How keywords and subfolders connect

[jheath]

I'm working on restructuring my site. We have main topic areas, and any given visitor will ONLY be interested in 1 of those topics. So to consolidate the information into a simpler format, I want to take all the various pieces of content and wrap them under a given topic. [There is a question in here, I promise.]

So I want to create www.domain.com/topic/subtopic-1, /topic/subtopic-2, etc. [Yes, I will apply all necessary redirects for any new URL restructuring.]

Now here's the question: If I want to rank for "Peanut Butter Sandwiches with Jelly" and "Peanut Butter Sandwiches with Jam," will I be able to structure the URLs as /peanut-butter/sandwiches-with-jelly/, or should I go /peanut-butter/peanut-butter-sandwiches-with-jelly? And please note, /peanut-butter/ will likely redirect to /peanut-butter/subtopic-1/ since it won't make sense to have /peanut-butter/ on its own. [PB&J is just an example.]

What's the best way to go about this? Any recommendations? I really appreciate your help.

[CleverPhD]

My experience with subtopics in URL structure is that they are over-rated.  Use the main category to help the user know where they are in the site and potentially about the topic that the page might be about.  If you want to drop keywords, do it in the category or in the slug for the name of the page.  You can work it in there and it gives you more flexibility.  This also helps with making your page be closer to the root folder vs ending up being too far down in a folder structure.

When I have used sub-categories you always end up with content that could be in two different ones and so then you have to decide which one is the better one, etc etc.  You will end up having to rework your URLs later due to issues with your sub-categories.   The only way I have seen subcats work well is when you have something like /state/city/zip or something else where your end item is only in one cat, subcat, etc.

I would not do the /peanut-butter/ to redirect to /peanut-butter/subtopic-1 - that makes no sense from an organizational perspective.  If peanut butter is not a strong enough category by itself, it should not be a category to start with.   You need to rethink what your category topics are.  Ideally, /peanut-butter/ is a keyword combo you want to rank for and has great traffic potential that converts.  It should be a hub page for your site for that topic.

Find good categories, work in the keyword into that category or if not work it into the slug for the name of the page.  If you want a good example, look at how the Moz site is setup.  Also, remember that keywords in the URL are good for SEO, but you really get more bang for the buck for a good title and content and links into that content.  Dont overthink the URL.

Good luck!