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Which is best: /%category%/%postname%/ or /%postname%/ on a niche blog?

by new2ebiz
15 replies
I've been researching the best way to modify blogs for profit.

Some authors I've read suggest using /%postname%/ in the permalink section; while others suggest using /%category%/%postname%/ .

Which is best and why?

Most of my blogs are on non-IM niche topics if that's important.

Thanks!
#blog #niche #or %postname% or #page not found
  • Profile picture of the author Raiel Schwartz
    I've always used /%category%/%postname%/ because it makes it look like your blog has some organization. %postname% by itself of course allows for a shorter URL which may be beneficial when you have a long title.

    I don't think one is "better" than the other, but if you use postname you can have a bigger URL that looks "neat" while with category your posts are at least organized under topics.

    I guess it's your choice.
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    • Profile picture of the author new2ebiz
      Originally Posted by Craig.Michaels View Post

      %postname% by itself of course allows for a shorter URL which may be beneficial when you have a long title.
      I assume you're saying that you can have too long of a url? I wonder what the max character count is?

      Originally Posted by zedbiz View Post

      /%category%/%postname%/%year%/%monthnum%

      If you have well worded categories - will help to include.
      I also would include the year and month as you can often go back to a topic months or years later and call it the same title.
      So adding the year month part would be good on a blog where you are showing archives as a important part? Never thought of that as my blogs are not that old yet.

      Originally Posted by Keith Kogane View Post

      If I'm creating a blog where my categories are the same as the general keywords I'm targeting, I'll include it in the URL.
      The main thing is making sure you're getting the word-based slugs rather than the number-based ones.
      I would think it was advantages to have categories include your keywords.
      It would make sense that word slugs would be more useful.
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      • Profile picture of the author patlondon
        I've found that using the category + postname looks the cleanest to me as a surfer. It also gives you a more keyword rich url which can only help.
        Assuming of course you are going to have enough content to categorize that is . I never considered adding the dates and think it might be alittle bit much...
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        • Profile picture of the author new2ebiz
          Originally Posted by patlondon View Post

          Assuming of course you are going to have enough content to categorize that is .
          It would seem silly not to have 'enough content' eventually, if you had a blog.

          I was very very glad to discover that I could schedule posts so I did not have to be at my computer every day for a post to show a different date and time!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Zenert
    /%category%/%postname%/%year%/%monthnum%

    If you have well worded categories - will help to include.
    I also would include the year and month as you can often go back to a topic months or years later and call it the same title.

    Jack
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  • Profile picture of the author Keith Kogane
    If I'm creating a blog where my categories are the same as the general keywords I'm targeting, I'll include it in the URL. If the site won't be organized that way, I just use the postname.

    Now that I stop to think about it, I can't remember if I do that for a reason or not - it's just what made sense, but hasn't had a terribly strong effect that I've noticed.

    The main thing is making sure you're getting the word-based slugs rather than the number-based ones.

    Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jack Zenert
    My next question is if you change the permalink structure - how big a deal will that be to your search engine rankings?
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  • Profile picture of the author Lindsay Brynn
    I've done it both ways and haven't noticed too much of a difference. However now I just default to category/postname because of reasons stated above.
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  • Profile picture of the author ericmartinez
    I used to use the default structure but now I only use /%category%/%postname%/

    Why?

    First, you get to use your primary keyphrase as the category and you secondary key-phrases in your post name.
    This will allow you to rank a lot easier for long tail keywords and your primary keywords at the same time.

    Keep this in mind.
    You may be thinking, "why would I really want to rank for useless long tail phrases?"
    Remember, there is always those people who do not know how to search efficiently and will type a long sentence or question into a search engine.

    It also looks wayyy better and makes your website feel a lot corny.
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    • Profile picture of the author new2ebiz
      Originally Posted by ericmartinez View Post

      You may be thinking, "why would I really want to rank for useless long tail phrases?"
      Remember, there is always those people who do not know how to search efficiently and will type a long sentence or question into a search engine.
      When checking my web stats to see what phrases were used to get there, I've certainly seen some word combinations that were used.
      But if it got them to my site, hoorah.
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  • Profile picture of the author webatomic
    I use /%postname%.html
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  • Profile picture of the author Raiel Schwartz
    A user here recommend putting your month and date. I WOULDN'T recommend doing that. Why? Because the whole purpose of having category and postname is for SEO purposes, including the month and the date will not benefit you in that aspect.

    & when I was talking about having a long URL. I don't think there is a character limit, however

    1) Sometime wordpress likes to shorten my URL (maybe it's a plugin I have?) so I have to manually type out the whole thing

    2) Having a post as http://www.yoursite.com/affiliate-ma...quick-and-easy

    is definitely long, i can see why some people choose NOT to include the category - but like I've mentioned before - up to the users discretion.

    I personally WOULD NOT recommend using your month and date in the title however - that's a no-no (SEO wise )
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    • Profile picture of the author Jack Zenert
      Originally Posted by Craig.Michaels View Post

      A user here recommend putting your month and date. I WOULDN'T recommend doing that. Why? Because the whole purpose of having category and postname is for SEO purposes, including the month and the date will not benefit you in that aspect.

      I personally WOULD NOT recommend using your month and date in the title however - that's a no-no (SEO wise )
      I agree that it will not benefit you SEO wise - but will it have any negative effect?

      If not negative effect, I believe there is a good reason to include it.

      Jack
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      • Profile picture of the author ericmartinez
        Originally Posted by zedbiz View Post

        I agree that it will not benefit you SEO wise - but will it have any negative effect?

        If not negative effect, I believe there is a good reason to include it.

        Jack
        Lets view this from a different angle.

        The whole purpose of SEO is to rank highly in the search engines, correct?

        If your website ranks in a top 3 spot where your competition has their ducks in a row, you may lose from a surfers perspective.

        For example,
        Imagine a web surfer sees these results:

        1. theirdogtrainingsite . com/dogtraining/dogtrainingforyou
        2. yourdogtrainingsite . com/dogtraining/2008/5/dogtrainingforyou

        The surfer will pick the first one because it appears more focused and clean. It repeatedly and consistently appears to give them exactly what they want.

        Another issue with dates is that a couple of months or a year from now, your content will be *perceived* to be aged due to the inclusion of dates. Resulting in less clicks.

        Both articles may be just as old, but atleast the first one is not telegraphing its age.

        Hope this helps someone.

        -Eric
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        • Profile picture of the author sahi
          I've been using /%postname%/ in my permalinks option for a long time now, I've tested /%category%/%postname%/ but somehow the SEO results were not that good for me as they are to some of the members here.
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