How important is folder depth?

My deep pages dont list/index

[mbatta]

Im sure this has been discussed but the search feature here doesnt bring back much current info (Anyone know how to add the google search apparently in my preferences?)
Anyhow, My site is layed out such that the primary introductory and function pages (low content) are on the root: mysite.com/index & others.
These pages are indexed(show up in search results).
My real content pages are located:
mysite.com/content_folder/here.htm & one deeper:
mysite.com/content_folder/Sub_Topic/here.htm
These content pages are not listed in search results.
Is it just a matter of time (been a few months since the primary pages showed up)?
I've tweaked my robots.txt to disallow other folders but not the content folder. There is a primary page on the root that acts as a site index containg all the content pages.
Any ideas?

[mipapage]

Hey mbatta,

First of all: WebmasterWorld Google search [google.com]. Bookmark it, it's fast and it helps!

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you. If the domain is clean etc. it could be that enough time hasn't passed.

1. Do you have access to the logs for the site and if so has Googlebot hit the deeper pages?

2. Do you have some "deep links" from other sites pointing to your deeper pages?

I would have a look at your logs, bacause if Googlbot has been to the deeper pages and continues to visit them it is only a matter of time.

If not (well, regardless actually) I would try and get some deeper links to encourage the bots to get to that content.

HTH

[DerekH]

mbatta wrote

mysite.com/content_folder/here.htm & one deeper:

No problem with that... I use a date based structure on one of my sites that goes
www.mysite.com/~maintopic/2004/07/subsidiary-info/file.html

Google will not be put off by the depth of *nesting*, it's whether it's possible to get there by following a reasonable number of *links*. For new pages I often list them on a "what's new" page that's one click from the home page - that gets 'em noticed...
DerekH

[Haecceity]

I agree completely. Directory structure is just for your convenience in organizing your files. It's mainly the link structure and how many clicks it takes to get to content pages that affects your PageRank. And getting deep links from other sites is good.

[ridgway]

Tedster commented on this at the Vegas Pubcon. Without putting words in his mouth, I believe the jist was "flatter is better".

[steveb]

Flatter is not better. It's completely irrelevant, except secondary issues like pithy urls often look more clickable or longer URLs with some keywords in them help boost ranking a bit. But just in terms of folder depth, it means nothing at all, zero.