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Principal at myITdirector
13 September 2006 09:52am
I'm seeing conflicting opinions on the value/relevance of having easily-readable URL's on sites (as I write the URL on this forum is not particularly user-friendly).
Does anyone have any evidence (empirical or otherwise) whether Google and/or Users have any preference what the URL string is ?
Director at LiaiseOnline Limited
13 September 2006 19:27pm
Google reads code, not logical words... it just wants a good meal in a top restaurant!
On 09:52:11 13 September 2006 DavidGB wrote:
Principal at myITdirector
14 September 2006 09:00am
Thanks ... interesting analogy .... do we know its taste - as in "good" and "top" ?
On 19:27:42 13 September 2006 JonathanDavey wrote:
Director at LiaiseOnline Limited
14 September 2006 10:44am
e-consultancy.com and BusinessinBerkshire.co.uk are 3 star michelen style restaurants...
if you prefer takeaways Ecademy.com can help you get a quick hit but it tends not to remain on the search engines tongue for more than a day or two!
happy to talk in real time... 01753 852904
On 09:00:54 14 September 2006 DavidGB wrote:
Online Marketer at Large
19 September 2006 10:52am
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/guest-post-vanessa-fox-on-organic-site-review-session/
the section on urls is towards the end.
Principal at myITdirector
19 September 2006 15:11pm
CEO at Econsultancy
19 September 2006 16:45pm
Hi David
You said "as I write the URL on this forum is not particularly user-friendly" - but you'll notice that once you post it is then readable?
How do we do this?
- First read this "RE: Search Engine Optimisation - dynamic product content"
- Then read this "Forums and Search Engines" - including the bit about underscores and how Google interprets them.
And does Google have any preference?
You bet it does.
Try searching Google on "readable URL's" and you'll see.
Regards
Ashley Friedlein
CEO
E-consultancy.com
Principal at myITdirector
19 September 2006 19:11pm
Managing Director at Shine Marketing
21 September 2006 10:29am
1) For the user, they can see the URL in Google listings and it confirms that the page is about what they are looking for
2) For Google it 'pegs' the page to a subject.
Unlike a title tag or the page content, a URL can't be changed. If you do, it effectively becomes a new page. It's like a sign of commitment to the subject.
About 2 years ago I saw the technique provide some pretty spectacular results. Now more people are using it it has less effect, but it should certainlly be part of your box of SEO tricks for on-site optimisation
Senior Marketing Executive at BMRB
22 September 2006 18:26pm
Firstly, they are just easier to remember. For example, http://www.mydomain.com/products/gizmo is much easier to remember http://www.mydomain.com/shop.php?cid=675&pid=2&sid=11660242rflkwetklretepoert6235.
If you notice the first example on on a search engine or on another site, you may well just remember it, but you definitely wouldn't remember the second one.
Secondly, it's never a good idea to expose the underlying workings of your site to the user. If we take the example above, they don't need to know that your site runs on PHP, and they don't need to know the category id, product id, and definitely not the session id. (The session id can be particularly problematic as if the user bookmarks the page with the session id in, when they return they more often than not get an error or get thrown back to the homepage of the site).
The added benefit of keeping your URLs readable and non-technology specific is that in five years time when your site gets a complete overhaul and is created in a different or new technology, your URLs will still be useable and current as far as search engines are concerned.
What I mean is, imagine you've spent tens of thousands of pounds over the years getting your URLs (the ones that end with .php?id=35135&blahblahblah) high up in Google. If you change the technology your site is built on and those urls become different, Google will more than likely wipe them clean from their database the next time they crawl your site as they will no longer be valid - all back to square one*!
*OK, the bit about square one is not strictly true because Google will reindex your pages again and if you have good content and good links coming in to your site you'll get ranked accordingly again. But it's a scenario that needn't happen if you have human readable URLs.