I'm restructuring my site into a few sections and I have 4 questions about the best approach for SEO and future-proofing. Note that everything is just XHTML for now but I might implement PHP or even Drupal in the future. My server runs Apache. 1. I'm wondering which of these structures would be best for optimising the site for searches for underwater footage? a. mysite.com/underwaterfootage/index.htm b. mysite.com/underwater-footage/index.htm c. mysite.com/underwaterfootage.htm d. mysite.com/underwater-footage.htm In options (a) and (b) pages are organised into folders. In options (c) and (d) the important entry pages are all in a flat structure, just one level deep. I'm favouring (a) or (b) but open to advice or other suggestions. 2. If I were to choose option (a), which would be the best way to link to it from other sites and also internally from mysite.com? a. mysite.com/underwaterfootage b. mysite.com/underwaterfootage/ c. mysite.com/underwaterfootage/index.htm 3. If I want to rank well for searches for both "shark footage" and "footage of sharks", would I be better to use singular or plural in the URL?... a. mysite.com/underwaterfootage/shark.htm b. mysite.com/underwaterfootage/sharks.htm 4. How well do the search engines handle a permanent redirect these days? e.g. Redirect permanent /clumsy-url.htm http://www.mysite.com/underwaterfootage/index.htm Code (markup): Is page rank normally retained or lost? Thanks
1-b < Correction d is better. 2-b 3-a 4- I would stay away from redirects and use mod_rewrite I feel like I was just taking an exam lol
lol thanks missdanni, at least I made it multiple-choice Because that would help preserve page rank or another reason? Anyone else care to take the test?
ah, so hyphens are in and singular is preferred to plural (until others disagree). Thanks for that I was sort of hoping (a) or (b) would be preferred for question 1. If (d) is really better then I'm going to have links in... mysite.com/underwater-footage.htm ...pointing to pages like... mysite.com/underwater-footage/shark.htm ...which seems a little clumsier from an organisational viewpoint
Well, I still didn't restructure my site... Any other views on this? Especially the choice of structure in my first question. I really want to get this right and got 2 different replies so far. Thanks!
Just reporting back on this. 1. I went with b. i.e. mysite.com/underwater-footage/index.htm 2. I'm going with a mixture of b & c. I'm linking to those pages using mysite.com/underwaterfootage/ from external sites and using relative links to the mysite.com/underwaterfootage/index.htm file for internal link. 3. I'm tending to go for the singular, but throwing a few plurals in too (when relevant). 4. Permanent redirects worked just fine and the Google SERPS seem to be maintained.