[wp-hackers] Some Thoughts/Enhancement Ideas In And Around The Category Side Of Things

[Mike Schinkel]

On Feb 10, 2010, at 2:05 PM, Otto wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 12:47 PM, Mike Schinkel
> <mikeschinkel at newclarity.net> wrote:
>> On Feb 10, 2010, at 10:13 AM, Otto wrote:
>>> I find it amazing, and more than a little humorous, at how far people
>>> will go just because they don't want the word "category" in their URL.
>> 
>> One important consideration, the deeper the path structure the less likely Google will rank the page highly in search results.  FWIW.
> 
> You are mistaken. Sorry. Google doesn't care about paths or total URL
> length. It *does* care about the last part of the path, and that
> should always be your post-name, because Google parses those words and
> uses them as keywords for the post.
> 
> 
> But don't take my word for it, ask Matt Cutts.


I don't take Matt's comments on face value, I take the evidence I've generated from testing. From testing there is a significant difference for each level of path depth (>10%.)

OTOH, I would be interested to read his comments on that topic.  I googled and can't find.  Can you provide a link?

> That said, shorter URLs do tend to get more clicks from search
> engines. 

Ignoring that debate, shorter URLs are better in many contexts. Shorter URLs don't need shrinkers as often so are better able to retain brand via click through.

Bottom line, a site publisher will be better off if they have control to optimize their URL structure.  One of WordPress' biggest current weaknesses is the difficulty of control URL structure.

-Mike 
P.S. I've studies URL design in depth, see my blog from a few years back: http://blog.welldesignedurls.org