Categories and URLs again

[christopher]

I really should know this by now - but for some reason I can't get it into my thick head.

We do well on Google for generic searches, but not well for categories and specific products.

Within each of my main categories i have a sub category which includes all items within the the separate sub categories. So if you wanted to just browse all the ornaments you would not need to click in and out of sub categories.

So e.g. I have
CAT ORNAMENTS as the category.
Below this I have all the sub categories, but also have a sub-category CAT ORNAMENTS > ALL ORNAMENTS.

All my product urls display this 'all' category. So examples of product urls are

http://www.********.co.uk/all-cat-greeting-cards/cat-naps-bug-art-card.html
http://www.********.co.uk/all-cat-ornaments/govinder-white-cat-ornament.html


Q: Is this OK?
Q: If not, how should I change it.
Q: Will unticking the Display category in product URL: box help or cause big problems

Thanks.


Chris

[Red Devil]

Hi Chris

Looking at your sitemap.html it shows where the canonical tag is being picked up from.

No product has the "all products" category name in its URL even though all products are in that category and that category is the highest category in the left hand navigation structure.

However, all products do have their respective "all xxxx" category name in their URL from the highest sub category.

I wasn't aware of this behaviour before but obviously that's how it works. So having all your products in the top category "all products" isn't having any (adverse) effect on their canonical tags as they are all in sub categories.

Whether you want them to inherit the highest sub category (the "all xxxx" sub category) is probably the question you're asking and what bearing does this have on SEO and rankings?

Also, by unticking the "display category in product URL" which will remove the category(sub category) from the URL entirely - will this cause a problem or more to the point, will it make a difference?

[christopher]

Thanks Dave,
I'll try and get my head around that:

I need to do some category changes soon, and want to build a sustainable category and url structure for the future. I am really wary about moving categories, and renaming them. So am just doing the planning and making sure I know whats a good thing and what's not before starting. Knowing me it will be a month or two before I dare begin!

I'd be interested in anybody's experience of doing similar.

Thanks again.

Chris

[CJB64]

Hi Chris, I am in a similar position to you in that cat pages and product pages are not performing too well in the Big G. I have been doing a few tests and have found that the shorter the url, the better Big G likes it. So at the moment, I still have my cat showing in the url but would like to do a test and remove the cat. You mentioned a tick box to remove it, but I cant find it! Could you let me know where that is please!?
Thanks
Ceri

[Fields of Blue]

Hi Chris, I am in a similar position to you in that cat pages and product pages are not performing too well in the Big G. I have been doing a few tests and have found that the shorter the url, the better Big G likes it. So at the moment, I still have my cat showing in the url but would like to do a test and remove the cat. You mentioned a tick box to remove it, but I cant find it! Could you let me know where that is please!?
Thanks
Ceri

Configuration > Catalogue - second section

[CJB64]

Configuration > Catalogue - second section

Many thanks

[Trevor]

I think I'm going to cry ...

I had two BP sites selling identical product up for years.

With very few exceptions one was always whoopin' t'other for position in generic searches for just about any product that I sold.

One site, the better performer, had 'show cat in url' turned off and the poorer performer had that turned on.

Correlation not being absolute proof of cause, of course.

[niche]

this is very interesting, can we turn that on and off at will without affecting the site like "not found" if we turn it off. I dont know if google would still find he original url?

[martinobi]

I think Bluepark automatically generates 301 redirects when you flip the switch, but making the change is a big deal since it will change all of your product URL's and could affect your search results in the short term and you certainly wouldn't want to change back and forth it could trash your search results altogether.

[niche]

I think Bluepark automatically generates 301 redirects when you flip the switch, but making the change is a big deal since it will change all of your product URL's and could affect your search results in the short term and you certainly wouldn't want to change back and forth it could trash your search results altogether.

No I certainly won't be doing that then!! Thank you.