Question on URL wording and structure best practices

[SBRMarketing]

We're mapping out some URL structures and trying to figure out what would be best for separating folders for articles and videos regarding wording in the folder say:

www.site.com/category/article/name-of-article/id#/    ----      www.site.com/category/video/name-of-video/id#/

vs.

www.site.com/category/a/name-of-article/id#/    ----      www.site.com/category/v/name-of-video/id#/

Second option came about the ''shorter is better' way of thinking. Downside I see to it is if the link would be copied and pasted somewhere probably would be best for a user to make it clear they are clicking into an article or a video, don't think just an 'a' or a 'v' would be very telling in that scenario.

Would it be better for search engines to make it clearer with the whole word in there?  Any other pros and cons to each? Not sure what's the best route here.

[seoman10]

Definitely the shorter the better but don't abbreviate words, If you can just go www.site.com/videos/[video name] that would definitely give an improved signal over and above longer URLs of competition.

Or you could possibly get away with www.site.com/blog/videos/[video name] this would carry a little bit less weight but be more descriptive.

Definitely rule of thumb the shorter the URL the better, do not abbreviate, (Google may not know what it means).

[solvid]

I agree