Local Ranking Power of a Multi-Keyword URL?

[neilmac]

Here is a site that is sitting at number 1 on Google UK (local results) for a number of its keywords:

http://www.scottishdentistry.com/

If you look at the links in the navigation many of them have urls such as this:

http://www.scottishdentistry.com/glasgow-scotland-dentistry/glasgow-scotland-hygienists.html

These have clearly been created to be keyword rich. For example, there is no publicly-available page at:

http://www.scottishdentistry.com/glasgow-scotland-dentistry

Do you think this tactic has helped with the site's rankings? Is it worth imitating? Or will it ultimately attract a penalty of some kind?

Remember this is in the UK where Google seems to be slower at penalising dodgy tactics than in the US.

Thanks everyone.

[RyanPurkey]

Hi Neil. For local searches, localization still carries some weight when found within the URL, see: http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors, but I'd try to use a little less repetition than in the example above and focus on the higher valued difference making factors.

Outside of local, per Moz's own 2013 Search Ranking Factors, keywords in the URL are 1/4 of 1 percent of the total picture, and possibly even less than that today. I'd write URLs that are easy to read for people and not repetitively keyword stuffed. Cheers!

[neilmac]

Thanks very much Ryan.

My problem is this site is my client's competition.

I agree with all of your points but I wonder if I should copy this tactic to gain ground on them in local search.

Cheers

Neil

[RyanPurkey]

Understood. Go to the link on Local search ranking factors to help you prioritize as that will give you the best idea of what your client is doing well, missing, or doing poorly.  I'd work on all the things that are more important than localization in the URL first as improving those should gain ground the quickest.

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Neil,

Yes, having the practice's city name in the URLs is a perfectly fine tactic, as long as it's reasonable, but the main thing here to remember is that this is just one tiny thing that should be happening on any local business website. You want your basic SEO right, of course, but as the link Ryan has shared will demonstrate, there are just tons of things that require effort. No one's rankings are going to boil down to any one of the factors. The goal is to make a superior effort in your city and industry across many, many factors.

[neilmac]

Hi Miriam

Thanks very much for your response. Much appreciated.

The reason I asked about this particular issue is that a client's site is slightly below this one on key searches even though it beats it on nearly every criteria in OSE (authority, links etc).

Therefore I am looking at any other factors - such as this url issue - which could be making the difference.

Thanks again

Neil