Monday, February 1, 2010
Basic website filenaming structures
Your website's URL structure is an important search engine optimisation factor, so Dr Search thought I’d write a quick post covering some useful guidelines for you to keep in mind when building your website.
Let’s take a look at a typical small business website. While this may not be the case for every business, most sites often have the following pages in common:
* Homepage
* Services/Products Page
* Testimonials Page
* About Us Page
* Contact Us Page
Using the pages above, here’s an example of how to maximize the SEO impact of your URLs.
Homepage (www.example.com)
When choosing your domain name, always try and include your primary keyword somewhere in the name. A good strategy for this is creating a keyword + generic domain name. For example, if you’re targeting the keyword "electrican", you might go for gloucestershireelectrcian.com, cheltenhamelectrician.net, or gloucestershirelighting.com etc.
Services/Products Page (www.example.com/[keyword])
On the page which lists your services or products, use another major keyword as the directory for this page. Using the example above, you might want to create the following pages:
* /electrcian-services
* /electrican-qualifications
Testimonials Page (www.example.com/[keyword]-testimonials)
The testimonials page is another chance for you to include one of your important keywords. Try using the format /[keyword]-testimonials, where keyword represents your business type or industry. Some examples might be:
* /electrician-testimonials
* /gloucestershire-testimonials
* /lighting-testimonials
About Us Page (www.example.com/about-[business name])
The about us page is a chance to make sure your website ranks strongly when customers search for your business name. Using the directory format /about-[businessname] with the business name in Meta tags and body content a good way to achieve this.
Contact Us Page (www.example.com/contact-us-[business name])
For the contact us page I’d recommend sticking with a simple /contact-us [business name] format which is standard across most sites and is easy for customers to remember. You will also get your name in regularly if you have a contact us link at the bottom of every page- as a call to action.
Whilst URL structuring is no magic bullet for search negine optimisation, following the above guidelines is a good way to build a solid foundation.
Let’s take a look at a typical small business website. While this may not be the case for every business, most sites often have the following pages in common:
* Homepage
* Services/Products Page
* Testimonials Page
* About Us Page
* Contact Us Page
Using the pages above, here’s an example of how to maximize the SEO impact of your URLs.
Homepage (www.example.com)
When choosing your domain name, always try and include your primary keyword somewhere in the name. A good strategy for this is creating a keyword + generic domain name. For example, if you’re targeting the keyword "electrican", you might go for gloucestershireelectrcian.com, cheltenhamelectrician.net, or gloucestershirelighting.com etc.
Services/Products Page (www.example.com/[keyword])
On the page which lists your services or products, use another major keyword as the directory for this page. Using the example above, you might want to create the following pages:
* /electrcian-services
* /electrican-qualifications
Testimonials Page (www.example.com/[keyword]-testimonials)
The testimonials page is another chance for you to include one of your important keywords. Try using the format /[keyword]-testimonials, where keyword represents your business type or industry. Some examples might be:
* /electrician-testimonials
* /gloucestershire-testimonials
* /lighting-testimonials
About Us Page (www.example.com/about-[business name])
The about us page is a chance to make sure your website ranks strongly when customers search for your business name. Using the directory format /about-[businessname] with the business name in Meta tags and body content a good way to achieve this.
Contact Us Page (www.example.com/contact-us-[business name])
For the contact us page I’d recommend sticking with a simple /contact-us [business name] format which is standard across most sites and is easy for customers to remember. You will also get your name in regularly if you have a contact us link at the bottom of every page- as a call to action.
Whilst URL structuring is no magic bullet for search negine optimisation, following the above guidelines is a good way to build a solid foundation.
If you’ve got any other URL advice, please let the Search Clinic know in the comments box below!
Labels: Dr Search, online marketing, Search Clinic, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO Services
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