Ok, So Does Keywords In The Url Make Or Break? Options

[detzx]

We were instructed to change our pages to a url like

www.xxxxxxx.com/keyword_city_state.html

and they are all in the root directory, all 350K. Does this help, the SEO company we have been working with says it does.

Side note, do they still use meta tags, I thought those went out of style a while ago. We were also instructed to but the description, keywords meta tags on all pages.

[St0n3y]

If your old pages are indexed well enough then I would definitely say that you don't want to change the file names just to get keywords in them. Any benefit of such is absolutely minuscule and by changing them you'll end up making things worse, even if just temporarily.

First, lets assume each of those pages has links pointing to them from other websites. Even if you 301 redirect the pages, those links will be lost for a good six months or so. Second, you lose the pages "age" and all the new pages have to be re-spidered. Generally its more hassle than its all worth.

Regarding the meta tags, it's not a matter of style. Some tags are relevant to search engines more than others and there is no reason not to have the standard description and keyword tags in place. The keyword tag isn't particularly relevant, but if its not costing more than a few seconds of time then go ahead and add them.

[torka]

No, those URLs won't help, on a number of counts.

First, read the existing threads on "keyword rich URL" on the forum for to learn why putting keywords in the URLs is not the magic bullet some people think.

Second, as PPW says, changing URLs for already-indexed pages is a bad idea. If your pages are already indexed and have any sort of ranking or traffic at all you will be shooting yourself in the foot by changing those URLs. It will take the SEs weeks, maybe months, to sort out the indexing and ranking -- even with the use of 301 redirects -- after you make a change like that.

Third, those aren't even really keyword-rich URLs to start with. The underscore character is NOT treated as a space by the SEs. So if your actual keyword is "keyword_city_state" (exactly as typed, with the underscores and all) the URL you gave contains the keyword. But if you want it to actually parse the URL into its consituent words ("keyword", "city" and "state"), you need to use a dash (hyphen): keyword-city-state.html.

Not that it will do much (if any) good, but if you're going to try keyword-rich URLs you might as well do them correctly. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

The description META is still a good idea, as it often shows up as the snippet in the SERPs if it contains the key phrase the searcher was looking for. A well written META with a strong marketing message can be a benefit in those cases.

The keyword META is largely worthless.

You might want to take a look at our Tips for Newbies thread and the [url=http://www.highrankings.com/seo-faq.htm]SEO FAQ[/url] to learn more about what sorts of things will really help your rankings, traffic and conversions.

--Torka (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/mf_prop.gif)

[chrishirst]

350,000 pages in the root directory???????


Thank goodness I don't do your site maintenance

And,

and they are all in the root directory, all 350K. Does this help, the SEO company we have been working with says it does

they are completely wrong on that.

[Jill]

Does this help, the SEO company we have been working with says it does.

They are wrong. You should fire them immediately.

[seo_challenged]

One word.... mkdir (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/goodjob.gif)

[detzx]

350,000 pages in the root directory???????
Thank goodness I don't do your site maintenance

And,  they are completely wrong on that.

They're dynamic pages that look like static pages, there are no physical files.