URL Path to Store Article Library for SEO
-
What is the best URL structure for a domain to start adding a main directory for educational articles under? We want to find the best URL structure to keep articles under as a main, then category, then subcategory:
For example, if my client is going after TWO SPECIFIC KEYWORD PHRASES as their primary (let's say they are KIDNEY DIALYSIS and CKD DIALYSIS, should they start building up their article library (for educational purposes as well as ranking/SEO), should they list it under which structure for the best SEO ranking opportunities:
- domain.com/KIDNEY-DIALYSIS/article1, article2, article3
- domain.com/CKD-DIALYSIS/article1, article2, article3
- domain.com/ARTICLES/article1, article2, article3
Both KIDNEY DIALYSIS and CKD DIALYSIS are critical phrases for them. Is it a waste of URL space to just have a home of domain.com/ARTICLES then build off that URL structure like:
Thoughts? Ideas? Thank you!
-
I agree to avoid a domain such as:
domain.com/kidney-dialysis-ckd-dialysis/article
Your article URL will probably include a similar keyword and it does start to get too long/stuffy.
I also agree that you want to setup an internal structure as described: Category > Article Name
Where I differ is by including the category in the URL, I believe it is not needed. Instead, allow the URL to be the article name. Then, structure your website so that you have a strong category page for your main keyword phrase and include links to these articles (and vice-versa) as appropriate.
Your internal link structure will tell Google just how important the main category page is for the main term and your supporting articles will be organized into categories through your UI & navigation structure.
Setting it up this way will inform google how each piece of content is related and still allow for the article to be the main term in the URL structure.
However, this is just a preference. You can include the category in the main URL structure and it may even be a big benefit to your site. I prefer the more direct URLs and enforcing the structure through UI & internal link design - I think it allows for more flexibility and attention on the article's terms.
-
I thought about that, but I was under the impression that it's better "seo-wise" to
- have a url structure where there is a MAIN PAGE that links to SUB CATEGORIES then ARTICLES like domain.com/kidney-dialysis/articlename/ but if we are targeting 2 incredibly important keyword phrases I want to avoid domain.com/kidney-dialysis-ckd-dialysis/article since that is too long and too keyword stuffy, unless I'm wrong.
I agree with short URL's but what page would they link from if not a URL structure that supports showing the bots that there is an article library url structure like COUNTRY > STATE > CITY > NEIGHBORHOOD.
Thoughts?
-
I'd suggest dropping the /articles from the URL and just go with a friendly URL that is http://www.domain.com/name-of-article
You could include the categories, such as /kidney-dialysis, but I suggest keeping the URL train short and focusing the article title as the main portion of the URL.
Create efficient category pages for your main terms and try to get them to rank as well.
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
-
New website on new url?
We have a new website on a new url (been up for around 2 years now) and our old website is slowly fading in the background, we are now at the point where the money is still ok but we are having issues running both side by side, we have a calculator on each page and are thinking about removing this and adding a box with please order from our new site here (with url of similar page). Now the issue is we don't want to link for SEO purposes and google hammer us (thinking of no - following these) and we also have a penalty we got in 2012 on the site but we did get out of this, would this cause any issue to the new site?
Technical SEO | | BobAnderson1 -
Angular seo
Hi, how to do seo with angular ? is there an easy way to make google crawl your website healthy?
Technical SEO | | bigrat950 -
SEO Redirect
If we have several hundred domain names currently using a park page, would we be better served having them redirect to our corporate homepage for SEO purposes?
Technical SEO | | mkessler0 -
How important is keyword usage in the URL?
Hi,
Technical SEO | | Whebb
We have a client who has engaged us recently for some SEO work and most of their website looks pretty good seo-wise already. Many of their site pages rank at the top or middle of page two for their targeted keywords. In many cases they are not using the targeted keyword in the URL and most pages could use some additional on-page clean up. My question is, is it worth it to re-write the URLs to include the targeted keyword and then do 301 redirects to send the old pages to the new ones in order to improve the ranking? Or should we just do the minor on page work in hopes that this will be enough to improve the rankings and push them on to the first page. Thanks.0 -
Off-page SEO and on-page SEO improvements
I would like to know what off-page SEO and on-page SEO improvements can be made to one of our client websites http://www.nd-center.com Best regards,
Technical SEO | | fkdpl2420 -
Good Seo Titles
Hi. Mybsite is www.theprinterdepo.com and I am trying to find a good template for my product/page titles. Many users search our products by the product model: something like Q2121X. Some other users search by: hp 1320 printer or just 1320 printer. They will almost never search for hp 1320 new, or hp 1320 refurbished. My website is developed in magento, and we have a SEO plugin in which I can put a template for the URL and also a template for the product title. I was thinking for title and URL. title + condition + productmodel However many users search for: "refurbished printers" and maybe its better that our products say something like this: HP 1320 Refurbished Printer, instead of: HP 1320 Printer - Refurbished - Q2121X Please let me know your suggestions.
Technical SEO | | levalencia10 -
Subdomains & SEO
Exact match domains are great for ranking but what about domains which contain just half of the full phrase being targeted? eg. If you owned the domain rentals.co.uk but wanted to target the search term "car rentals" Regarding backlinks, would it be best to link back to your rentals.co.uk homepage (using anchor text "car rentals") or to one of the following: a) www.rentals.co.uk/car-rentals b) car.rentals.co.uk AND 301 redirect to www.rentals.co.uk c) car.rentals.co.uk AND 301 redirect to www.rentals.co.uk/car-rentals
Technical SEO | | martyc1 -
SEO tips for RSS feeds?
What SEO advice do you have for RSS feeds? Specifically, does the URL structure matter? Should the be noindex, follow or noindex, follow? Any other advice?
Technical SEO | | nicole.healthline0