URL for New Product

[mindflash]

Hi,

We run an established website (mindflash.com) selling online training software. We are getting ready to launch a new section of the site where our users can sell their own online training programs. This will be branded as the 'marketplace'.  This section will have a main page, category pages, tag pages, search and individual course pages.

In our URL structure, I'd love to target the word 'training courses' but I don't want to neglect the product brand either. Is it better to use /training-courses in the marketplace urls or to use /marketplace? Or is it better to use both like /marketplace-training-courses or /marketplace/training-courses?

Option 1:

Example main section page: mindflash.com/training-courses

Example category page: mindflash.com/training-courses/software-training

Option 2:

Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace

Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training

Option 3:

Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses

Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses/software-training

Option 4:

Example main section page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses

Example category page: mindflash.com/marketplace/training-courses/software-training

Which option is better and why?

[irvingw]

a) the less deep you can go in directories the better, keep it as close to the root as possible so #3 is out.

b) marketplace should be in it's own directory since it's your brand and you should have a main landing page mindflash.com/marketplace

c) don't repeate keywords, looks like stuffing, so no to these ones:

mindflash.com/marketplace-training-courses/software-training

mindflash.com/training-courses/software-training

therefore i would research the best combination or three word mid tail searches that can capture two main phrases and all three for example:

mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training-courses

"software training" "training courses" "software training courses"

mindflash.com/marketplace/software-courses-online

or maybe more specific fits into your model

mindflash.com/marketplace/php-software-training

or

mindflash.com/marketplace/software-training/php-courses

if you need more hiearchy/granularity, but don't add folders for SEO sake - add folder if you need to organize the pages more logically

use dashes not underscores

use all lowercase no caps

no spaces of course

no funky characters

drop the .html or .php extensions

better to not have a slash at the end (don't forget to canonical)