Does the url path have to be same with the actualy categories we have setup?

Question

Say for example we got an eshop, with a category "car spare parts" that includes a category called "tires" which has our product in there. We have created a menu on the left where the visitor clicks on "car spare parts" then clicks on sub-category "tires" and then he visits the tires product listing.

The actual path of each product on the "tire" page, does it have to be eshop.com/car_spare_parts/tires or is it ok if the path is "eshop.com/tires".

Will the second solution cause any problems to the eshop's SEO?

Answer 1

A more discript Uri is probably better, provided its not unnecessairly long.

Something to take into account, in the example you provide you have tires within spare parts, what about new tires where do they go? What if in the future you start selling bike tires?

I would probably do something like this to maximize data available:

eshop.com/car_spare_parts/tires/ -- all tires flagged for spare parts and tires
eshop.com/car_new_parts/tires/   -- all tires flagged for new parts and tires
eshop.com/tires                  -- all parts flagged tires, both 'new' + 'spare'

This gives you the flexibility to include more "main" categories with sub-categories while giving users a way to simply see "all the tires you sell."

Answer 2

It depends, will you show "Car Spare Parts" along with "tires" inside your page Title, headers (h1..hn) and content? If so, you should include "car spare parts" because you will include your keywords inside URL: domain.com/car-spare-parts/tires or domain.com/car-spare-parts-tires (it's better using dash instead of underscore, it's easier to read). The second folder level maybe will help to create a visual (and maybe physical) hierarchy of category and subcategory, or category and product.

If you will not include Car Spare Parts inside your page's Title, headers (h1..hn) and content, then you could go using shorter url like domain.com/tires.

Answer 3

Thanks for the prompt replies guys! I really appreciate it... I have taken into account all these you are telling me and my only concern remains whether Google and Google rank get affected on that structure or not. If not i will just leave my urls the way we got it now eshop/tires ;)