The Golden Hat

Site owners should think about URLs as if they were name tags. Imagine going to a big convention, SMX for example, and walking around a room full of search marketing industry experts that you want to meet. You notice from a distance that they are all wearing name tags so you figure that’s a sure way to casually introduce yourself and begin jaw flapping.

As you get closer though you notice that on the name tags aren’t written clear, descriptive names. No first and last name. No recognizable language like “Tim” and “Bill”. Instead you find name tags with “&=ses1246396″ and “%rev%false_34973″. Suddenly you realize you can’t decipher who they are and what they do by their name tag. You may recognize the person if you’ve seen s/he before but if you haven’t, well… no dice. The only way you’ll be able to find out who they are is to dig a bit, ask some questions, and eventually piece together a story that helps you identify that person.

Same rule applies for a website. The URL is your site name tag. If it doesn’t clearly state with static, keyword-centric phrases what the content of the page is about then it isn’t serving it’s optimal purpose. No where is this more evident then in the top organic search results. It’s your opportunity to introduce yourself and what you’re about at the front door. With static, keyword-centric URLs iterating primary and secondary keyword phrases in your targeted landing page then the combination of a descriptive URL and matching meta data will greatly increase the click-thru of your organic listing.

Below are some rules to live by with URL naming:

1. Iterate a targeted, primary keyword phrase in each URL
2. Keep URLs as short and descriptive as possible
3. Use hyphens or underscores between keywords
4. Minimize the use of dynamic variables and session IDs
5. If you have hundreds or thousands of pages then organize them into keyword targeted sub-domains
6. If manual re-write isn’t possible then use mod_rewrite to serve static looking URLs to users and spiders
7. If re-directing from an old URL to a new URL then do so with 301 permanent redirects to pass link value and ensure the new URL is indexed

More to come on URLs, especially for e-commerce sites!

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