 There is some difference of opinion on
the subject of whether or not the URL of a web site
affects its search rankings. Let us first note the golden
rule of search engine optimization. Though shalt not build
a web site for search engines, but rather for human
visitors.
There is evidence which indicates URL selection affects
search rankings. The two main factors seem to be:
1. Extremely long URL's seem to be considered hard to type
by a human, therefore an attempt at spam; and
2. Given the fact that a long URL is
considered an attempt at spam, it would then seem to be
true that search engine rankings can be improved by the
use of key phrases in a URL.
An example of the first point above would be a URL that
looks something like this:
www.roses-chrysanthemums-tulips-and-more.com. No
legitimate company would actually want this domain, nor
would any human care to type it. It is an obvious attempt
to spam the search engines. So, we remember the Golden
Rule of Search Engine Optimization. Some studies have
shown that extremely long domain names appear less
frequently in the top twenty results than do shorter ones.
That being said, empirical evidence does support search
engine indexing of URL keywords. Both Google and Yahoo!,
for example, display in bold the portion of a URL that
matches a search string, which seems to me indicative of
indexing. However, I have been unable to ascertain, either
personally or through extensive research, any truly
significant occurrence of URL's in the top twenty results
which contain the search string.
The lesson learned here is this: name your web site what
would be a logical name - for instance, after your
business name. Make it friendly to a human. If a search
query happens to be part of that business name, then fine.
Don't, however, engage in keyword stuffing in the
selection of the URL.
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