Does a / matter to SEO?
With URL rewriting, does a forward slash after the pagename affect SEO?
If so, how, and what is your preference (with/without)?
e.g. www.domainname.com/keword-phrase or www.domainname.com/keyword-phrase/
Your professional opinion is appreciated. Thank you.
Clarification added 10 days ago:
Thank you for all the answers and additional information. However the question was specific and so I have ranked answers on their specificity and detail.
Thanks all
Good Answers (7)
Jeff R
Search & Analytics Strategist at GyroHSR
Best Answers in: Search Marketing (4), Web Development (1)
From a purely algorithmic perspective, the slash does not matter. The engines will treat it the same, even in cases where there are inbound links pointing to both. What does matter is what comes after the slash. Never use www.domain.com/keyword-phrase/default.aspx (or any other file extension) as it will be recognized as separate and you may lose inbound link authority in the event that links are pointing to different versions. The same can be said for http:// vs. http://www.
If you are currently using one of the improper methods, you can remedy it by 301 redirecting the improper URL to the proper URL. This will transfer about 90% of the link authority you had been losing.
To summarize:
/keyword vs. /keyword/ = no difference
http://www = good
http:// = bad
/default.aspx or /index.htm = bad
Brendon S
Freelance SEO Consultant
Best Answers in: Internet Marketing (16), Web Development (4), Purchasing (1), Staffing and Recruiting (1), Intellectual Property (1), Public Relations (1), Search Marketing (1), Blogging (1), E-Commerce (1), Telecommunications (1), Software Development (1)
It shouldn't matter, as SEs should be able to detect that the 2 are actually the same and associate them properly. That said, they do get it wrong sometimes, especially where there is a split in linking data. However if that happens, you can fix it yourself by using 301 redirects from any other versions of your URL with links to the one oyu favour. Pick which you like, it makes no difference
I have to disagree with the responses above and would love to see there proof. No a forward slash after the url doesn't matter from an SEO perspective.
What would matter would be the www or non www versions of the same root domain.
Jade C
Professional Web Producer and Search Analyst [TopLinked.com]
Best Answers in: Search Marketing (1), Blogging (1), Web Development (1)
Hey Andrew,
It doesnt matter with or without the forward slash. What will matter is if you have 'http://domainname.com' and 'http://www.domainname.com' this will create duplicate contents when being indexed by a search engine. If your running apache then you can fix this by modifying your '.htaccess' file.
I disagree on the CAPITAL CHARACTER making a difference. I was working for AMP Capital more than a year ago and we had no problems with having a lower case or upper case on directory or file names. I do prefer everything lower case when a CMS publishes contents. But you can try searching for 'AMP CAPITAL INVESTOR' and 'amp capital investor' Google produces the same search results.
Clarification added 16 days ago:
Whats important is you dont have duplicate contents in the eyes of a search engine. You need to decide which is your main site and not have a http://domain.com and http://www.domain.com pointing to the same content.
Currently one of my sites is setup to redirect from non-www to www.
But if I want to reverse the redirect from http://www.jadecadelina.com to http://jadecadelina.com I would modify and add the following on '.htaccess':
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.jadecadelina.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://jadecadelina.com/$1 [L,R=301]
</IfModule>
Chris G
VP of Search
Best Answers in: Search Marketing (7), Internet Marketing (3), E-Commerce (1), Web Development (1)
Google ignores the "/" so from an SEO standpoint there should be no worries (just do a google search for "/"). Just make sure you choose one or the other, I personally would choice without. Also ensure they both work and redirect properly.
Clarification added 16 days ago:
BTW - Ben and Jeff are right on, minus the non-www version of a site being bad so long as you choose one or the other to 301 to.
Maria N
Search Engine Marketing Expert
Best Answers in: Search Marketing (5), Internet Marketing (2), Mobile Marketing (1), Web Development (1)
If this is the only problem you are running into, good for you! :)
Technically speaking, the forward slash is a different page and may be seeing as such by the spiders. It is a good idea to decide on which URL to use and be consistent with it - for building links and making changes to htaccess file. Another thing to think about is www and non-www of the URL and the http and https - since you are thinking forward slashes, these two should be on your mind as they are very similar. And of course the lowercase/uppercase for SEO :)
Good luck!
Links:
Mark N
Web Marketing Specialist
Best Answers in: Internet Marketing (1), Search Marketing (1), E-Commerce (1)
I don't think so. It's the same directory, and not a sub domain either way.
You might be interested to know that consistancy to avoid canonicalization issues would be important.
e.g.
domainname.com/keyword-phrase/
vs.
www.domainname.com/keyword-phrase/
Which you can solve with 301 redirects in htaccess
More Answers (7)
Yeah of course! Evan a Capital Character or some sign in your URL also do a very important role in your Google ranking!
Links:
Shaq A
Online Expert
Best Answers in: Web Development (8), Search Marketing (2), E-Commerce (2), Computer Networking (2), Software Development (1)
It does, especiallly for the back links and in the link building exercise. I could slice & dice and say the something as the link below but I will avoid that :)
Links:
I agree with Jade and Ben. The slash doesn't matter.
Rajesh N
Marketing Planning and Communication Strategy Consultant
Best Answers in: Advertising (2), Business Development (2), Travel Tools (1), Internet Marketing (1), Public Relations (1)
no. i have not seen it make a difference so far.
Experimentation suggests that it does matter:
Links:
i like S
Natural search engine optimization at I like Websites
Best Answers in: Search Marketing (1)
It does, especiallly for the back links and in the link building exercise
Links:
Erick L
Dallas Web Marketing offering 1 month free service. Pay no fees until you see results on Google at Dallas Web Marketing
It may have a little affect, but noting major. But if you really want to do it, ( - and _ ) are better.
