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Avatar Went Hot: May 16, 2008 - 3:06 pm
Posted By: ciaran 54 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://searchengineland.com)
Category: SEO
An interesting post that would get a Sphinn from me for the inclusion of an arse gag if nothing else (although that's not the headline they used). But it is worth reading for more than just that as it has some great info on why shorter URLs tend to result in more traffic from SERPS
9 Comments     

Comments

from MikeBradbury 54 days ago #
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He makes the point that longer URLs are starting to show up in search results and people are clicking on them less.

Maybe people just need time to adjust to the longer URLs in their search results and this effect will eventually level out.

from Rosenstand 54 days ago #
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And some folks say that SEO is dead or dying... It definately is not! A study like this clearly shows that there is and will be need for highly skilled pro's that know how to optimize and super-optimize. Very interesting article - and clearly an issue to take into consideration!

from Winooski 54 days ago #
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Loved this post, and I hope it helps me advocate successfully for short URLs for an upcoming significant platform migration.

At the end of his post, Spencer advises us not to take it on faith but to test the URLs to see which size and combination of factors works best. However, my intuition is that, for sites without huge categorization issues (i.e., *not* the Home Depot example Spencer uses), the ideal URL structure is going to be the shortest one.

I think this dovetails really nicely with Eric Enge's recent post advising us to "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify". Enge's referring to the need for SEMs to simplify our explanations to clients and other stakeholders, but I think that timeless advice to simplify is applicable to just about everything we do.

from ejd 54 days ago #
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I agree that shorter. more focused URLs are the way to go but wonder about the testing part. How do you control duplicate content issues when you test different URLs? You would have to be very diligent about setting 404s or no follows on the old URLs - which can be a bear with some CMSs out there... Thoughts?

from HullWebDesign 53 days ago #
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Hmmm, whilst this is interesting stuff, it's not conclusive proof that shorter URL's get better CTR.  It doesn't take into account other factors.  Like what if the shorter URL's had more relevant listings than the longers ones?  Or maybe the shorter URL's where often recognised brands and thus got more clicks just because they where trusted sources of information.

from KenJones 53 days ago #
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Hee hee. arse commerce ;-)
Sphunn purely for the sake of that gag lightening the mood around here after all the heavy debating going on over in the thread about Lyndon's hoaxbait.

from bober0 47 days ago #
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Which of examples of url is the best?

from linkmoneydotorg 37 days ago #
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keep-it-simple-stupid or simplestupid?

from rhcerff 12 days ago #
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Ah... the golden rule - test... test... test...

I'm not sure that longer URLs are/aren't the way to go.  But as with everything every market is quite different.  Only way to tell is by testing.


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