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I hope someone can help me here. I have almost finished my website, it has in total 160 pages. Currently it has the following structure: www.domain.com/nr1-widget/nr1-widget.html, the folders go from nr1-widget to nr23-widget. And in each folder I have approx: 7 pages.
Now I was reading and thinking about, in which way I could have a reasonable Pagerank for these 160 pages. What is the best option here?
1. to leave it with these 23 folders
2. To create 7 folders, instead of 23, in which I divide the 160 pages.
3. to put all the 160 pages straight under the root, so for example: www.domain.com/nr45-widget.html
Any views about what the best solution maybe?
Istvan
If the structure suggested works for them, it shouldn't be a problem for any search engine to follow the internal links you have to all pages so they index them all. 2 or 3 levels down is fine for google to spider through.
As for PageRank, that is more page dependent, but if you have good linkages from other relevant domains to your home page and then all your other pages are connected navigationally, you will get the spillover PR for those pages.
If you want to beef up the PR for some of the other pages then appropriate linkages to them from relevant other domains would be helpful.
I don't think the folder structure matters at all. Just use something that's convenient for you.
I think what determines how you're spidered, and how PR is assigned, is the link structure. You could have a page in your root directory, for example, that was six clicks away from your index page and therefore had a tiny PR. Or you could have one that was in a deep folder but linked to from your index page and had high PR.
I think it's best for visitors and maybe for spiders to keep everything on a site your size no more than two clicks from your index page.
As previously suggested by Terry and MM do whatīs best for your customers. That is what SEīs will have to like too, if they want to return the most relevant SERPs.
Andreas
All you are describing is a certain linking structure. The directory structure is just a convenient way to arrange the pages in the file system.
Andreas
That page is about site structure. SEs follow links, they donīt read directories. From a UAīs view the site structure is the linking structure. Directories are just a convenient way for webmasters to map the sites structure to the serverīs file system.
You may build a theme pyramid as described by Brett using a simple perl script that resides in your webserverīs root directory. There is no physical directory structure but there might very well be a great site, i.e. linking structure.
[...]link to the topics above and below[...]
[...]Try to link to as much deep content on your index page as possible[...]
[...]Don't try to cross link with tires or air bags (think vertical).[...]
[...]try to stay as close to topic with all your links off these pages[...]
[...]then link to content on your site[...]
[...]Don't try to link to talk about tires[...]
[...]Stick to linking with topics above and below in this level[...]
[...]Link to all pages above or across in the same category.[...]
There is a lot of talk about links on that page but little to none talk having to use directories to achieve a theme pyramid.
Andreas
Definitely not. In general, the more specific an inquiry the less PR you need to be ranked at the top of the search results. If you have bottom pages like one devoted to Hildegarde Peabody Jones of Moosehead, Montana, your directory structure should have been set up to concentrate PR at higher levels in more competitive areas, like Jones' of Montana.
your directory structure should have been set up to concentrate PR at higher levels in more competitive areas, like Jones' of Montana.
What makes you think that directory structure has any bearing on PR? Surely PR is to do with links, not directories. I've seen plenty of pages with addresses like www.universityofwherever/jones.html where the root index page has PR of 8 and the page one directory deeper has PR4 rather than PR7 -- because the index page hasn't been linked to that page.
It's true that when the Googlebar guesses PR it does so on the basis of the directory structure, but that's only because people's link structure tends to parallel the directory structure. There's no need to do things that way, however.
"What makes you think that directory structure has any bearing on PR? Surely PR is to do with links, not directories."
... is just ignoring the point. Directory structure normally defines linking. If you choose to have 23 links from your top page to a next directory level that is a PR choice if an alternative is to make 7 links.
Top >> 23 >> 7
is quite a different choice than
Top >> 7 >> 23
which is different than
Top >> 161
Linking merely delivers the PR. Directory structure should be your concious choice for how you want PR distributed. Since most structures go from general to specific, and since more search terms become less competitive the more specific they get, a top>>7>>23 structure aims to keep more PR on fewer pages.
Good websites have good structure with users in mind, but there is no reason that you shouldn't also have PR in mind in creating your structure. Saying PR is links is like saying a car starts because you turn on the key. It's simplistic.
Which comes back to the original poster's question. S/he is facing the more fundemental question of how to structure the website so that the links distribute the PR in the most effective way. Not knowing specifics its hard to tell, but for most people less directories offers more flexibility, and it makes stonger more general pages and weaker more specific pages which usually is a good idea. Exceptions will exist of course.
That's obvious, and should obviously not be seen as the point either.
"From everything I've read in this forum and others, the only consideration for your directory structure is what's easiest for you to work with."
Read the first message in this thread. If Istvan did the third choice, say make 160 pages linked from a PR5 main page, what would be the result? A PR5 main page with 160 PR3 sub pages. Now suppose a few months later Istvan wants to add page 161. What are the options? One that does not exist is to make a PR4 page by a single link from the main page. The structure choice limits the webmaster.
Using directories enables a webmaster to more easily manipulate PR. It's obvious that a link from the main page to a third level is the same as a link from the main page to a second level, but that is just haphazard gibberish. Directory levels exist (or should) for a reason. DMOZ is a classic example. Your drill down the directory to get more specific. DMOZ *could* link from a second level to a seventh level but it commonly isn't done because it doesn't make sense to.
Directory structures should be crafted with users in mind but also to distribute PR sensibly, AND in a way that enables you to have flexibility when you add future pages. Almost never are all sub-pages of equal value to you. By choosing option three, Istvan gives up the ability to make a PR4 page.
Once at least one page on your website exists that doesn't have a link from the main page you have a de facto directory structure. It makes sense to consciously use directories to organize your PR and give you flexibility. I want interior pages to have different page ranks. They aren't all equal. I want to be able to create new pages that are more (or less) powerful, and the way to accomplish that is to design a site so some pages are more powerful than others at the start, then I direct linking from my strong pages to this new page if I want the new one stronger, or I design linking to the new page from my weaker pages if I want this new page weaker. If all my interior pages have the same PR, all I have to use then for flexibility is volume of links.
Read the first message in this thread. If Istvan did the third choice, say make 160 pages linked from a PR5 main page, what would be the result? A PR5 main page with 160 PR3 sub pages. Now suppose a few months later Istvan wants to add page 161. What are the options? One that does not exist is to make a PR4 page by a single link from the main page. The structure choice limits the webmaster.
You're right, but...
The reason the webmaster's options are limited is due to the link structure in the example, NOT the directory structure. The directory structure is irrelevant. That was the question as I understood it. It is not only possible but common to have everything (images, files) in the root folder regardless of the linking structure.
This gives me some things to think about ;)
Steveb, Andreas and Powdork check your mail, I have sent you a sticky mail.
Istvan
www.domain.com/nr1-widget/nr1-widget.html
have
www.domain.com/nr1-widget/index.html
i.e.
www.domain.com/nr1-widget/
which you can then just put links to as
a href="/nr1-widget/"
, or even better, structure it more hierarchically, to:
www.domain.com/widgetname/1/
this is cleaner than
www.domain.com/nr1-widget/nr1-widget.html
