Clean URLs - is it better to not have a colon or comma them?

Question

I'm trying to create the following kind of URL:

www.example.com/state:ca/type:apartment,condo/price:0,20000/

or

www.example.com/state/ca/type/apartment/condo/price/0/20000

Is it better to not have ':' or ',' in the URL for SEO?

Answer 1

Is it better to not have ':' or ',' in the URL for SEO?

Although colons and commas are reserved characters, they shouldn't impact SEO directly since they'll be URL encoded by browsers and bots.

The second URL would be much more familiar and easier to read for search engine users though, as apparent in links and search engine snippets, so would increase the likelihood of them clicking on them, thus affecting traffic rates.

See this and this for a simple discussion of this.