URL Structure for a local listing site
-
Hi -
We have a site that offers customers with wide range of local businesses information. We have URL structure for those these days like this -
site.com/listings/plumbers/ca/sfo
However here the "listings" doesn't add any value and are confusing for users who want to remember it, hence we decided to make it cleaner. The question here is, which one of the two should we do and why?
or
Any help on this matter would help.
-
I'm working on URL structure for the same business model. Loved your answer Jane
-
Hi there,
Which structure is best depends on the structure of the website from an information architecture point of view more than anything else. For example, do you have a main California page, to which you link to a San Francisco page, on which all the services in SF are listed? Or do you have a landing page for professions such as plumbing, to which you link to different areas, i.e. California and San Francisco?
If California is the parent and SF / plumbing are under that, then /ca/sfo/plumbing would make sense. And vice versa.
I would say, however, that you should only go through the process of 301 redirecting existing URLs if you feel that the site is at a clear disadvantage because of the current URL structure. You can lose a little authority when you 301 one URL to another, and rankings can suffer / fluctuate as a result. Most go back to roughly where they were before, but this is not guaranteed. We generally advise avoiding 301s / URL changes unless it is undeniably necessary.
Cheers,
Jane
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How I can improve Local SEO in 2018
Hi. I have already applied this strategy: Capture Your Space on All Local Business Directories. Leverage the Power of Local Link Building Focus on Reviews and Ratings Use Local Structured Data Markup What could I do to improve my strategy in 2018?
Reviews and Ratings | | martinxm1 -
Google My Business - Switching from Local to National Presence
Hi, Before I started with my current employer (a national B2B company), someone set them up with a Google My Business page that has resulted in the home office appearing as a local search result. As a result, our competitors have a much more professional national Knowledge Graph sidebar complete with logo, Wikipedia blurb, social links, etc. displayed while we have a local result with reviews, images, and Google Map location. Since we are a B2B business with a national presence, I am trying to transition from the local to broader company Knowledge Graph result, but I'm struggling to find information on the best steps to remove the local result. While the reviews are improving, this is a service-based business with a B2C element when it comes to end users, so historical reviews have been unkind -- to the point that I'd like to make the transition to a national presence not only to better reflect the entire region we serve, but also to remove as much review visibility as possible. The only option in Google My Business I've seen so far is to report the business as being closed, which, of course, it is not. I know a big Step 1 is to get a new Wikipedia page for the business created. (The company is legitimately deserving of one. I'm still trying to find the most effective approach to tackling this without violating Wikipedia policies. ) Outside of that step, however, is there any sort of process someone can recommend for tackling this local-to-nation Google transition? Thanks, Andrew
Reviews and Ratings | | Andrew_In_Search_of_Answers1 -
Should I change to new URL after going through a period of bad reviews
A couple of years ago we had a series of bad reviews due to our billing company. We have not been able to recover from this and are unable to appear in Local listings due to the horrible reviews even though they are from years ago. Would it be a good idea to change domains and google+ accounts in order to start over with reviews and local citations?
Reviews and Ratings | | OhYeahSteve0 -
Google Local Results - Incorrect Listing Url's
I have decided to re launch a small side project that I had to abandon a few years ago. I want to specifically target Google Local Results. I do need to overcome a proximity to centroid issue in a fairly competative niche. Unfortunately a number of my listings i.e. Facebook and Yelp have less than optimal URL's. For example: https://www.facebook.com/businessname.targetlocation.keyword/
Reviews and Ratings | | GrouchyKids
http://www.yelp.com/biz/business-name-key-phrase-and-keyword-location Well you get the idea. NB: None of these listings currently have reviews. Now I know that its best to keep the info consistent across the board, so I wonder if I would be better off scrapping these listings in favor of ones with URL's that match the business name. I can see that I can merge FB pages so am guessing that this would work for FB, has anyone any experience of this? Am assuming yelp will have to be deleted in some way. Any thoughts?0 -
Traffic drop: site move from .co.uk to .info
Hi On 1st June we moved http://www.patient.co.uk to http://patient.info. We are a trusted health website so the information is relevant to all english speaking countries. (Content on the .co.uk domain has been there for over 15 years). Prior to the move over 60% of site traffic was international, even with a .co.uk domain. The intention of the move was to broaden our international reach/traffic whilst maintaining our UK traffic. We would do this as .info is a top level domain. We followed all of the best practice rules, 301s, new and old sitemaps, change of address in webmaster tools etc. Basically all the advice here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6033049?hl=en&ref_topic=6033084&rd=1 We specifically chose on the new domain to leave "unlisted" under webmaster tools international targeting as the content is relevant for all countries. This is the only thing that has changed compared to the previous settings. The URL structure etc is all identical, just on a different domain. After the move we immediately saw a drop in c.60% of traffic. Over the first 5 weeks after the move we had initial gradual recovery (c.2% increase on traffic week on week) Since then it has completely flatlined with no traffic increase. So we are sat at c.50% less traffic than we did have before the move. Worryingly over the past 2 weeks, the indexed results for patient.info have dropped from c.2M to c.500k (https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=site%3Apatient.info) There were c.6M indexed results for patient.co.uk before the move, this has been gradually shrinking and there are now c.300k indexed results (https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=site:patient.co.uk) In webmaster tools crawl stats, .co.uk is still being crawled like crazy, much more than .info. It feels like we have followed the rules but something is missing and that the new site just isn't being fully indexed or as highly ranked as the old site. Anyone who has any input/advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks Ben
Reviews and Ratings | | PATIENTUK0 -
Moving my photography business to another state. Is it possible to transfer Google My Business listing WITHOUT losing my Google Reviews?
A friend of mine is transitioning her photography business to another state. She moved about 5 years ago and consequently lost all of her Google+/Yelp reviews. Having reviews as a photographer is EXTREMELY important for her business reputation. She doesn't want this to happen again. Is it possible to change the location of a Google my Business page and keep the existing reviews? Thanks
Reviews and Ratings | | RosemaryB0 -
Using structured data for reviews - for negative or warnings.
We all use review markup today and we use it linearly as only a vote up or down. My question is around a site that will judge the negative impacts of given chemicals introduced into certain waterways. (Sorry, I must protect the client so I cannot give out all the info; I hope this is enough for a reasonable understanding.) Is there anyone who has ever used or is aware of any markup that does not result in a star? So, if we use the current system, we end up where a bad chemical gets a ton of single stars. In essence what we are measuring is degrees of Positive. With four stars there is no zero positive, but 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% (Ok unless it is aggregated). I want to be able to show degrees of negative and obviously stars would be confusing. So, have a symbol that connotes a negative (skull and crossbones, X, !!, etc.) and the more of these someone marks shows more displeasure or more danger. Are there any ideas for this or any occurrences already on the Internet you may be aware of? Preference would be to be able to at some point have search engines show them as snippets. Thanks to all you Mozzers, Robert
Reviews and Ratings | | RobertFisher0 -
How to get star ratings from Google Places to show up for my site in the SERP
Hi my cottage has star ratings in Google places, is there a way to show them under my sites in the google results? Thanks for any advice UKAEds8
Reviews and Ratings | | PottyScotty0