SEO and the URL

[citypublife]

We are all looking for an edge in optimisation and I am far from an expert.

Our website/search facility, www.citypublife.co.uk targets Londoners and London visitors.

A well known London pub company have asked us to add a number of their pub/hotels to our site. We already have good serps for the search term "accommodation in london pubs" however, a more popular search term is "accommodation in london" which we don't rank as well just yet. The page I want to optimise is www.citypublife.co.uk/accommodationinlondon.htm

My question is:-

If any, which of the following URL's would give my page a serps edge?

citypublife.co.uk/accommodation-in-london.htm

citypublife.co.uk/accommodation_in_london.htm

citypublife.co.uk/accommodation%20in%20london.htm (%20 = space)

Also, if you take the time to visit the page you will see that the information is in a table. Any ideas of how this could be improved to give both the visitor the information that they want and give the serps a kick would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Perry Mayer
www.citypublife.co.uk

[adore]

The address with hyphens will be the best (i.e. will give a slight boost in ranks). The present site have some PR so if you decide to change filename don't forget to use 301 redirect in order not to lose the PR and other profits.

Your site needs some SEO however - e.g. you use far too much of <h1> and <h2> which may be a spam signal for Google.
I would split the table into subpages with appriopriate anchor text in link to parent site. It would be better both for users and SE.

[Will.Spencer]

Originally Posted by adore

The present site have some PR so if you decide to change filename don't forget to use 301 redirect in order not to lose the PR and other profits.

I have not seen PR transfer through a 301 Redirect.

[smakyyy]

just us the hyphens in the url it will give you a additional boost. i would not redirect but would rather wait for the google update - a few weeks doesnt matter - go for the long term and not the short term.

[citypublife]

Your site needs some SEO however - e.g. you use far too much of <h1> and <h2> which may be a spam signal for Google.

Thanks for the warning adore. I have removed most of the "unneccessary" h1 & h2 tags. and replaced them with more appropriate h4, h5 & h6 tags.

I have also, added ALT tags to main links in the table and graphics. This is hopefully both helpful to the visitor and SEO.

I would split the table into subpages with appriopriate anchor text in link to parent site. It would be better both for users and SE.

My purpose is to get the visitor to phone the publican/manager for more information, not really to sell the room direct from the site. Therefore, splitting the table into sub pages would require me adding "too much" information. Much of which becomes outdated quickly, e.g. prices.

My function room pages rank extremely well without optimising the URL, therefore, for now at least, I'll see how/if the changes improve SERPS on the accommodation page without messing with the URL. Thanks for the input Will and Smakyyy. If I change the URL I will probably do what you both suggested.

Any further suggestions would be most welcome.

Kind regards

Perry Mayer
www.citypublife.co.uk