Hello, I've heard that Google indexes up to 3 levels of directories inside URL's.
Does that mean real directories (like in an static site) or does it mean the "/" forward slash that might be placed inside a URL created by pathauto?
For example, I am wondering how would Google deal with the following URL:
http://tribalrugs.net/kilim_gabbeh/nomdic_flat-weave/kilim_rugs/khorjins...
All of above are important keywords and it adds up to just 81 characters. They were created by pathauto based on the following setting for that content type: [termpath]/[title-raw]
I am concerned whether Google will index all of above, or would it stop at third slash and only index just this:
tribalrugs.net/kilim_gabbeh/nomdic_flat-weave
So in that case, I would put in just
[term]/[title-raw]
Which way would you go and why?
Comments
Google indexes more than 3
Google indexes more than 3 levels. This URL is indexed by Google:
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Atribalrugs.net%2Fgelim_kilims%2Fta...
Yahoo once put out a presentation that said to limit URL depth though things may have changed. I put a copy of it online here because the original isn't available anymore.
Either way, I would limit the URL depth. One page of content should target one narrow set of key phrases so you don't need to target too many keywords on one page.
I might do something along the lines of
[term-raw]/[title-raw]orproducts/[title-raw]Wonder who told you about
Wonder who told you about the 3 directory limit. Check out the "Improve the structure of your URLs" from Google's SEO Starter Guide http://www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter....
Google advise to avoid lengthy URLs and deep nesting of subdirectories, but 3 should be perfectly okay. Moreover, the depth of a page within a site is not determined by number of directories in the URL, but by number of links to follow from what Googlebot considers the start page. This behaviour might be different with other spiders, e.g. Yahoo Slurp.
Seems to be a myth
Well,
It seems to be a myth. Matt Cutts mentions it here from a 2007 presentation:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/wordcamp-2007-talk-whitehat-seo-tips-for-b...
But google has no problems with more than 3 levels.
But maybe other search engines has.
Even a turtle reaches it´s goal...