Is it a problem if a URL has too many backslashes in its address?

[SEO_Promenade]

The ecommerce platform of the site that I am working on generates URLs that contain ID Codes for each different product category, color variations, styles, etc.

An example of a URL for a specific product includes:

www.example.com/women/denim-jeans/py/c/109/np/108/p/3834.html

Is it a problem for search engine crawlers if the URL address has so many backslashes in its address?

Appreciate your feedback.

[TheeDigital]

I would want to have as few as possible.  You have to ask yourself whether or not all those folders are actually needed. As far as indexing, it's more about the hops than the number of backslashes.  For instance if a crawler has to go to /denim-jeans then to /py then /c then /c109 then /np then /108 then /p then /3834.html it will likely have some indexing issues, but if the next hop after /denim-jeans is from a link that goes to /py/c/109/np/108/p/3834.html then it likely wouldn't cause any issues for the crawler, but again it's a nasty structure and you have to ask yourself if it is all really necessary.

[JaneCopland]

Hi there,

Ryan is correct - high numbers of subfolders like this aren't ideal. That takes into account real and virtual subfolders (i.e. "subfolders" that have no content on them but are generated by a CMS versus subfolders that contain landing pages).

Ideally, these would be rewritten to www.example.com/women/denim/product1.html, etc. You will need to check with the developers why the CMS creates these subfolders and what can be done about it.

Google is much better at indexing / ranking URLs like this than it was a few years ago, and it's not exactly a deathblow if you're told that this can't be changed. It's still not ideal though, so check whether it can be simplified.

[David-Kley]

To be clear, what type of cart system does the site use? VirtueMart? Magento?

I agree with the posts above, in that sometimes it doesn't hurt, but at the same time, you aren't doing the product pages any favors. Two ways to look at this would be:

1. Having the URL structure set up like you example will still get the pages indexed, if they are included in a sitemap, and submitted correctly, furthermore if the content on those pages is a good match.

2. Having the pages set up that way will limit the ranking potential of those pages, by having a long URL, without relevant keywords in place. Let me explain:

In your example:
www.example.com/women/denim-jeans/py/c/109/np/108/p/3834.html

You have the opportunity to potentially rank for "womens denim jeans" using that url. This somewhat limits the ranking potential of the items, as they are all tied into one specific category, that being "womens denim jeans". Lets look at another example:

www.example.com/women/denim-jeans/faded-wash/indigo-dye-item-details3834.html

In the above URL, you are much more specific in the style and type of jean it is, and a user will know (and a search engine) what the page is specifically about. Style, color, keyword, category, etc. Since you most likely have a large catalog of product types, why limit your item details to a bunch of unnecessary numbers and slashes?

I would also look at a way of using product markup to make the items stand out further in search results. Google likes to see "the complete package". Using clean specific URL's and schema product markup tells a much clearer pricture than /py/c/109/np/108/p/3834.html. Depending on the CMS used, there may be a component or plugin that takes care of the product markup for you, from the item description and details.

Hope this helps!

[SEO_Promenade]

Thank you for all of your feedback.

Unfortunately, this website is a on a old propitiatory platform that requires to have these long URL strings, but thankfully there are no separate pages for each of the backslash categories.

For now, I have to accept having these long URLs and just make sure all the correct pages are submitted in sitemap.

Thank you again for you all of your feedback. This was very helpful!