is-this-best.html OR isthisbest.html 1

[gwrman]

Any feedback, comments, appreciated.

 

[Foamcow]

makes very little odds really.

Why not play it safe with

makes-no-odds.html

or

makes_no_odds.html

I think underscores are more likely to be "better".

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Buy Languedoc wines in the UK

 

[ChrisHirst]

better for what??

If you mean for SE rankings, then Foamcow's example of make-no-odds.htm is correct.

Hyphens are treated as word seperators (effectively same as a space)
Underscores are treated as word joiners and look like a space when linked so can lead to 404 problems if users type in the URI or read it out over the phone.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[Foamcow]

Ahh, that's interesting, I thought it was the other way around!
Although it doesn't really make much difference to what I do

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Buy Languedoc wines in the UK

 

[ChrisHunt]

I don't think it makes much difference to SEO - at least not compared to other factors. I'd favour no seperatorat all, on the basis that if you had to read it out to somebody it's easier to say "it's 'is this best', all one word, dot html" that "is hyphen this hyphen best dot html", at least I think so anyway.

Mind you, my best-performing website is

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

, so maybe you should do as I do, not as I say...

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[Mike Lewis]

Chris,

Mind you, my best-performing website is

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

Yes, but isn't that because of the huge awakening of interest in McGonagall's work (at least in Tayside and North East Fife)?

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[ChrisHunt]

There's a programme about him on Radio 4 this morning, and a big article in the Guardian a couple of weeks back, so maybe you're right.

If you go to

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/cgi-bin/mcstats

and scroll down to "location of recipients", you'll find I'm sending regular "poetic gems" well beyond Tayside and East Fife.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[Mike Lewis]

Chris,

Fascinating stats. So, more people claim to have worn a kilt than admit to reading McGonagall in public.

I'll try to catch the Radio 4 prog on "Listen Again".

Mike

__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

My Visual FoxPro site: www.ml-consult.co.uk

 

[gmail2]

Sorry, I know this thread is a bit old but I'm just reading up on some threads here for some ideas. Just one question to ChrisHirst

better for what??

If you mean for SE rankings, then Foamcow's example of make-no-odds.htm is correct.

You said that make-no-odds.htm is better for SE ranking ... why? Then you went on to say

"underscores ... look like a space when linked so can lead to 404 problems if the users type in the URI or read it out"

Of course this makes perfect sense for humans ... but why is using hyphens better for spiders?

 

[ChrisHirst]

A hyphen is treated as a space by the SE indexers, so in the occurence where a URL is used as anchor text for a link and you have your pages named with related keywords the link will be naturally using keyworded anchor text.

This is the only time that keyword URIs are of SEO value BTW.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[gmail2]

So just to confirm ... are you saying that the name of the file *CAN* get you higher up on the listing of search results? For example if there were two sites both with identical pages which rank equally in google, would the one with a more descriptive file name appear higher in the results page when you search for keywords relevant to those pages?

 

[ChrisHirst]

Nope, not saying that at all and for the example, maybe, maybe not.
I had two sites running side by side. same scripts, same DB while I was developing a catalogue/cart system and the results were never conclusive on if the querystring URIs or the "SE Friendly" were "better".



Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[gmail2]

Sorry - I don't want to seem like I'm beating this to death ... but I'm still a bit confused. If the URL has no bearing on where the page appears in the search results, then why is makes-no-odds.html better than makes_no_odds.html from a SEO point of view?

Thanks for your replies ... and patience !!

 

[ChrisHirst]

Generally it will make no odds but if any weight (however small) is given to pagenames hyphens are what to use.

The upshot is;
Use hyphens, but do not expect a rankings boost from their use and don't restructure your site just to fit them in to the pagenames.


Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[gmail2]

OK I think I see what you're getting at now. Thanks again for your patience