Which URL is better?

[zulufox]

Currently I could have:

widget.com/keyword/category/article.html

OR

Widget.com/category/article.html

Which is better, the longer one with a keyword (the keyword is 13+ letters long) or the shorter URL without the keyword.

[encyclo]

I'd consider something like

widget.com/keyword1/keyword2.html

Do you need to specify the category? Is the category a keyword? The article should have a meaningful name - it's better for usability, looks better in the SERPs.

I don't usually like to go 2 directories deep or more - better to keep everything nice and close to root. Of course, there is no right answer...!

[Ian_Cowley]

I wouldn't worry about keywords in the URL from an SEO point of view. But it can help increase the clickthrough rate.

[percentages]

>I wouldn't worry about keywords in the URL from an SEO point of view.

I would. At least 66% of the search market now gives them added weighting. Some evidence suggests Google gives them a little preference too!