Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Category Pages with Sub-Categories
-
The image will explain it all... Each category page starts on the subject of the first sub-category page. This happens twice (well actually 3 times since this section of the site is called showroom and it starts on the tab mowers).
Is this a terrible approach? If so, how could a site like this be better navigation-ally organized.
-
I think I have it. Yes, tabs could be the answer... unless this is getting too crazy.
So, on the front page I will use an image to say "showroom" and make the alt text = "zero turn mowers".
Then, beneath that main category I will also include: edgers, blowers, etc... as if they are sub categories (but in reality it will all be links to the 2nd layer if you know what I'm saying).
So, basically I will have a page that is optimized for zero turn mowers with this content:
/zero-turn-mowers
ZERO TURN MOWERS (h1)
TORO ZERO TURN MOWERS (1st tab & h2)
Description
Toro Zero Turn Homeowner (1st inner tab &h3)
Mower 1
Mower 2
etc...
Toro Zero Turn Commercial (2nd inner tab & h3)
Mower 1
Mower 2
etc...
GRAVELY ZERO TURN MOWERS (2nd tab and h2)
[same structure as Toro]
/edgers
[repeat structure for edgers 1 page]
Although, it is probably too ambitious to go after "zero turn mowers"... I wonder if this double tab structure is bad on page optimization or excellent as this is going to cause me to have a ton of content on each page.
-
You don't have to create anything to start planning out your URL structure. Lots of times when building something I think about the keywords and then just start laying out the URLs that I think will suport those keywords from a search and overall usability perspective. I'll do this even before I start mocking things up.
From your design you could put all mowers by one company on the same page and then have tabs to separate the content. Implement the tabs in javascript so that they just enhance some good solid HTML lists or divs. That would create one page for each mower brand. Are you hoping to SEO well for "mowers" or "toro mowers"? Perhaps you are already planning on doing this?
In regards to the anchor text, can you just link to "Toro Mowers" and then have people click the tab they want. Othewise perhaps you could do something link "Toro Mowers - Home", "Toro Mowers - Commercial". At least that gets the keywords at the front of the anchor text.
The structure of your site will be important for SEO but start by finding the list of keywords to target. Consider keyword competition and search volume when making the list. Come up with one page for each of those keywords. Then try to come up with an overall URL structure where you can SEO all those pages well. Finally, don't worry about SEO on each and every page you create. You are going to have some pages that add to the overall experience of your site that might not target keywords.
You are smart to think about creating only the pages that you have good content for. I wouldn't force myself to create any other pages.
-
I haven't actually created anything yet - hence the research.
Right now, my mock-up is completely based on ease of use for the user, and I am now factoring in SEO concerns - and this is my first concern.
Basically you have a homepage that has 3 main links in the middle of the page as well as some information about us, map, phone, etc... below. These links are:
- Showroom
- Workbench
- Knowledge Base
The screenshot you see on my first post is the "home" of the showroom.
As you can see, when you click Showroom - the first page you are taken to is Homeowner Toro Mowers.
That means the anchor text for showroom actually links to "homeowner toro mowers" - which can't be good.
Take it one step down and you see the same issue. Click the tab "gravely mowers" and you are taken to "homeowner gravely mowers" - with commercial being another tab.
In a perfect world I'm guessing I should have a page called "showroom" optimized for keywords.
Then, I should have a page called "mowers" with links to the different brands.
The company and I have no interest in creating all these "category home pages" because we don't have the content for them nor would they support the user in any sort of way.
This must be a common issue and there has to be a good answer to it - I just can't seem to come up with one.
I hope this helps...
-
Could you be more specific? I'd love to see the full URL path before of the categories and sub categories before I weigh in.
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
-
Should posts show in multiple categories?
Hi all, For context, I'm trying to Silo my content more efficiently. I've just moved all content into their own SILO'd categories and removed them from duplicate categories. As such, posts now sit only in 1 category. My question here is: Should my posts be showing in both the parent category and its sub category or just the sub-category? I've currently got this only showing in the sub-categories it's relevant to. For example:
On-Page Optimization | | xtrapsp
Post name: Shimano Fishing Rod Review
Parent Category: Fishing Rods
Sub Category: Shimano And the post only shows inside the Shimano Category0 -
Category pages, should I noindex them?
Hi there, I have a question about my blog that I hope you guys can answer. Should I no index the category and tag pages of my blog? I understand they are considered as duplicate content, but what if I try to work the keyword of that category? What would you do? I am looking forward to reading your answers 🙂
On-Page Optimization | | lucywrites0 -
Can you use the canonical tag and rel=next and rel=prev on category pages.
We have a conflict of information between our web developers and our SEO company. We are an on-line retail company hence we have a fair number of different categories. Our site is set up with the rel=next and rel=prev tags. Our SEO company have asked us to implement canonical links on our category pages and leave the rel=next and rel=prev tags as they are. Our web developers are saying by doing this we are asking Google to ignore all of our products on all of the pages except page 1 which would mean Google would not index a lot of our products. I have looked at a few articles but I am struggling to understand which way to go. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | Palmbourne0 -
Listing all services on one page vs separate pages per service
My company offers several generalized categories with more specific services underneath each category. Currently the way it's structured is if you click "Voice" you get a full description of each voice service we offer. I have a feeling this is shooting us in the foot. Would it be better to have a general overview of the services we offer on the "Voice" page that then links to the specified service? The blurb about the service on the overview page would be unique, not taken from the actual specific service's page.
On-Page Optimization | | AMATechTel0 -
How to find google indexed pages
I can't find where the # of indexed pages are on my google analytics. I tried the instructions below, but the index status was not an option on my dashboard. View the Index Status page: On the Webmaster Tools home page, click the site you want. On the Dashboard, click Google Index, and then click Index Status.
On-Page Optimization | | SoftwareMarketing0 -
Category page canonical tag
I know this question has been asked a few times on here but I'm looking for very specific advice. Currently when you go to a category, say http://www.bronterose.co.uk/range.html, a canonical tag is added to the head of the page. There are plenty of "variant" pages which carry the same tag, for example: /range.html?p=2
On-Page Optimization | | crichardson9
/range.html?p=3
/range.html?dir=asc&order=price
/range.html?dir=asc&limit=all&order=price Is it wise to push the "link juice" for each of these variant pages to the top level page? Or should each variant page have its own unique canonical tag? After reading many blog posts, guides and papers I'm truly confused! Any general guidance or recommendations would be much appreciated. Chris.1 -
Do Parent Categories Hurt SEO?
I have parent categories and subcategories. Will it be harder for the subcategories to rank well because they have a parent category? The URL is longer, for one. I am just wondering if I should not have parent categories. I have one category page doing really well and I am trying to boost the others (most of which are subcategories) and this is a concern for me. Thanks! Edit: I also have a category that has 2 parent categories. I want it automatically in those 2 categories and one of its own. By itself it is very important keyword. Is this ok or should I have it be a parent category?
On-Page Optimization | | 2bloggers0 -
Best practice for Meta-Robots tag in categories and author pages?
For some of our site we use Wordpress, which we really like working with. The question I have is for the categories and authors pages (and similiar pages), i.e. the one looking: http://www.domain.com/authors/. Should you or should you not use follow, noindex for meta-robots? We have a lot of categories/tags/authors which generates a lot of pages. I'm a bit worried that google won't like this and leaning towards adding the follow, noindex. But the more I read about it, the more I see people disagree. What does the community of Seomoz think?
On-Page Optimization | | Lobtec0