URLs too long, but run an eCommerce site
-
Hi,
When I started out I was pretty green to SEO, and didn't consider the usability/SEO impact of URL structure.
Flash forward, I'm 5 years deep into using the following:
mysite.com/downloads/category/premium-downloads/sub-category/ ("category" is quite literally one rung on the link - thanks, WordPress - however "sub-category" is a placeholder)
I run a digital downloads store, and I now have 100s ofinternal links beholden to this hideous category linking structure. Not to mention external links at Google Ads, etc.
I would LOVE to change this, but if I were to do so, what should I consider? For instance, is there a checklist for making a change like this?
I was thinking of changing it to something like the following:
mysite.com/shop/c/premium/sub-category/
And also, how much damage, if any, would this be doing to my SEO?
Thanks in advance,
Lou -
So in July (2019) John Mu from Google stated that URLs are generally ok up to 1,000 characters:
Google 'can' crawl and index URLs over 1,000 characters long (up to about 2k characters) but best practice seems to be up to 1,000 characters
Due to this, I personally don't agree with Moz's evaluation of, when a URL is getting too long. Your example URL, is nowhere close to 1,000 characters long. Where Moz and Google disagree I tend to side with Google info
That being said, your URL has redundant layers. Why even have "/category/" in the URL? Just go like this:
mysite.com/downloads/premium-downloads/sub-category/
People aren't so stupid that they need a fake URL layer called "/category/", to know that the following URL layer 'is' a category. IMO that's redundant architecture which is getting in your way for no reason
If you don't perform your redirects properly and you change the architecture of the site, you absolutely could see a negative impact on your rankings. Unless you're confident in terms of crawling your whole site, performing very granular redirects with high accuracy and missing nothing - I'd just leave it as it is
-
One key thing to have in mind when designing your URL is to relate it to the keywords you're aiming for. Cluttering it with folders and categories will put less attention on the targeted keyword, which in your case should be about the download or purchase of the software. That is why generally in WordPress blogs it is suggested to go for the direct slug as in "site.com/url-slug-keyword/"
The perfect solution will depend on your site and what you're aiming for, but what I would suggest is to keep the URL up to one or two categories that are directly related to the targeted keywords. Also, on a study of the top sites on Google by NeilPatel, it is suggested that you keep the URL length between 50-60 characters.
As for the SEO impact, after properly completing the 301 redirect to the new URL, then you won't have any issues and will instead see growth if the change is seen positively by Google.
Daniel Rika
[Signature removed by forum moderator.]
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
-
Folders in url structure?
Hello, Revamping an out-of-date website and am wondering if I need to include the folders (categories) in the url structure? The proposed structure has 8 main folders. I've been reading that Google is ok if the folder is not included in the url, but is it really? The hesitation I have is that the urls are getting long and the main folder only has only a sub folder beneath it. So, /folder-name/facility-name/treatment-overview. This looks too long, doesn't it? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | lfrazer1230 -
Can anyone tell me why some of the top referrers to my site are porn site?
We noticed today that 4 of the top referring sites are actually porn sites. Does anyone know what that is all about? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | thinkcreativegroup1 -
Ecommerce site impressions and clicks drop
Hello, A new client came to me with their ecommerce kids clothes website 6 weeks ago. I installed Yoast SEO plugin and set to work changing all their products to proper words rather than codes and optimising titles and descriptions. I did no link building. The domain is new- about 2- 3 months only so has very few links. I added it to webmaster tools and submitted the sitemap. Traffic was good during this time and infact the impressions in webmaster tools and clicks were increasing. It seemed to be punching beyond its weight actually with some keywords on page 1 which I thought odd for such a new domain in such a competitive arena. Then on the 4th October the impressions and clicks fell drastically. The traffic is about a third of what it was. Now I don't think this was anything Penguin-ish as the domain is so new with no links yet. I know there was a Panda update on the 25th September. Could it be that? All I have done is changed the titles to something more human and I thought Google appeared to like that as traffic was increasing. Could it be that now everything is indexed that it has settled down to its proper position in the rankings which is currently low? We added another way of categorising the products by brand as on the site their USP is their designer brands. I have checked for duplication but as far as I can see this isn't an issue. Anyone seens this before?
Technical SEO | | AL123al0 -
Why are URLs like www.site.com/#something being indexed?
So, everything after a hash (#) is not supposed to be crawled and indexed. Has that changed? I see a clients site with all sorts of URLs indexed like ... http://www.website.com/#!category/c11f For the above URL, I thought it was the same as simply http://www.website.com/. But they aren't, they're getting indexed and all the content on the pages with these hash tags are getting crawled as well. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | wiredseo0 -
Content and url duplication?
One of the campaign tools flags one of my clients sites as having lots of duplicates. This is true in the sense the content is sort of boiler plate but with the different countries wording changed. The is same with the urls but they are different in the sense a couple of words have changed in the url`s. So its not the case of a cms or server issue as this seomoz advises. It doesnt need 301`s! Thing is in the niche, freight, transport operators, shipping, I can see many other sites doing the same thing and those sites have lots of similar pages ranking very well. In fact one site has over 300 keywords ranked on page 1-2, but it is a large site with an 12yo domain, which clearly helps. Of course having every page content unique is important, however, i suppose it is better than copy n paste from other sites. So its unique in that sense. Im hoping to convince the site owner to change the content over time for every country. A long process. My biggest problem for understanding duplication issues is that every tabloid or broadsheet media website would be canned from google as quite often they scrape Reuters or re-publish standard press releases on their sites as newsworthy content. So i have great doubt that there is a penalty for it. You only have to look and you can see media sites duplication everywhere, everyday, but they get ranked. I just think that google dont rank the worst cases of spammy duplication. They still index though I notice. So considering the business niche has very much the same content layout replicated content, which rank well, is this duplicate flag such a great worry? Many businesses sell the same service to many locations and its virtually impossible to re write the services in a dozen or so different ways.
Technical SEO | | xtopher660 -
How long will Google take to stop crawling an old URL once it has been 301 redirected
I need to do a clean-up old urls that have been redirected in sitemap and was wondering about this.
Technical SEO | | Ant-8080 -
Magento URL Question
Calling all Magento Kings out there! I'm working on a client' site - powered by magento. I'm looking to rewrite a lot of the URLs. I know there is the URL rewrite tool, but I think what I need to do may go beyond this. Typical example would be: Old URL - http://www.xxxxxxxx.co.uk/fabric/product/product-black-screen-print-and-silver-fabric.html New URL - http://www.xxxxxx.co.uk/fabric/product/silver I know that magento's URLs seem to be created through categories so wanted to double check with someone the best way to do this. Also, I've heard that 301 redirects of non www to www in the .htaccess has a knock on effect on discounts? All comments greatly appreciated.
Technical SEO | | PerchDigital0 -
Site problem
I moved a site earlier on in the year to a better server www.keyrs.co.uk, my main keywords being equity release - equity release calculator and equity release schemes. Since this happened the ranking have gone down and the schemes and calculator terms and have hit positions 7-8 when they were 2-3. basically my question is open to all, i am looking to see what the problem is with these pages as it is driving me nuts. All tools on SEO moz show the pages are doing well, however i must be missing something. Mike
Technical SEO | | TomBarker820