Multiple Keywords in URL ...preferred formats?

Questions about effective methods of placing multiple keywords in URLs

[ThatGuy]

When naming pages for a new site I stumbled across what I feel is an important question. I have reviwed related topics but have not yet encountered specific guidelines for the naming of pages with multiple keyterms in the page URL, so I thought I would stir one up:

What is the most effective method of formating for placing keywords in the page names of URLs?

Let me be more specific with the structure and context of the pages in question. I prefer the popular page naming format of:
"site name"/"directory name"/"page name"

..but how does this apply to multi-word page names?

For Example if I needed to include both word "one" and word "two" into a page name would it be most effective to seperate them with a hyphen, an underscore, or simply jam the words together?

This is where I really need additional input. I am unsure if spiders have the ability to distinguish between two words in a page title. In the case of term "one" and "two" smooshed together I of course highly doubt it (www.sitename.com/directory/onetwo.html)

But what about in the other two scenarios?

www.sitename.com/directory/one-two.html

or

www.sitename.com/directory/one_two.html

I'd love to have input from anyone with answers on:
1)Do SE spiders have the ability to look at the individual terms in the above examples?
2)Do SE spiders prefer one example over the other?
3)Would these naming conventions increase the PR of these pages for relevant keyword searches?

A Quick Note: I have reviewed a large number of posts here on WebMasterWorld in search of some definitive answers in the world of SEO and practical web design. I have found many answers... but have stumbled across even more new questions, I didn't even know I had! I wanted to thank every one that posts here, I have found your experience a great help in my individual learning endeavors. It's a little humbling!

[WebGuerrilla]

Hi ThatGuy,

Glad to have you out of lurking mode. :)

It's been awhile since I've checked, but the majority of engines treat keyword1_keyword2 the same as keyword1-keyword2.

However, there is one big exception. Google doesn't treat an underscore as a traditional delimiter. It recognizes it as an actual character rather than a space.

That being the case, www.sitename.com/directory/one-two.html would be the best choice in terms of having your keyword phrases recognized in your file names.

[JamesR]

>It recognizes it as an actual character rather than a space.

I wonder why that choice was made? Seems like a hyphen would be a more logical choice of character.

[ThatGuy]

Thanks for the prompt reply WebGuerrilla, I was hoping you had some thoughts on the topic. I had seen somewhere before the mention that Google was unable, or unwilling to process the underscore. I appreciate the confirmation!

A thanks,
ThatGuy

[brotherhood of LAN]

Welcome to WMW thatguy

I personally prefer _ to - because ive noticed some people linking to the site and making mistakes with such characters. The _ seems more visible.

To add to the "multiple keywords in URL" idea, are there still character limits on URL's with the major engines?

I remember an old copy of WPG saying that more than 55 characters in a URL aint good. In light of this, most of my directories are numbered with keywords on .htm files

[ThatGuy]

brotherhood_of_LAN,
I too have experienced the recommended limit of 55 charachters on WPG, but I don't know if this applies to the majority of engines or to any engines today. Does anyone have any feedback on what Google or other engines guidelines are in reference to this?

[WebGuerrilla]

There may still be a limit, but it would be much larger that 55 characters per URL. I constantly come across URL's (usually dynamic contnet that's been converted to appear to be static) that are more than double that size.

Another strange observation regarding Google and hyphens vs underscores.

If you do a search using your_keyword_phrase you will get completely different results than a search for your keyword phrase.

If you do a search for your-keyword-phrase you end up with the same results as if you searched for an exact match. (using quotes)

The initial results tend to be the same as the regular search, but the number of pages returned drops dramatically.