Following last week’s post on the importance of Body Text (The 15 Most Important Onsite SEO Factors: Part 3 – Body Text) I wanted to continue the discussion on Onsite SEO Factors today and talk about the use of URLs.

URLs

There are typically three component to a url: the domain name, the folder name and the file name. A typical structure looks like this: http://www.DomainName.com/FolderName/FileName.html.

Each of these names provide the opportunity for you to inject some of the keywords you want to rank for. Because domain names are relatively short you do not have much of an opportunity to explain what the site is about. Google therefore sees this as being a good measure of relevancy.

For example, www.YoungEntrepreneur.com is likely a site that caters to young entrepreneurs. Why else would it call itself YoungEntrepreneur.com? The relevancy is high and Google rewards the website. As a result, youngentrepreneur.com ranks #1 for the key phrase “young entrepreneur” and many keywords relating to young and entrepreneur.

Domain Name

If you already have a website then you don’t have many options here. You could create a subdomain or buy up other domains that do have your keywords in it. If, however, you have not yet purchased your domain name, consider getting one that includes your keywords. You will likely have to be creative as most of the good domain names are already taken but many registration sites will give you a list of options that are available if you submit your keyword.

Folder and File Names

The folder and file names represent a great opportunity to use your keywords. Many websites were built for efficiency and speed – not for SEO. As a result if you click through their pages you will see folders and pages with unrecognizable names. For example, if you have an e-commerce site that sells computers, a typical page selling notebooks might look like this:

www.DomainName.com/c0039/index.php?productID=133

In this example the Folder name is c0039 and the File name is index.php?productID=133.

Instead, a better optimized page would look like this:

www.DomainName.com/Cheap-Computers/Best-Notebooks.html

Here I have put descriptive names in which makes it a better user experience and also will help be rank for keywords Cheap Computers and Best Notebooks.

* A side note for people using database-run websites. Always try to avoid any page that ends in .php?=

Google has a hard time reading them and you won’t rank nearly as well for the keywords you’re targeting. While it may be much more efficient to run everything off of one page, it’s better for your rankings to create a unique page for each one. My site used to be run this way and we did the painful and expensive switch but it has been well worth the effort!

Dashes versus Underscores

One final issue to discuss on URLs is the use of dashes and underscores. When buying a domain name I have found that the best case scenario is to get one without dashes or underscores. That is, buy BestFastComputers.com instead of Best-Fast-Computers.com or Best_Fast_Computers.com. You can buy all three to protect your brand but use the one without dashes for the main site that you try to get ranked.

I have also found that the rules change when it comes to Folder and File name. Here the best thing to do is use dashes instead of combining the words or using underscores. For example:

Bad: www.DomainName.com/CheapComputers/BestNotebooks.html

Bad: www.DomainName.com/Cheap_Computers/Best_Notebooks.html

Good: www.DomainName.com/Cheap-Computers/Best-Notebooks.html

I would also suggest that you don’t get carried away with your use of keywords in the Folder and File names. A good rule of thumb is to keep it at 3-5 words maximum.

Evan Carmichael