Which URL structure is best for SEO?

In your opinion, which is better?

http://www.beautycare.com/face-creams/nivea-face-cream

or

http://www.beautycare.com/nivea-face-cream

for the keyword 'face cream' ??

I'm tempted to think the first one is better because the relevance of 'face cream' in the URL is more than the second one. Having said this, i also think Google gives more importance to pages which are closer to the root directory. Therefore the second one would be more favourable.

From your own experience in SEO, which URL structure would you go for?

 

It depends how many pages you have and on the number of categories on the site.

 

I will have about 10-15 categories. At the moment, i have about 30 pages but will be adding more and more pages in each category as i go along.

 

I would go with site.com/face-cream/nivea/ myself.

 

Thanks for the quick response Mad4

So

http://www.beautycare.com/face-cream/nivea/

instead of

http://www.beautycare.com/face-creams/nivea-face-cream

Btw is it important to have the trailing slash at the end of the URL?

 

this one is better
http://www.beautycare.com/face-cream/nivea-face-cream

 

Most servers will add a trailing slash to the end of the url anyway, unless its a fake folder using htaccess.

You should make sure if somebody links to the version without the slash it 301's to the version with the slash. Make sure you link to the one with the slash.

 

http://www.beautycare.com/face-cream

If your keyword is face cream I would go with the above.

 

But what if he has Olay face cream as well as nivea?

 

http://www.beautycare.com/face-cream/Olay-face-cream.htm
I always use the exact keywords in the url. Not a major factor but I believe it helps.