Best way (for ranking) to include more than one keyword in url?

[looledo]

Hello. I have heard that Google ranks for keywords you put in your URLs. So if we had the word "widgets" in our URL, presumably, with lots of good content and site optimization and inbound links, we'd rank highly for that keyword.

However, what if the keyword we are optimizing for is two words, like "red widgets" or "blue widget"?

In our URL, we wouldn't want a link to be something like ".../red widgets/somewidget.html" because that would break.

It would have to be something like ".../red-widgets/somewidget.html"

or

".../red_widgets/somewidget.html"

My questions are
1) Does google rank for two words in the url like this? Or only one word at a time? Will it recognize red-widgets or red_widgets as being a phrase, or a single word?
2) What if I use red-widgets-videos? Does it rank for "red widgets", "widgets videos" or just the single words? Or all three?
3) Is there a way to write two words in the url so that it can be considered by Google as one? Maybe with the pipe character or a period? Or a + sign?

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 7:21 am (utc) on Dec. 2, 2009]
[edit reason] "widgetized" examples [/edit]

[tedster]

Welcome to the forums, looledo.

Keywords in the file path are a factor, but not a major factor, for good rankings. Know this from the start and you will not get overly concerned. The best way to separate two keywords in the file path is with a dash.

[zehrila]

".../red-widgets/somewidget.html" is a good structure. I guess by red-widgets you mean category and somewidget.html is a landing page!

1: ".../red-widgets/somewidget.html" is a link to your destination page which is somewidget.html. For that particular page, google is going to rank you for your landing page and not the category page, however, if your destination page is linked by your category page and for some reasons your category page is cached before your landing page, then your category might show up for the keywords you have set for your destination page. You would need to optimize "red-widgets" seperatly for your category to rank, however, the interlinking between landing page and category page can play a role in strengthning each other in serps.