Retail Store Detail Page and Local SEO Best Practices

[mongillo]

We are working with a large retailer that has specific pages for each store they run.  We are interested in leveraging the best practices that are out their specifically for local search.

Our current issue is around URL design for the stores pages themselves.  Currently, we have store URL's such as:

/store/12584

The number is a GUID like character that means nothing to search engines or, frankly, humans.  Is there a better way we could model this URL for increased relevancy for local retail search? For example:

1. adding store name:
   www.domain.com/store/1st-and-denny-new-york-city/23421
   (example http://www.apple.com/retail/universityvillage/)

2. fully explicit URI

www.domain.com/store/us/new-york/new-york-city/10027/bronx/23421
(example http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia-san-diego-2185-san-elijo-avenue-cardiff-by-the-sea-california-92007?assetid=5172)

the idea with this second version is that we'd make the URL structure more rich and detailed which might help for local search.

Would there be a best practice or recommendation as to how we should model this URL?

We are also working to create an on-page optimization but we're specifically interested in local seo strategy and URL design.

[Sarbs]

The general approach we take on our sites is to have the URL in the following format:

root-domain.co.uk/county(state)/city/district

I would not worry overly at having the full address in the URL as that’s very specific, so long as you’re hitting the local area your users will be searching for that will be sufficient for local targeting. It will also keep the URL shorter and cleaner, and in my opinion more user friendly. The user will be able to find the specific address on the store page.

This whiteboard Friday doesnt focus on your specific query but you may find it of use.

Hope this helps.