Question about URLs
-
Hello!
I have a client that wants to upload an URL like this:
www.example.com/keyword/page-name.html
The main problem is that www.example.com/keyword/ doesn't exist and gives a 404 error so I'd prefer not doing that......
What do you think about this? And if the client wants to go ahead, is there any solution? A 301 to the final page would help?
Thank you in advance!
-
Yes, you are right. Thank you Ryan!
-
This is where I would suggest you take a step back and consider both sides.
From your side, you have a valid concern about the user experience. From the client's side, he wants to rank better.
Use your SEO knowledge and experience to help him understand the options. Otherwise I would ask, what is your involvement with the site? If you are the SEO then you should be making these decisions, not the client. If the client is making these suggestions then it seems likely he is not confident in your abilities or he feels he has superior knowledge on this topic. Either way is not a good foundation for a client relationship.
-
Thank you Ryan,
The main problem is that (following my example) www.example.com/keyword/ doesn't exist. They just want one keywords, as it were a category.
-
It seems the client desires to stuff keywords into their URL which is not a best practice. The recommended solution would be to naturally use the keyword in the URL. If that cannot happen, drop it.
Let's assume you are selling blenders and the product is the Goldstar 1000. Some possibilities:
If you only offer the one product, you can add the keyword to the product name. www.example.com/goldstar-1000-blender.
If you strongly desire the format /blender/goldstar-1000 then create a quality /blender page with content that is sincerely helpful to users.
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
-
Duplicate content question
Hi I have a site that is run off one CMS system but has 3 different web addresses. One is a comic shop, one is a toy shop and one is a game shop. Now due to the nature of what we are selling some of the products we are selling on both or all 3 of the sites. I was wondering as to whether this would affect my ability to rank in google and if i would be penalised for any duplicate content? Thanks in advance
On-Page Optimization | | TheZenAgency0 -
How can i block the below URLs
Google indexed plugins pages for my website. Please check below. How can stop them to be indexed on google.? http://www.ayurjeewan.com/wp-content/plugins/LayerSlider/static/skins/glass/ http://www.ayurjeewan.com/wp-content/plugins/LayerSlider/static/skins/borderlesslight3d/ http://www.ayurjeewan.com/wp-content/plugins/LayerSlider/static/skins/defaultskin/ My robots.txt file is - User-agent: * Disallow: /wp-admin/
On-Page Optimization | | MasonBaker0 -
Changing a page url
I have a page that ranks well (#4) for a good keyword. However, the url has the keyword in it but is misspelled. I would like to change the url to have the correct spelling but do not want to lose the ranking that I have. What is the best and safest way to proceed?
On-Page Optimization | | bhsiao0 -
Redirect both / and non-/ URLs?
I am doing SEO on WP site. Due to some duplicate pages (rel canonical was done before) I am doing 301 redirects at the moment. And I wonder if I need to redirect both links w/ and w/o trailing slash. Default is non www, w/o trailing slash. Like there is .com/category/news but there is same page linked in .com/news (well it works when permalink structure is set to /%category%/%postname% and returns 404 error when structure is set to /%postname%).
On-Page Optimization | | OVJ
I redirected .lt/naujienos to .lt/category/naujienos. Should I also redirect .lt/naujienos/ (with trailing slash)? There's absolutely no problem redirecting this, but there are some more pages which I want to edit their URLs and I wonder If I should do both redirects from links /w and w/o slash?1 -
Changing the url of a page
Hello. I would like to change the url of a page. It currently has very few inbound links. I would set up a 301 redirect to the new url. Is there anything else I should take into account before changing the url? Is there a downside to changing a url? Do inbound links carry the same value when a 301 redirect is involved? Thank you!
On-Page Optimization | | nyc-seo0 -
URL and SEO
How much weight do search engines give the URL? We're a medical call center provider and medicalcallcenter is part of our URL. Does that help us much? Thanks!!
On-Page Optimization | | THMCC0 -
Meta Description Question
Is it ok to put your domain name in the meta description if that is the name of your company? so if my company name is BlaBla.com and I want to have a meta description like Shop for your next Widget at BlaBla.com. We have Widget in 30 colors. Free shipping for orders over $50. and I am obviosuly promoting the widget page is this ok. I am concerned that Google will not like the domain name in the meta description. After Peguin I am paranoid about my shadow.....LOL
On-Page Optimization | | freestone0 -
How to Define Best URL Structure for Product Pages?
I am working on my website to edit structure with help of Google's search engine optimization starter guide. There is really good instruction to define URL structure which help us to perform well over Google's organic search. I have resolved issues regarding category pages but, I have confusion to define best URL structure for product pages. My website's product page URL structure is as follow. http://www.vistastores.com/marketumbrellas-californiaumbrella-slpt758-f13-red.html http://www.vistastores.com/homefurniture-winsomewood-93630.html URL structure is constructed with following terms. 1. Root Category Name (Market Umbrellas or Home Furniture or ....) 2. Brand Name 3. Manufacturer Part Number I am not happy with this structure and also not performing well over Google's organic search. I am thinking to include product name or title tag in URL after root domain. But, it may create very long URL and create issues in organic search display. Does it really matter to perform well over Google's organic search? How can I define best URL structure for product pages?
On-Page Optimization | | CommercePundit0