Subfolder v Root Domain for attaining ranking

[MrPaulB]

Hi,

We are working with a site that we can refer to as:

www.clientsbrand.com.au

It has a subsection of our clients services at www.clientsbrand.com.au/keyword

The client has now decided that this subsection is in fact the most important thing they should be trying to rank for. A large amount of the content that is already existing under clientsbrand.com.au/topic1 /topic2 /topic3 etc would fit naturally under clientsbrand.com.au/keyword/topic1 etc

The root domain is currently not ranking for the keyword they wish to target. I am planning on moving a lot of this content to the subfolder to try and boost that silo and get things going for that keyword.

As long as we 301 the old URL's to their corresponding new position are there any issues any of you see with doing this?

I am worried there may be some traps for young players I have not considered.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

[hellemans]

You should be ok doing it this way. Make sure you set all the correct 301's. I've done it this way multiple times, sometimes if I had a ranking it would fall but be back a bit stronger over time (depending on the authority of the domain).

Good luck.

[RyanOD]

One 'trap' to consider is the site structure and publishing process. If your client's site has a CMS backend that lets you easily categorize pages, then no problem. If, however, publication is done manually, creating new folders for every new keyword can quickly become a maintenance hassle.

Another positive effect of adding the new level is the option to create a new category page at that level that is 100% optimized for said keywords. Moreover, your topic pages can now benefit from keyword focused breadcrumbs that include the category level.

[MrPaulB]

We're in Wordpress, so thankfully easy to manage.

[MrPaulB]

Thanks Hellemans, you think things should be ok but it's always good to get an outside opinion