How to Define Best URL Structure for Product Pages?

[RyanKent]

I thinking one solution for it. I am going to add manufacturer part number in Title tag rather than URL...

If you take that approach definitely add it to the END of the title, not the beginning. I looked at your site and your page title shows as "53927 Phoenix Copper Waterproof Floor Lamp". Horrible!

The idea of a page title is to allow users to know what the page is about. The item id really shouldn't be part of a title.

The summary of your site is, you are doing far too much too fast. You are not giving your items and pages the attention they require, and your SEO and sales will suffer for it. Your goal is to offer as many products as you can, as fast as possible, as cheaply as possible. This approach directly conflicts with quality measures.

Take one product I found on your site: http://www.vistastores.com/indoorlighting-patiolivingconcepts-53927.html

I understand the product page completely. This is one of 7k+ products you offer. It was likely added to your page as part of a database feed. But look at the URL, the page and it's content. Now take a step back and imagine for a moment you had a small, established lamp shop and this product was one which was added to your store today. Think about adding this page to your site.

The page URL would probably be: http://www.vistastores.com/phoenix-copper-waterproof-floor-lamp. The URL would be much more helpful all around.

Think about the page text. You would describe the lamp itself, maybe offer some examples of it's uses "perfect for intimate lighting in areas near fishtanks, bathrooms, indoor gardens or other areas with higher levels of moisture".

Think about the additional pictures you might provide if this lamp was just one of a few items you sold. You would probably have a few nice displays and can show the lamp in each setting.

The bottom line is, your wish to sell 15k+ products is driving the quality of your site's pages to very low levels. There is almost no unique information on the pages. If you hired someone to spend 2 hours on each and every page making them personal, adding content, etc. the value of those pages to your customers and to search engines would substantially increase. I understand if you can't afford to do it, but you also need to understand your SEO and conversion challenges you will face as a result of "speeding" so fast with an e-commerce site.

[RyanKent]

Your site has 5k+ errors, 11k+ warnings. My main concern is the 4k+ duplicate pages. The issue is your pages lack content. You need to add unique, relevant, quality content to every page of your site you wish to be indexed.

I would recommend a professional consultation with an SEO. Your site offers very nice products. Your site requires a tremendous amount of SEO attention. Proper SEO can have a dramatic impact on your site's pages being index and your overall sales. If you wish to do-it-yourself, that is possible to but you have a very long way to go. Please check out the Beginner's Guide to SEO.

[CommercePundit]

It's really really good answer. But, I am not able to click Good answer... Don't worry about it.

BTW: I am getting your point... I am selling tiki torches with Table Lamps board... If any stall in market for selling tiki torches so banner of canopy will be Tiki Torches... What you think about it?

I have list down all suggestions in my diary... as follow.

1. Remove initial Number from title tag and add in to end.

2. Edit URL structure with name. may be include category name.

3. I will add unique content with product details.

4. I am going to add more images for products. (What you think about social media buttons like Google plus, Twitter and Facebook?)

If any missing so you can add in this list... So, that's great for me.

[CommercePundit]

Hey Ryan!! Again very good suggestion to hire good SEO consultant.... I am 1000% to going to do that.... What you think about future performance of this website... ? Can I mesh up lighting industry with proper SEO stuffs? This is really big mind bubble in business direction... This is not SEO but as per your knowledge ... Does it really matter to do it in future?

[RyanKent]

I still strongly dislike the idea of having product ids in the product title. I am not clear of your reasonings for adding the id to the title. The only place the title is seen is in search results.

Social media buttons next to each product is a very good thing.

[RyanKent]

Any time I work with a website, I envision what a "world-class" version of the site would look like, then work to make the image a reality.

Design your pages for a world-class audience:

• If Steven Spielberg wants to find a lamp for a movie scene, are your pages something he would want to look at for ideas?

• If Madonna needs a new lamp in her living room, would she ever look at your pages and think "wow, that would go perfect in my home"

• Can you imagine any interior design magazines or Good Housekeeping linking to your page and mentioning it?

You have lamps which show a retail price of $1000. It's not really a price thing, because you will see models wear inexpensive clothes if they have the right look. The idea is to showcase your products in the best possible light.

[CommercePundit]

I want to add my response on this question after long time. Because, I have made few changes as per discussion. You can see by this excel sheet.

I have changed entire structure for URLs and finished following tasks.

• 301 Redirect [Old URLs to New URLs]
• Multiple XML Sitemaps [Create Category Wise & Submit to Webmaster Tools]
• Rel=canonical for duplication

I have very simple question for crawling. How Google will act for these changes. Will Google slow down my crawling or not? OR any other inputs which may help me in same direction!

[CommercePundit]

I'm again on this question. Because, I'm going to make big change on URLs.

1. Product Pages

2. Narrow by Search Pages.

I don't have issue with product pages. But, Narrow by search pages create with too many nesting sub directories as follow.

http://www.vistatables.com/chandeliers/shopby/finish-search/other/glass-shade-type-search/other/manufacturer/elk-lighting/material-search/glass/no-of-bulbs-search/3-light/price/3,100/product-type-search/cone-chandeliers/style-search/traditional

Can you suggest me best one for this kind of structure? I have read Google official guidelines and Randfish post on it. But, I have just mind set & want to get some additional inputs via this question.

[RyanKent]

That is quite a URL! Definitely not the best structure.

What exactly did you search for do generate that URL?

[CommercePundit]

I have done some R & D and come to know about few Good URL structure which I am going to follow.

http://indiaemporium.com/women/salwar-kameez/collection-anarkali-salwar-kameez/fabric-georgette/work-embroidered.html

http://www.bellacor.com/bronze-transitional-glass-shade-golden-lighting-chandeliers.htm

[RyanKent]

I would recommend dropping the .html / htm extensions from both URLs.

The first URL is quite long and has too many folders. I am concerned the page requires too many clicks and/or you are stuffing too many keywords in your URL.