Is it more important to have a concise URL or to have the URL in an categorized folder?

[howlusa]

We've got 14 locations so I would definitely do the location first. So right now /chicago redirects to /locations/location-chicago. When we redisgn it will be vice versa. Should I just make the url /chicago/birthday-parties? Or will Google not like that /chicago redirects?

[FedeEinhorn]

It isn't what Google likes or dislikes, Google will index the site both ways, the problem is, with any redesign and site restructure comes a ranking drop, almost every time, no matter how well you plan it, it always happen. It takes some time to "recover", which is actually not recovering but Google adjusting to the new design.

If you redirect pages, try to do it once. You are now redirecting /chicago with a 301, which is actually saying that the content of /chicago was permanently moved to the other location, then you will do it backwards, which can bring some troubles if you are always using 301s.

If you are planning to use /chicago later, then I would probably use a 302 to redirect /chicago to the old location while the new design is ready. Then you can remove the 302 and put a 301 from the old location to the new one.

[howlusa]

That's all good and well, but what about this landing page? Is it harmful to put it in a folder if that folder redirects(/chicago/birthday-parties)

Which is better? That or /birthday-parties-chicago

[FedeEinhorn]

Do you offer anything else aside from birthday-parties?

[howlusa]

Yes, we'll host any sort of party/event. And we're a bar so we get people in seeking nightlife.

[FedeEinhorn]

I'd go with /chicago/birthday-parties then, and have a page at /chicago that lists all the events/parties.

[howlusa]

I really need to keep the redirect on /chicago because that url is on a lot of our marketing materials. In February, the location page will be at that url, but right now it will remain a redirect. So is it ok to have /chicago/birthday-parties even though chicago is a redirect? If not, would you go with /birthday-parties-chicago or /locations/location-chicago/birthday-parties?

[FedeEinhorn]

If it is marketing material, then you are fine with any of them. I will stay with /chicago/birthday-parties as it will save me on future redirects once the new design is up.

Staying with /chicago/birthday-parties will only change 1 redirect once the new design is deployed, the /chicago one. Anyhow, make the /chicago to /chicago/birthday-parties a 302 instead of a 301.

[howlusa]

You mean to make /chicago go to the locations/location-chicago? I'm good having a page in an empty folder?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Howlusa,

My 2 cents: I prefer .com/birthday-parties-chicago

It's very easy to understand and should stand you in good stead.