Which URL Structure i should use

[system]

I am developing product based shopping website, which have different main categories and than sub categories and then products in those sub catageories, so i want to know how should i make their url, so that they remain seo friendly and remain short as well, is there any benefit if your urls is short after your domainmane like domainmane.com/abc.html

My developer has given me three option for url to be shown on website and in search engine which are mentioned below,

example.com/maincatageory/subcatageory/product
example.com/subcatageory/product
example.com/product

Please suggest which one to use ? which will be best option.

Thank you
Danny

[WordsofWorth]

@dannywright

I am developing product based shopping website, which have different main categories and than sub categories and then products in those sub catageories, so i want to know how should i make their url, so that they remain seo friendly and remain short as well, is there any benefit if your urls is short after your domainmane like domainmane.com/abc.html

My developer has given me three option for url to be shown on website and in search engine which are mentioned below,

example.com/maincatageory/subcatageory/product
example.com/subcatageory/product
example.com/product

Please suggest which one to use ? which will be best option.

Thank you
Danny

example.com/maincatageory/subcatageory/product

No question.

[TechnoBear]

@ WordsofWorth - it might be helpful if you gave a reason for your answer.

[WordsofWorth]

@TechnoBear

@ WordsofWorth - it might be helpful if you gave a reason for your answer.

Sorry, yeah, good point.

You should use categories and sub categories in the URL for semantic search. Google knows that product A belongs to category A, so having Category A/Sub Category A/Product A helps Google know what your page and site is about. Grouping associated keywords within the URL structure is a valuable method of optimising a website. If you just have domain.com/product then Google has less to go on.

In addition, it also helps your longtail optimisation as people searching for product name and category will be more likely to find your website if your site has both the product name and category within the URL structure.

[TechnoBear]

@WordsofWorth - Thank you.

[triggerphish]

I agree with all that WordsOfWorth said, and would add that the example.com/maincatageory/subcatageory/product structure would be of great benefit as the site grows.

[canadamigration]

@WordsofWorth

Sorry, yeah, good point.

You should use categories and sub categories in the URL for semantic search. Google knows that product A belongs to category A, so having Category A/Sub Category A/Product A helps Google know what your page and site is about. Grouping associated keywords within the URL structure is a valuable method of optimising a website. If you just have domain.com/product then Google has less to go on.

In addition, it also helps your longtail optimisation as people searching for product name and category will be more likely to find your website if your site has both the product name and category within the URL structure.

Agreed with your opinion. When Google Bot Index/crawls a page, it will read the content as well as the links. This will also gives better impact on navigational searches.

[system]

@WordsofWorth

Sorry, yeah, good point.

You should use categories and sub categories in the URL for semantic search. Google knows that product A belongs to category A, so having Category A/Sub Category A/Product A helps Google know what your page and site is about. Grouping associated keywords within the URL structure is a valuable method of optimising a website. If you just have domain.com/product then Google has less to go on.

In addition, it also helps your longtail optimisation as people searching for product name and category will be more likely to find your website if your site has both the product name and category within the URL structure.

@canadamigration

Agreed with your opinion. When Google Bot Index/crawls a page, it will read the content as well as the links. This will also gives better impact on navigational searches.

I dont know mxh about this issue technically, but i guess you both are write it would be much better to go with example.com/maincatageory/subcatageory/product this url structure, i have discussed it with few other technical persons as well they have suggested the same.

[emilystephi]

I do go with
example.com/category/subcategory/product

However, remember one point : All the spaces between the product name or category name should placed as “-” but not “_”.

E.g: example.com/category/sub-category/product-name
mysite.com/electronics/mobile-phones/balck-berry/pearl-9100

This change is preferred by Google.

[snehaw]

I would advice you to go with the following URL structure:

example.com/category/subcategory/product

But, this is a rigid structure. Any change in your category, or sub-category, name will make all your previous shared links unworkable. (especially in case of Social Bookmarking)

For example: if your share the following link on Digg -> example.com/motorola/mobiles/droid.php; and after a few days, you change the name of your sub-category to phones, then your new link would be example.com/motorola/phones/droid.php;

And your previous link would stop working. So, make sure not to change your categories, or subcategories, names from time to time.