5 replies to this topic

[Danette357]

I would like to shorten about 50 url's on my site but am worried it will affect my rankings. The site has only been live for about three months so I don't think it would hurt me too bad if I did it now as opposed to later. The main reason for the change is that the site was originally designed with a four tier navigation but I would really like to change it to three so that there is a the main category, a few subcategories, and then the articles. Right now it's the main categories, subcategories, more categories and then the article.

[Jill]

You can't change your navigation without changing your URLs?

[Danette357]

You can't change your navigation without changing your URLs?

Yes, I suppose I can but aren't shorter urls better for SEO purposes? Right now the urls look like www.mysite.com/advice/couples/general/article.aspx

[bobmeetin]

Yeah typically you can change navigational structure without changing the URL names themselves. If you are using ordered lists you just need to move things around. If you're doing this for another reason, then it is what it is and if you must, then set up 301 redirects in your .htaccess to soften the blow.

[Randy]

Yes, I suppose I can but aren't shorter urls better for SEO purposes?

Nope. It's a common misconception.

To the search engines it's all just a string of text, and they don't much care how long or short it is.

What does matter is how many clicks the page is from the strongest page on your site, which is typically your home page. So if the only way to get to your advice/couples/general/article.aspx is to first navigate to the Advice section, then to the Couples section and then to the General section not as much link popularity will get passed through the multiple links as would be the case if it were linked directly from your home page. This however has nothing to do with the url address, just the linking relationships.

Make sense?

[Danette357]

Yes, that totally makes sense. Thank you everyone for the responses!