Basic URL Structure Question

[Adam.Whittles]

Personally, I would go with the second option:

courses/togaf/foundation-training

Mainly because it looks a lot neater and you don't really need to mention 'togaf' twice in the URL.

Really you should try to keep your URLs as neat and user friendly as possible whilst keeping the relevant keywords. I generally try to keep them as short as possible without sacrificing essential keywords and pay no attention to the advice about keeping the length of your URL to 35 characters because google only displays 35, this is incorrect.

Hope that helps,

Adam.

[Adam.Whittles]

This information is misleading and inaccurate.

A search for [car insurance] in google UK returns a moneysupermarket page at number 1 that contains 39 characters in the URL. Looking further down the results there is a post office result with over 50 characters in the URL.

Also, your theory about the 'value of the keyword reducing with each character' is total nonsense.

[GeorgeAndrews]

I'm going to thumbs up Irving's response on this. I will add that my preference would be to use this URL structure if you only have one type of training per vendor:

/courses/togaf-foundation-training

/courses/microsoft-msce-training

And if you have multiple training courses per vendor, I would use the following:

/courses/togaf/foundation-training

/courses/microsoft/msce-training

Hope this helps!

[AndyMacLean]

i personally wouldnt entertain subfolder/aftersubfolder/aftersubfolder but look at how you may be able to do something like /subfolder-productx-examplez. Dont bury the pages too far in your url structure.

[shortsboy]

Crimson, The URL is not the only factor in the ranking.

Many other factors including -

1. Off pages SEO

2. Content

3. Domain authority

Etc.

The points in my answer above display how to optimize your URL.

But you can't just optimize your URL and reach the top of the rankings.

[shortsboy]

Irving,

1. If you see Google's blog you'll realize that keyword value decreases with each character in the URL.

http://www.johnfdoherty.com/lessons-from-google-about-url-lengths/

But your point is also correct that the file name has more value than the folder name.

3. Agree that it's important to put all required keywords into the URL. And sites like Quora have really long URL's.

But one should try to keep the URL length to a minimum I feel as shorter URL's tend to have higher click through rates.

[Boodreaux]

Does the order of the words in the URL matter?

[shortsboy]

Also you can check out this resource -

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-best-practices-for-url-structure/7216/

According to Google’s Matt Cutts if there are more than 5 words…

Algorithms typically will just weight those words less and just not give you as much credit.”

[Adam.Whittles]

**1. If you see Google's blog you'll realize that keyword value decreases with each character in the URL. **

http://www.johnfdoherty.com/lessons-from-google-about-url-lengths/

Pranav, I fail to see where you are getting this information from. Firstly, the link you posted is not from Google's blog, it is a blog post from an SEO. Secondly, he does not provide hard evidence to support your claim that keyword value decreases with each character.

[shortsboy]

Crimson,

John Doherty is one of the foremost authorities in SEO.

And please find below my comment where Google's Matt Cutts says that after 5 words Google gives less weight to the other words.

[Adam.Whittles]

Pranav, I suspect you are misinterpreting what has been said and you are also getting your words confused.

Characters are different to words. For example the url http://www.this-is-an-example.com has four words (this is an example) and 33 characters. What you have been saying is that character number 1 has more weight than character 33. This is inaccurate.

What I believe you are trying to say, is what Matt Cutts mentions in the interview you posted, that multiple keywords in a URL are given less weight after about the fourth or fifth keyword. I suggest that you read the articles you quote more carefully before offering erroneous advice.