Landing Page URL Structure

[briankb]

We are finally setting up landing pages to support our PPC campaigns. There has been some debate internally about the URL structure.

Originally we were planning on URL's like:

• domain.com
  • /california
  • /florida
  • /ny

I would prefer to have the URL's for each state inside a "state" folder like:

• domain.com
  • /state
    • /california
    • /florida
    • /ny

I like having the folders and pages for each state under a parent folder to keep the root folder as clean as possible. Having a folder or file for each state in the root will be very messy.

Before you scream URL rewriting :-). Our current site is still running under Classic ASP which doesn't support URL rewriting. We have tried to use HeliconTech's ISAPI rewrite module for IIS but had to remove it because of too many configuration issues.

Next year when our coding to MVC is complete we will use URL rewriting.

So the question for now: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to one URL structure over the other?

[danatanseo]

Yes. I believe there is an advantage in choosing your second option, for exactly the reason you state. In other words it's better for you and your own organization of your content. It will also make it much easier when and if you implement URL rewrites to give you SEO friendly URLs because if you use any relative URLs on your pages, they will be much easier to identify correctly and update if they are constructed "/state/michigan."

I don't believe there is going to be an advantage or disadvantage to your campaigns or SEO if you choose one versus another. That's my personal opinion. I certainly don't pretend to know what Google favors or doesn't favor at any given point in time.

I certainly hope this helps!

[JaredMumford]

From a strict A/B standpoint where the two variables are:

www.domain.com/california

www.domain.com/state/california

You will see no discernible difference in SEO results. That being said, if you plan to expand the URLs later, i.e.

www.domain.com/state/california/santa-monica/our-service-keywords.* then you should probably consider what length they will be and factor that into your decision.