scottsdale, arizona
Option 1: http://dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale/grayhawk vs
Option 2 (parent-child relationship): http://dwellarizona.com/luxury/grayhawk-scottsdale-arizona -
LOL.
Sorry, I didn't have the time for a correct answer.
-
Sorry for the late response. This week was a mess for me.
What I'm saying is that is advisable to have the whole keyword in the URL, without the subdirectory.
That's why, with the options you gave in the question, I'd go with option 2:http://dwellarizona.com/luxury/grayhawk-scottsdale-arizona
Regarding the depth, is how many subdirectories attached are in your site. having more than 2/3 subdirectories is not something that Google's bot like. We know that everything that Google doesn't like isn't good for us.
Regarding the last response, you have several keywords, each one is a neighbourhood. In this case:
dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale-neighborhood-1
dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale-neighborhood-2
dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale-neighborhood-3I'd go for this configuration.
is it clear? -
Hi Gaston, did you see Shawn's responses to your responses? Just checking...
Christy
-
I'm not sure I follow your response clearly...
-
Another piece of info if relevant. Each main category and sub category will have it's own page.
For example:
dwellarizona.com/luxury will be it's own page with applicable SEO focused on a large market segment, and have links to different cities of which Scottsdale is one. with links to:
dwellarizona.com/luxury/city-1
dwellarizona.com/luxury/city-2
dwellarizona.com/luxury/city-3dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale will be it's own page focused on the city of Scottsdale and luxury market, and have links to different neighborhoods of which grayhawk is one.
dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale/neighborhood-1
dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale/neighborhood-2
dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale/neighborhood-3dwellarizona.com/luxury/scottsdale/grayhawk is a neighborhood page.
-
Hi Shawn,
Yes there is a difference in SEO.
On one hand what you're proposing is somewhat called depth in the URL structure. So the more subdirectories, the more depth it is.
On the other hand, it is better, in my oppinion, to have the whole keyword in the same subdirectory. Something like: domain.com/category-1/some-keyword-long-tail is focused better in "some keyword long tail" than domain.com/category-1/some-keyword/long-tailTo sum up. Go with Option 2: http://dwellarizona.com/luxury/grayhawk-scottsdale-arizona
Best Luck.
Hope i've helped.
GR.
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
-
Site Title When Your Domain name is the keyword
Hello, I've been struggling with an issue for years. I own UsedCubicles.com. I'm ranked very well, the site generates leads and income on a regular basis. However, I never know what to name the site on the home page. The main keyword I go after is obviously "Used Cubicles". I also have product category named "Used Cubicles". I know google doesn't recognize my Used Cubicles product category as conical and reverts to the home page. I would rather Google use my categories more effectively to rank content or pages. My current site title on the home page is NOT GOOD. Used Cubicles | Usedcubicles.com. Im nervous to change it, however because Im not sure if its helping me rank for the keyword, which I do. For years I was #1 across the country but lately its been dropping. Any advice is appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Grant06970 -
Related Keywords: How many separate pages?
We have an attorney website. There is a practice area that our research shows many different 2-4 word length keyword queries for. The keywords are all very different, but they end up in the same kind of legal action. We're wondering whether we should write many different pages, perhaps 10, to cover all the basic different keyword categories, or whether we should just write a few pages. In the latter situation, many of the target key words would be mentioned in the text, but wouldn't get placement in a url or title tags. One basic problem is that since the keyword queries are made up of different words, but result in the same kind of legal action and applicable law, the content of the pages might be similar with the only difference being a paragraph that speaks to that specific key word. The rest of the content would be quite similar among the pages, i.e. "here is the law that applies, contact us." Also, some of the keywords, like the name of the law, would have to be repeated on all the pages.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RFfed90 -
Disavow post Penguin update
As recent Penguin update makes quick move with backlinks with immediate impact; does Disavow tool also results the changes in few days rather than weeks like earlier? How long does it take now to see the impact of disavow? And I think still we must Disavow some links even Google claim that it'll take care of bad backlinks without passing value from them?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vtmoz0 -
Link Type Distribution - Any Good Studies?
Hi guys, Recently Neil Patel did an analysis on the link type % for his blog. Link: https://www.quicksprout.com/2016/03/28/the-blueprints-the-exact-links-your-blog-needs-to-rank-like-quick-sprout/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email I was wondering if anyone knows of any other good studies on this topic? Cheers.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jayoliverwright0 -
Structured Data Questions
I am showing 2 items with errors. These products have both been removed from the site, and will trigger a 404 Page Not Found. I am still seeing the page URLs in Webmaster Central > Search Appearance > Structured Data. They are shown as items with errors, the errors being that they are missing price too. Should I 301 redirect these on an htaccess file, or should I remove the page url in some other way from Google? Also, I have a site with over 50,000 products and 2,000 category level pages. In Structured Data, there are only 2,848 items. Does it seem like Google is collecting very little data compared to how many urls I have on my site?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | djlittman0 -
How to increase the traffic and keywords ranking
Am working on a website http://www.greavescotton.com. A month ago most of the keywords were in first page. This month I have noticed the fall of keyword rankings. I have checked the webmaster tools for any mails and messages but I did not find any. So can anyone please visit the site and check it and please give me the suggestions accordingly to increase the traffic and keywords. Also I would like to know the advantages of commenting in Youtube.com.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PrasanthMohanachandran0 -
Posting same video on both Vimeo and Youtube
A client likes the control of Vimeo Pro for embedding videos on site, but for search purposes would like to create a YouTube channel with the same videos, perhaps with altered titles and descriptions. This is the same video content in two places - will we run into duplicate content issues? Thank you, Stephen
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PerfectPitchConcepts0 -
URL Structure - Keywords vs. Information Architecture/Navigation
I'm creating the URL structure for an ecommerce site and was wondering if it's better to structure my URLs according to the most popular way people word their key phrases or by what makes most sense from a navigation perspective. Let's say I'm selling clothing (I'm not, just an example). I want the site to be open enough so a user can navigate by Person Type (Men's, Women's, Children's), Clothing Type (Shoes, Shirts, Hats), and Brands (Nike, Reebok, adidas). My gut and past experience say to structure the URLs from the least specific to the most specific: mysite.com/mens/shoes/nike But I know "men's Nike shoes" is searched for more than "men's shoes Nike", which would render this URL: mysite.com/mens/nike/shoes I know mysite.com/mens-nike-shoes would be best, but the folders setup is what I have to work with. So which is best for SEO? URLs that play to the structure of the most searched for key phrases? Or URLs that follow the information architecture/navigation of a site? Nate
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rball10