URL Length

Site Structure good or bad?

[jamsy]

Can someone please confirm if the following would be a good thing or not for google:

mycarsite.co.uk/ford/escort.html
mycarsite.co.uk/ford/probe.html
mycarsite.co.uk/ford/ka.html

mycarsite.co.uk/bmw/525.html
mycarsite.co.uk/bmw/323.html
mycarsite.co.uk/bmw/328.html

mycarsite.co.uk/vauxhall/corsa.html
mycarsite.co.uk/vauxhall/vans.html
mycarsite.co.uk/vauxhall/astra.html

I dont sell cars but think its better to use as an example than widgets since there are only colour variants on widgets ;)

some of the URLs will go to about say 50 characters since the domain name itself is 16 characters :(

thanks in advance
Jamsy

[aek]

Yeh, I think that's perfectly acceptable.

[ikbenhet1]

Yes, it's good. I would go for this one:

/bmw/325/
/bmw/326/

[martin]

>mycarsite.co.uk/vauxhall/corsa.html
>mycarsite.co.uk/vauxhall/vans.html
>mycarsite.co.uk/vauxhall/astra.html

I would also create a 301 redirect to these from

mycarsite.co.uk/opel/corsa.html
mycarsite.co.uk/opel/vans.html
mycarsite.co.uk/opel/astra.html

;-)

Otherwise the suggestion about ending with a slash is good if you'd like to have more than one page on any model.

[musicales]

I would use
mycarsite.co.uk/ford_escort.html
mycarsite.co.uk/ford_probe.html
as every level you go down a directory you lose 1 off your home page PR. I've tried this on pages even when they haven't been indexed and the exact same page instantly climbs a PR - or even two - as if by magic. I'm not certain this leads to higher ranking, but I've got to assume it does.

The only problem with this is it clogs up your home directory and feels untidy to a programmer, but I've come to accept it. Anyone else do this or am I going mad?

[GetVisible]

I agree try and keep them within 2 of the root.

[martin]

>I've tried this on pages even when they haven't been indexed

When the pages haven't been indexed you get the guessed toolbar PR not the real one.

There are lots of threads discussing that, go read. Just throwing everithing in root won't make much difference.

[jamsy]

Thanks for all your help ;)

[pageoneresults]

> I agree try and keep them within 2 of the root.

If the site is structured properly, going 3 or 4 levels deep isn't that much of an issue. Its always a safe bet to stay within 2 of the root as GetVisible suggests.

[savvy1]

Yes, it's good. I would go for this one:

/bmw/325/
/bmw/326/

Why this over /bmw/325.html?

[ikbenhet1]

ah, another question.

Well, i figure the less characters an url has the more percentage of the url is keyword(s).

added: files like hello.html.html or car.bmw.html.htm get added also in the index, that indicates (to me) that google uses also the text behind the dot in the ranking process as a keyword 'htm' or 'html'.

[Sasquatch]

martin said:

>mycarsite.co.uk/vauxhall/corsa.html

I would also create a 301 redirect to these from

mycarsite.co.uk/opel/corsa.html

I was just wondering if there was a reason to do a 301 redirect instead of doing a symlink?

I have been using symlinks on the same server to keep traffic and page load time down. The only reason I can think of to use a 301 in this case is if the page is getting it's own PR from outside links.

Is my logic all screwed up?

[savvy1]

ikbenhet1,
Gotcha. Good observation. :)

Thanks...