Key Word in URL - To Include or Exclude?

[chewythedog]

Hi MoZ Community,

Key word inclusion in URL has been discussed a fair bit on here and curious for some feedback on two options on URL structure.

Ran’s #3 tip from his recent ‘15 SEO Best Practices for Structuring URLs’ states that key word inclusion still has some value but I’m not too sure if we’re going too far with the below examples.

We sell footwear and only footwear for Women, Men & Kids and use those words as our key menu headings at the top. Under each of the main headings within a mega menu the users then has the choice to ‘shop by style’, ‘shop by brand’ etc…

The key question or feedback is about including the word ‘shoes’ in my URLs as many of the top ranking competitors do it.

e.g. /women-shoes-heels, womens-shoes-sandals or womens-shoes/heels, womens-shoes/sandals

I think Google is smart enough to determine we have a shoe store and not sure of the value from a SEO or user experience perspective of adding the additional word.

Thoughts on going with option A or B would be valued....

Option A - http://shopname.com/womens/sandals, http://shopname.com/womens/heels   OR

Option B - http://shopname.com/womens-shoes/sandals, http://shopname.com/womens-shoes/heels

Thanks,

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[ClaytonJ]

Option A for mind. Also hummingbird allows a bit more lateral, so if it is for young and hip perhaps...

http://www.shopname.com.au/hers/heels

[aarongray]

I normally work out how it works in the site. E.g if your looking for heels you would do the following

Go to women shoes than heels

Yourshop.com/women-shoes/heels

From an SEO point of view it won't play a major factor in your rankings.

Also does your url have the word shoe in it. As this can play a factor from a user's point of view.

[chewythedog]

Hi Aaron,

My domain name does not have shoes in the title.

When you say it won't play a major factor in the rankings are you referring to using the word 'shoe'.

If it's not going to influence much then I'd prefer to go shorter (option A) and use http://shopname/women/heels I'd only considering including 'shoes' if there was some SEO or visual click through advantage.

Just curious because most majors shoe sellers and competitors do actually use it but they could have set up their URL's many years ago and things have possibly changed.

Does mean they rank well simply because of that as I know there are other contributing factors.

[aarongray]

from an SEO point of view, no it's not going to be a major factor.

From a user point of view its key and even more so because you don't have shoe in your domain name.  I have uploaded an image below. See how I have typed women shoes and the URL bolds that keyword in the URL. It's key to have something which stands out from a click through rate.

A lot of people worry about getting to page one but they forget that you need people to click on your listing. if i was you I would go:

http://shopname.com/womens-shoes/sandals

From a user's point of view not a SEO point of view. Hope this helps.

DaVLgWm

[MichaelC-15022]

I'd agree with Aaron's comments on click through rate.  I'd add that I'm still seeing a lot of boost in ranking from having the keywords in the URL itself, so I'd keep "shoes" in the page URLs.

[chewythedog]

This post is deleted!

[MichaelC-15022]

Be careful that you don't end up with multiple URLs for the same page...if you do want to go that way, then be sure to set a rel=canonical from one to the other.

I don't know about a click-through advantage.  You might say that the brand stands out more and is more readable at the end of the URL, actually.