Keywords in filenames

[Jonkular]

Hi all,

One of the main parts of our website is our news section. We're a hobbyist/enthusiast website, and add related news most days. Since the site's inception in 2005, we've used the date as the filename (i.e. http://www.mywebsite.com/news/05-12-06.asp).

I've been considering changing these to the title of the news story, a'la Wordpress. When writing the stories, we try to use our relevant keywords in the story titles for SEO reasons anyway, so by changing our filenames it would help organisation, and possibly have some sort of SEO benefit. I've checked Aaron Wall's book, as well as the latest SEOmoz guide, and opinion is pretty divided. I realise it's not a major SEO practice that needs employing, but I realise that every little helps and with a good couple of hundred pages it may be worth renaming them. We also have a news index which links to the news stories using the headline (including keywords) as the anchor text, so it seems that the only piece of the puzzle we're missing in this area is the filenames.

What do you guys reckon?

[stymiee]

Put keywords in your file names. It's is good for two reasons:

1) Although the effect is small it does directly affect SEO

2) It will help the anchor text of your inbound links. When other webmasters link to sites they often use the keywords in the domain/URL to decide what their anchor text will be. Your keywords will influence the anchor text they use. Additionally, if they just link to the URL with the URL as the anchor text it forces keywords into that anchor text.

Just be sure to do a 301 redirect from the old URLs to the new URLs.

[Manpasand]

Yes, you should put keywords in directory/file name instead of date. Remember that directory/file name should be relevant.

[incrediblehelp]

Jon not sure if it is worth it to do this. The history that the URL has earned can easily out weight the worth of switching the links to be more keyword friendly.

[stymiee]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

Jon not sure if it is worth it to do this. The history that the URL has earned can easily out weight the worth of switching the links to be more keyword friendly.

I agree. If someone has established links to inner pages, especially lot so them, it is always recommended not to change the URLs as the risk outweighs the benefits. If your pages are new or have few to little incoming links then as long as you do it with a 301 redirect from the old pages tot he new pages it probably is worth the effort.

[jmille007]

We are currently in the process of updating our URL structure to contain keywords and directories. Would these examples be considered as keyword stuffing as teh same keywords appear more than once or twice?

/lanyards-wristlets/lanyards/cotton-lanyards_ca-841-1.html
/computer-accessories/mouse-pads/frame-it-mouse-pads/frame-it-flex-mouse-pads/frame-it-flex-heavy-duty_ca-680-1.html

[stymiee]

Yes, that is keyword stuffing. Not to mention it will piss off your users, too. Keep your URLs short and to the point. They'll do everything you need without looking spammy or annoying users.

[jmille007]

How many of the same keywords would be considered keywords stuffing? More than 1, 2 or 3...? In reference to my urls shown above would the following be better versions?

/lanyards-wristlets/lanyards/cotton_ca-841-1.html
/computer-accessories/mouse-pads/frame-it/flex/heavy-duty_ca-680-1.html