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Ask HN: Repeat or not keywords in URL for better SEO?

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Re: Ask HN: Repeat or not keywords in URL for better SEO?

#3
One thing I would add is I'm not sure how great search engines are at decoding domain names into keywords. I mean some search engines might understand howto.com would relate to the keywords "how to" but some might just read it as "howto".

Because of that I'd say go for howto.com/how-to-drink.

Re: Ask HN: Repeat or not keywords in URL for better SEO?

#4
It probably makes very very little difference in terms of ranking. In terms of click-through, it probably makes more of a difference.. as long as you have a friendly URL that looks clean, and has the keyword.

So you want /how-to-drink, NOT /article/123131 and definitely not /sasdabasd2312121.asp

Re: Ask HN: Repeat or not keywords in URL for better SEO?

#5
Best would an Exact Match Domain (EMD): howtodrink.com. But if your site is going to be about more than just drinking then its probably not recommended.

1. howto.com/how-to-drink 2. howto.com/drink

Number 1 will greatly out perform number 2 for the term 'how to drink'.

I have not seen repeating the keyword in the root and path have a negative effect on seo.

Make 'How To Drink' the first three words of the tag and you're making a strong start.

Re: Ask HN: Repeat or not keywords in URL for better SEO?

#7
post #5

Best would an Exact Match Domain (EMD): howtodrink.com. But if your site is going to be about more than just drinking then its probably not recommended. 1. howto.com/how-to-drink 2. howto.com/drink Number 1 will greatly out perform number 2 for the term 'how to drink'. I have not seen repeating the keyword in the root and path have a negative effect on seo. Make 'How To Drink' the first three words of the tag and you…

Does anyone have something to add here or is it the consensus that he is right?

Also, what's better, www, or non-www? What about using words like the, a, etc. in the URL?