Do irrelevant words in a page's URL negatively affect the on-page optimization?

[McCaldin]

This post is deleted!

[Johnny_AppleSeed]

Hey,

the answer is yes, having non-relevant keywords in a page's URL adversely affects on-page optimization and I will tell you how I know!

Comparison of URLs for a Canon Powershot SD400 Camera

1. _Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007TJ5OG/102-8372974-4064145?v=glance&n=502394&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&n=3031001&s=photo&v=glance_
2. _Canon.com - http://consumer.usa.canon.com/ir/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=11158_
3. _DPReview.com - http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd400/_

In examples 1 and 2, a user has virtually no idea what the URL might point to. With example 3 it is easy to surmise that a review of a Canon SD400 is the likely topic of the page.

In addition to the issues of brevity and clarity, it's also important to keep URLs limited to as few dynamic parameters as possible. A dynamic parameter is a part of the URL that provides data to a database so the proper records can be retrieved, i.e. n=3031001, v=glance, categoryid=145, etc.

Note that in both the Amazon and Canon URLs, the dynamic parameters number three or more. In an ideal site, there should never be more than two. Search engineer representatives have confirmed on numerous occasions that URLs with more than two dynamic parameters may not be spidered unless they are perceived as significantly important (i.e., have many, many other links pointing to them).

Three Main Benefits of URLs

1. Semantics

A well-crafted URL should semantically make sense. The DPReview URL above is a good example of a semantically accurate URL. (This of course assumes that the page actually is about what is described) It is easy to tell the subject of the URL just by examining its URL. This is helpful to both humans and search engines.

2. Relevancy

The other benefit of having a semantically correct URL, is that webmasters are more likely to get search engine-referred traffic due to the keywords in the URL. These, like title tags, are used for determining relevancy and computing rankings.

3. Links

Well-written URLs have the additional benefit of serving as their own anchor text when copied and pasted as links in forums, blogs, or other online venues. In the DPReview example, a search engine might see the URL http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd400/ and give ranking credit to the page for terms in the URL like dpreview, reviews, canon, sd, and 400.

Aside form this quoted text, the longer your URL is the easier and more likely it is to make a mistake.

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[Chris.Menke]

McCaldin,

Relevancy of words in a URL is not much of a factor these days and even less so, I'd be willing to bet, is the relevancy of non keyword-type words in the URL.  Anyway, if you're creating any larger amount of content specifically around a topic, it's almost impossible to create URLs that contain high numbers of keywords and low numbers of other words without what looks/feels like duplication/cannibalization.   Just keep your titles succinct and on topic and if your CMS auto-populates the URL from the title, it'll be fine.

[McCaldin]

Hi,

I think that my example URL already fits the criteria for the three main benefits of URLs: It does make sense, it is relevant to the page/product (if not necessarily the actual keywords) and it is descriptive as anchor text while containing some of the appropriate keywords.

Thanks for the response and for the link, I had managed to miss that page.

[McCaldin]

Hi,

That makes sense.

Thank you for your help.