/forum/ or /hookah-forum/

[Heydarian]

I'm building a new website on Hookah.org. It will have a forum and blog.

Should I put them in Hookah.org/hookah-forum/ and Hookah.com/hookah-blog/ or Hookah.org/forum and Hookah.org/blog

I think /forum/ and /blog/ are easier for users but am not sure how much adding the word hookah helps with SEO.

[john4math]

A good rule of thumb is to do what you think is better for your users, and not necessarily for SEO, as search engines are always moving in the direction of optimizing their users' experiences. Since those shorter URLs are easier for users, you've got your answer right there!

Since your domain is hookah.org, people will know that /blog/ and /forum/ are going to be related to hookahs, so there's no need to repeat the word in the URL. If the domain was more general or a brand, or had more than 1 blog or forum, then adding hookah to the URL would make sense.

[CleverPhD]

Agreed - you already have the key term in the URL all you are doing is adding to the length of the URL and that can make it look spammy to users.

You will have other parameters added to the end of that URL and so very quickly you would be getting close to the 70 character max that SEOMoz suggests.

[Heydarian]

Thank you guys. That answered my question.