Correctly naming FOLDERS and LINKS?

[horseracingfan]

I have a question that so far I've never seen covered on any forum.

The question is are you likely to be penalised by search engines for creating a folder as our designers have: http://www.123racing.com//Woodbine%20RaceTrack/TrackHome.aspx?continentid=4

Or should the folder be referenced as: .../Woodbine_RaceTrack/ or .../Woodbine-RaceTrack/ or does it make no major difference?

The same question applies when creating any page where there might be running keywords/names contained in them.

Obviously when entered into a browser any spaces are automatically filled with %20 but is this good SEO design?

The main reason I ask is due to the fact that rarely have I seen search results reference a page link that shows 'spaces' in them.

Thanks for any feedback.

David Bowden

[Tubby]

I do not know. .

I always use whatever-whatever-whatever format, this way it is easier for me to remember what I have done, If I were to change it, it would instantly create a situation of not knowing what method I used. this would cost me time and probably give more chance to bad links. I never used whatever_whatever format because I do not like not seeing the _ if the link is underlined whatever_whatever -
But some prefer the not visible when underlined aspect. Some users get confused when they see %20 in a URL. . But I do not think it confuses Google at all. .

[123Racing]

I do not know. .

Some users get confused when they see %20 in a URL. . But I do not think it confuses Google at all. .

Thanks for your input Tubby, and I guess what you're saying is that you've not experienced or experimented to find out if hypen, underscoring or spacing really makes any difference with search engine rankings.

After positing my original message I did actually find a folder named with a %20 between words, on Google's results for a search I was doing, so maybe it's not a major issue, though it was a fairly specif search which only brought up 75,000 page results.

Hopefully someone reading this will have done some testing and be able to provide some feedback.

[kimber23]

here is a blog thread covering this topic by matt cutt from google:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/

[incrediblehelp]

I think it is more poor design than SEO issues. Usually you wont see pages ranking with spaces in the URLs because most designers simply don't do this.

Now for the SEO part I don't think Google minds, but if these URLs are fairly new I would go ahead and fill the spaces. If they have been around a while and have history in Google, just sit tight then.

[Hiops]

I'm pretty sure the complecsity of domain name or url of page, can confuse Google or anr other SE.

[AjiNIMC]

1).../Woodbine_RaceTrack/ IMO No,
I agree with Tubby "I never used whatever_whatever format because I do not like not seeing the _ if the link is underlined whatever_whatever"

2)
Obviously when entered into a browser any spaces are automatically filled with %20 but is this good SEO design?
No, as it doesn't pass the phone testing because of human perception of a url. If I call someone and ask him to visit goodmorningbible.com/take(space)time.html he will ask me about space. But if I say visit goodmorningbible.com/take(hypen or dash)time.html he will understand it faster.

So dashes works better and technical explanation is there on mattcutts blog.
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/

Thanks,
AjiNIMC