URL Structure

[EcomLkwd]

What's the best way to set up a url structure? When a user goes through the funnel should it show it in the url?

Like this:

domain.com/thickness/high-density/1-mil-plastic-bags (1 mil plastic bags is a subcategory - when the user is at this page they will see many products. When they select one - it brings them to a product detail page which I think should be done like this: domain.com/product-name regardless of the funnel that brought them there. Does this make sense?)

or

**domain.com/1-mil-plastic-bags **

Also, is there a limit of how many "/" could be used?

[tomhall90]

Hi there,

I currently use Magento Enterprise and this is how we have our URL structure set.

Depending on the software you're using, there is a chance you could have shorter URL's for sharing purposes (e.g. domain.com/category/subcat/product-title-here == domain.com/productcode) but make sure that this URL isn't actually a "page" but is in fact just a redirector. (Unless you want to get involved with "rel canonical" see here: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/rel-canonical-html-head/)

Getting back to your URL structure, this is definitely the way I would recommend anybody set up their URLs. Especially if your domain name doesn't have the keyword in it. E.g. your shop is called LuckyCharms.com and you sell jewellery, a website that is called weselljewellery.com may rank quicker because the keyword is already in the domain name. But with the URL structure set to include the category, the URL now becomes LuckyCharms.com/products/jewellery/bracelets what have you.

The URL is read by search engines and I think it can only be a positive thing to have as much in your URL as you can without making it look messy. Two categories deep is the limit. E.g. domain.com/category/subcategory/product-title-here

Hope this is of some help to you!

Tom

[Davenport-Tractor]

Rachel,

Wow the upper limit! That depends on the browser. Opera can take 190,000 characters before it chokes. Probably a better question would be, help me find a product/path structure that makes sense to me, and my customer.

Also remember SEO points are awarded by the search engines if the product your trying to optimize for is used in the URL. So if your selling brown paper bags, the using the URL www.mydomaine.com\bags\brown-paper-bags is a better choice than 190,000 hard to read letters or symbols.

[EcomLkwd]

Thanks Tom for the detailed answer.

Is there a reason why it can only be two forward slashes deep?

[tomhall90]

Hi Rachel,

There is no reason, rather than just personal preference (to an extent).

I'd like my customers to share a product with their friends on Facebook etc. so I like to get straight to the point in the URL. Maybe having domain.com/department/category/subcategory may be a better option for you, depending on how keyword friendly your categories are.

For example, my DJ company ranks number 1 on Google in the UK for "disco speakers" and this is how I have the URL structured: http://www.electromarket.co.uk/speakers-audio-equipment/dj-pa-speakers/active-powered-pa-speakers/

That is just for a specific type of speaker.

This has worked best for us, but it completely depends on how deep your categories go. We try to make all of our most popular categories as closely linked to the homepage as possible.

Hope this helps!

Tom