Keywords in sub folders

They have: 4 posts

Joined: May 2009

Hi everyone,

First post so please be gentle!!!!!!!!!!

I have been learning what i can reading here and there on web desgin and seo etc, and build a site using a software package doing the best i could as until two years ago i never used a pc.

The question i have is the site i have built using this software package does not let you name the interal pages/sub folders i.e pages look like this,

www.domain.co.uk/
www.domain.co.uk/page2.htm
www.domain.co.uk/page3.htm

Will this hurt in the long run for ranking on google?

greg's picture

He has: 1,581 posts

Joined: Nov 2005

Hi Sash, welcome to TWF.
We're always mostly gentle around here Wink

What package are you using that doesn't allow that? Sounds like a nuisance to me.

As for affecting your SEO, Google's main priorities these days are the content you have on your pages and other sites linking to yours.

That said, if the URL's are too complex or badly done then it can make problems for Google.

How it affects your site, if it does at all, depends on how well you rank in the first place. If you are struggling badly and Google and other SE's don't "like" your site then the affect might be significant. If you are fine and the site has no issues with SE's, then it wont be a problem.

But you have to do something really bad for it to not be indexed or affect your overall rank, such as illegal URL chars. The general, and Google, guidelines also make sure it's pleasant for visitors.
They don't want to see big long confusing URL if possible.

Look at amazon.com. It does fine to be listed on SE's and some of the links are terrible. In fact amazon's links are pretty much what Google recommends to avoid if possible.
Here's an example:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Peripherals-Cards-Accessories-Cases/b/ref=sa_menu_cc3_w_h_?ie=UTF8&node=561904&pf_rd_p=218610391&pf_rd_s=left-nav-1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=468294&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0578Q3PQK9KVCBR3GNP8

Here's an article at Google that may be of some interest to you.
URL Structure

Here's a PDF file from Google about SEO tips:
SEO Starter Guide
It's not amazingly full of facts, but it is a good read to pick up a few tips and pointers.

They have: 4 posts

Joined: May 2009

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your time in replying, it was built using Mr site which i have to say i am very happy with as its easy to use, the site was indexed by google in a week, and now has 20 pages index so no problems there, i sent a lot of time in doing work to the site and for the long haul not sure if the urls will affect ranking?

www.domain.co.uk/
www.domain.co.uk/page2.htm
www.domain.co.uk/page3.htm

Its a shame the page2.htm and page3.htm parts of the url cant be a relavent word or words for the page i have correct titles and meta tags and h1 headers but unsure if the name to the urls will affect the site as its like this for all the pages, is there another better software program thats very easy to use like mr site? if i keep adding new pages and change the site at a later stage this will leave a lot of 301 rediects to be done and thoughts cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nickolas_black's picture

They have: 10 posts

Joined: May 2009

What greg said is right.
It might affect your google ranking along the way,
but having relevant page titles is very important for google bots.
That way, it will make your page robot-friendly.

They have: 4 posts

Joined: May 2009

I guees what i am trying to ask is should i just sit tight and see how the site ranks in 6 months or a year, and just keep adding new pages and carry on link buiding or have the site rebuilt by someone?

A great read your post Greg and good info cheers!

He has: 629 posts

Joined: May 2007

The actual names you use for files and folders do not matter very much. Later on you'll learn how to make "smart URLs" that point to your files, and even Google will see the friendly name rather than the actual file and folder names.

Too much to go into here, but bear this in mind and don't worry about the file names for now.

Cordially, David
--
delete from internet where user_agent="MSIE" and version < 8;

They have: 4 posts

Joined: May 2009

Thanks for your thoughts, the problem is not that I can’t make "smart URLs" webwiz but as i was saying in my post,

"the site i have built using this software package "Mr Site" does not let you name the internal pages/sub folders"

As long as it doesn’t affect the ranking of the site for search terms i would be happy to leave it as it is, but if it will if i built another 30 plus pages will be a bigger job to overhaul the site.

Cheers.

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

It will affect your search rankings to some extent. Keywords in the URL is a ranking factor - it's just not as important as other thing such as the <title> tag and page headers.

See Google Search Engine Ranking Factors, in the first section, rated at 2.8.

Lots of pages can and do rank well without nice URLs, it just helps if you can get some good words in there. Another problem I can see with this is just trying to find the page you want to work on! How do you know which one is which?

I would probably lean towards re-doing the site with a better software package (if this Mr. Site is not letting you name pages, then what else is it doing wrong?). Since I'm not familiar with that package, or your site, it's hard to make a specific recommendation about what you should use.

Did you look at any of the help information or contact support at Mr. Site? Could be that you need to upgrade to one of their other versions.

So this came with the domain name and hosting? And some sort of editor? Is it software you use on your computer? Do you own the domain or do they? Is there any chance of getting your site out of there? Can you download and edit the files using another editor?

Really, I would be wary of any service registering a domain name on your behalf, because they may have registered it in their name and not yours (which means that they basically own your site, not you, and that they can prevent you from moving it to another hosting provider). You could probably be better off registering your own domain and finding a hosting company that offers Wordpress (a simple blog/content management system) already installed.

They have: 5 posts

Joined: Sep 2010

Learning keywords are essential to complete your work in a quick time rather than spending hole day for completing it. On this shortly, as for my educational works, I will be taking your advice and standing on the shoulders of giants.

{Link Removed}

Regards,
John

They have: 111 posts

Joined: Aug 2010

well, this is great if you have good exposure of it,,

Want to join the discussion? Create an account or log in if you already have one. Joining is fast, free and painless! We’ll even whisk you back here when you’ve finished.