What's all this stuff about categories and subcategories?

what do I do?

[AmyNY]

This one blew right by me and I've been working on this website for 6 mos already.

I have organized the site like this: also, we are a small business selling various types of products.

domainname.com/index.html
domainname.com/products.htm (index page of all products)
domainname.com/widgets.htm (page has about 10 widgets with small description and photo)
domainname.com/widgets-blue.htm (this page is reached by clicking from the widgets page
domainname.com/widgets-heavy.htm (this is the details of the second widget listed on the widgets page)
domainname.com/gizmos.htm
domainname.com/gizmos-blue.htm

etc.

Just realized after reading should have done this:

domainname.com/index.html
domainname.com/products.htm
domainname.com/widgets.htm
domainname.com/widgets/widgets-blue.htm
domainname.com/widgets/widgets-heavy.htm
domainname.com/gizmos.htm
domainname.com/gizmos/gizmos-blue.htm
domainname.com/gizmos/gizmos-small.htm

etc.

What's the difference between the two setups? Do I need to change my setup?

Thanks again.

[grahamstewart]

You'll need index file in those sub-directories so it should look more like this..

domainname.com/index.html
domainname.com/products.htm

domainname.com/widgets/index.htm
domainname.com/widgets/blue.htm
domainname.com/widgets/heavy.htm

domainname.com/gizmos/index.htm
domainname.com/gizmos/blue.htm
domainname.com/gizmos/small.htm

I don't know if there is any particular advantage with this setup. I don't think it will help rankings or anything (tho one of the SEO guys may reply and correct me on this).

The main reason for doing it is its just a bit easier to maintain as your site gets bigger.

If your site is already online then I doubt its worth changing it.

[takagi]

There won't be much of a difference between the following 3:

domainname.com/gizmos/blue.htm
domainname.com/gizmos-blue.htm
domainname.com/gizmos/gizmos-blue.htm

However, if it was

domainname.com/gizmos_blue.htm or
domainname.com/gizmosblue.htm

then it could help a little bit to change it because the URL doesn't contain the keywords 'gizmos' and 'blue' when the filename is 'gizmos_blue.htm' or 'gizmosblue.htm'.

So I agree with grahamstewart, don't change the file structure for the ranking. If you expect the site to get much bigger, it could be easier to maintain it if you use the directory structure you already mentioned.

[JamesR]

Either setup is fine, just preference between you and your users. Directory style setups help in organizing large bits of related information. You are fine how you set your site up.

[AmyNY]

Thanks everyone. I was mostly concerned about SEO.

[JamesR]

Some might argue that throwing all the pages in the sites root level (as you have) is better for SEO or was once. I don't get that involved in the details to care that much...I try to do what is easiest for me to develope and my users to use.