SEO for path names - need pointers

[jgaffney]

I'm optimizing a client's site with an eye on the keyword "ranking" systems suggested by Brett and others.

As I understand it, one of the higher-ranking elements is the URL path. Apparently search engines parse the domain name itself and each element of the path, including the page file name. The extracted keywords are then cranked into the page ranking alrgorithm.

Now, say you want to improve your ranking for the keyword phrase "surfer dude".

Would any of the following paths be resolved as containing this phrase?

- beach.com/surferdude/suntan.htm
- beach.com/surfer-dude/suntan.htm
- beach.com/surfer_dude/suntan.htm

I'm not sure how the engines deal with non alphanumeric chars - treat as spaces?

Also, do they concatenate the directory path as a keyword string? That is, would:

- beach.com/surfer/dude/suntan.htm

resolve to "beach surfer dude suntan"?

Thanks for any help on this off the wall question...

[vitaplease]

hyphen would do:

[webmasterworld.com...]

The extracted keywords are then cranked into the page ranking alrgorithm

Do not expect anything significant algo-wise - that would be too easy.