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Keywords In URLs - Not Just For Search Engines
August 29, 2006
Is it just me, or are you also paying more attention to the URL listed in search engine result pages?
Let's say you're searching for a new memory stick for your child's PSP. The top two results at Yahoo have equally compelling listings, however, the URLs displayed are:
www.seospeedwagon.com/psp_memory_stick.htm
and
www.seospeedwagon.com/store/Other_W0QQsacatZ21189QQsocmdZListingItemList
Which might you be more persuaded to click on?
Boy, that first one may be just what I'm looking for eh?
Apparently the first site refers to a PSP memory stick as "psp_memory_stick" whlie the second site calls it a "Other_W0QQsacatZ21189QQsocmdZListingItemList".
I think this is a good example of how URLs displayed in search engine results pages are becoming more and more valuable as CONTENT that may affect the clickability of the entire listing.
But what about you? How are the search engines displaying your URLs? How about the URLs of your competitors? Do they qualify as keyword-relevant or as keyword-jibberish?
I'm a firm believer in keyword-enhanced, logical URL structure because:
A. There is some (no one knows exactly how much) benefit in search engine performance when keywords are included in the names of your domain and/or pages.
B. From a usability (and common sense) aspect, a URL that displays my searched keyword or similar tells me a click will likely lead me where I want to go.
All posts by Doug Ausbury
posted by Doug Ausbury at August 29, 2006 3:11 PM
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Comments
Doug ... as far as I know, Google does not really give any weight to URLs that contact keywords in them. To be perfectly correct ... there is a benefit because of the keyword rich anchor text you get, but other than that ... no benefit towards SEO.
What you do get is a higher CTR. You're absolutely right. If I see a relevant keyword in the URL of the advertiser, there will be more chance that I will click on their ad.
Posted by: Igor M. (BizMord Blog) at August 30, 2006 2:57 PM
Igor....this was posted on SEO Roundtable this morning: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/006049.html.
Posted by: Doug at September 1, 2006 9:47 AM
Excellent post! Just one caveat on the human-friendly post: be wary of having it end up being too long. www.example.com/photos-of-my-cat-and-i-eating-a-cheese-sandwich-imprinted-with-the-virgin-mary is highly descriptive (and some might say fantabulously intriguing)... but it's also quite likely to get split up in mail readers and potentially cause linking problems.
Therefore, I particularly like blog software and services that allow for a different page title, entry h1, and url.
Posted by: Adam at September 13, 2006 4:47 PM
Wonderful to read!
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