URL structure

[AM2021]

I have products that are placed into multiple categories, with regards to the URL, should I have the URL showing the main category?

Examples
mysite.com/size-2-builders-trestles
or
mysite.com/ builders-trestles/ size-2-builders-trestles

I have checked what others in our industry do and they seem to be varied

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

Don't show the categories.

Just use mysite.com/size-2-builders-trestles

But....

All the trestle sizes should be one product. You then just select the size. This makes for a far more usable site and much simpler for customers and Google.

 

[TCH]

we are not sure if your trestles are sufficiently dissimilar, that each gets its own illustration.

if that's the case, maybe a separate page for each.

your website visitor will be familiar with the Screwfix site.

specifically he may expect a breadcrumb trail, like

mysite.com > builders-trestles > size-2

it seems preferable that this trail reflect the site hierarchy.

breadcrumb trails are said to good for SEO, and helpful to the search-engine crawlers.

but here I must bow to fisicx's expertise.

 

[fisicx]

The problem with breadcrumbs is they don’t always match the path the customer took to get to that page. Which is why they are mostly redundant.

The trestles are all very similar. It’s a woo site so each variant (size) can have its own picture. Much better for SEO and usability.

 

[AM2021]

we are not sure if your trestles are sufficiently dissimilar, that each gets its own illustration.

if that's the case, maybe a separate page for each.

your website visitor will be familiar with the Screwfix site.

specifically he may expect a breadcrumb trail, like

mysite.com > builders-trestles > size-2

it seems preferable that this trail reflect the site hierarchy.

breadcrumb trails are said to good for SEO, and helpful to the search-engine crawlers.

but here I must bow to fisicx's expertise.

Thank you

 

[AM2021]

Don't show the categories.

Just use mysite.com/size-2-builders-trestles

But....

All the trestle sizes should be one product. You then just select the size. This makes for a far more usable site and much simpler for customers and Google.

Thanks Graham
Very helpful as always!
So I will have the product urls without the categories in them.

However if I just have 1 listing for the 3 sizes of trestles should I have a category for that single product.

The reason I ask is I have multiple categories already for products that cannot be 1 product listing.

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

Maybe revise your categories.

The simpler you make it the better for everyone (including Google).

You could have: trestles, ladders, stands and supports as one category.

 

[UKSBD]

I look after a site that hires trestles

They appear in at least 6 different categories

If using the category in the URL it would effectively duplicate end page numerous times

Far better to have just one default end page /trestles/ and link to that page from the all the categories.

It also mean you can link to one constant end page from advice pages, guide pages, info pages, etc.

On the actual end page I don't really use a breadcrumb but a "listed in" section, which can then be used to link back to the 6 main categories the product is listed in.

 

[AM2021]

Maybe revise your categories.

The simpler you make it the better for everyone (including Google).

You could have: trestles, ladders, stands and supports as one category.

Thanks Graham,

Wouldn’t it be easier to rank for size 3 trestles with an individual size 3 trestles product page?

Also by having one product with variations would we not lose the ability to do more internal linking, if we had individual product pages?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be certain before I make major changes to my site.

 

[fisicx]

Do people search for 'size 2 trestles'? Or do they search for trestles and then choose the appropriate size?

If it's the latter then having a page for each size makes it more difficult to rank.

If the content on the page, the title, meta description and whatever all show you sell all sizes there should be an issue.

This is one of those occasions where you need to do lots of testing. You may need to trial each configuration for a month to see how they perform.

Looking at your site and the content seems written for non-builders. This means having the three sizes together makes more sense. But if you are targeting builders you don't need to tell them how far apart the need to be.

 

[AM2021]

Do people search for 'size 2 trestles'? Or do they search for trestles and then choose the appropriate size?

If it's the latter then having a page for each size makes it more difficult to rank.

If the content on the page, the title, meta description and whatever all show you sell all sizes there should be an issue.

This is one of those occasions where you need to do lots of testing. You may need to trial each configuration for a month to see how they perform.

Looking at your site and the content seems written for non-builders. This means having the three sizes together makes more sense. But if you are targeting builders you don't need to tell them how far apart the need to be.

Thanks again Graham.

The generic term is far more searched than individual products, however when checking our competitors that rank most but not all of them do list individual products within that product’s category.

What we have done is allow visitors to add products to their cart from the category page so they do not have to click onto the product unless the need more info, especially as most of our customers want multiple products from either the same category or multiple categories.

 

[fisicx]

This is why you need to test different structures and formats. Until you do you won’t know which if most effective.

I thought you were going to work with @Shopclicks?

 

[zomex]

This is a really good question. One that I have often pondered many times.

I sound like a broken record but once again there's no right or wrong. You have successful companies doing both.

In your industry I will say that it's more common to see categories used within the URL. My personal preference is I prefer the category in the URL but for my own store using Woocommerce I decided against it because it required plugins to achieve it.

With the rise of Shopify and the success of companies using their platform there is the argument that it doesn't matter because Shopify itself does not support categories within the product URLs.

If it were me I would check your leading competition, go with your gut, make a decision and don't look back because really it's unlikely to make a difference to SEO in 2025.

 

[zomex]

The problem with breadcrumbs is they don’t always match the path the customer took to get to that page. Which is why they are mostly redundant.

The trestles are all very similar. It’s a woo site so each variant (size) can have its own picture. Much better for SEO and usability.

I would agree with that for most stores breadcrumbs are less important than they used to be. But for builder merchants I would argue that they are very much valuable because there's such a large range of products to display. E.g multiple different screw types, multiple sizes of screw. Different types of wood sizes, quality, treatments etc.

 

[fisicx]

But there are two main types of breadcrumb: path and structure. Depending how you use the site the breadcrumbs can be misleading.

In this case the site is really simple and could be even simpler.

 

[DontAsk]

Or do they search for trestles and then choose the appropriate size?

I would say this.

Same for scaffold towers, acros, etc. Sometimes you don't know what sizes are available or what exactly size 3 refers to.

The days of only dealing with builders (or other professional trades) who know exactly what they want are largely gone, although some Screwfix stores do have secret inner sanctums.