Keyword, URL and directory structure. Question

What is the current status on these elements?

[Qubi]

A client of mine came up with a question and I have been trying to find documented answers on the forum, but most I could find seem outdated.

What would be your preferred way of adding keywords in a URL:

1. keyword_1.example.com/
2. keyword_1.example.com/keyword_1/keyword_1.html
3. www.example.com/keyword_1/keyword_1.html

I argued that in case of nr 2 it may look like keyword stuffing, but client claims it just proves he offers valuable content by dedicating part of his domain name AND directories to the keyword_1

What formula do you think works best from an SEO perspective?

Thanks for your views on this,

Peter

[scraptoft]

I would use # 1) example.com/keyword_1.html

If you were to organze your pages in categories I would use example.com/categorykeyword_1/keyword_1.html

I think a keyword should appear once and only once in a URL.

[leadegroot]

I tend to dislike 1) because whether or not subdomains inherit from the main domain is going to flip flop over time (and I am lazy ;)) I would only do this for 'genune' reasons, eg a subdomain makes sense for a radically different area, not just to get the keyword in.
I would only do 2 if it grew organically - that page could not be the first thing to appear, I would have to make the domain and let it grow for a few months, then add the dir, then add the page.

Side note - if I really wanted to do 3 (which I tend to avoid - fugly) then I would use .htm. IMO this looks more natural as Frontpage seems to encourage this sort of structure.

[scraptoft]

Sorry I miss-read #1. I wouldn't do either #1 or #2 as the only reason you would be doing it is to enforce the keywords. I agree with Leadegroot that subdomains should only be made when theres a geniune reason.

[Qubi]

Thanks for your help. The subdomain issue makes more sense now.

[Drag_Racer]

what about this tructure

example.com/keyword/

goes to index file in that directory

then

example.com/keyword/relatedword-keyword.html
or
example.com/keyword/keyword-relatedword.html

for sub pages