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Short URL or long URL for SEO

Tags:

seo

short-url

I am implementing cs-cart for a web site. Which one is better for SEO if possible with a reason or reference. Site sells books stamps cds etc.

www.domain.com/book/Java.html (or) www.domain.com/book/programming/Java.html 

or

www.domain.com/Java.html

Some says short URLs are good. But isnt it good that stating which category the product it is in. Thanks

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Gok Demir Avatar asked Jan 23 '23 12:01

Gok Demir


2 Answers

You can go for both, via canonical URLs. For example, in the <head> of both /Java.html and /book/Java.html:

<link rel="canonical" href="/book/programming/Java.html" />

With that, Googlebot (and Yahoo/MS' spiders) will see the current page as a duplicate of the canonical link and ignore it, without the usual demerits that come with dupe content.

Long URLs are good for being descriptive, clear, & searchable, while short URLs are nice for people to send around to friends and whatever social network du jour - chances are you want both.

Maintaining the different URLs & dupes will add some server work though. If it's too much effort, I'd go with the long form for the users' sake & search-ability. "java.html" could just be some random page about coffee, it needs context.

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tadamson Avatar answered Feb 06 '23 10:02

tadamson


What if it fits into two categories? That would be the case where I say that it's better to go with a short URL because you don't want duplicate content.

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Joe Phillips Avatar answered Feb 06 '23 09:02

Joe Phillips