Question about URLs

[Juandbbam]

Hello!

I have a client that wants to upload an URL like this:

www.example.com/keyword/page-name.html

The main problem is that www.example.com/keyword/ doesn't exist and gives a 404 error so I'd prefer not doing that......

What do you think about this? And if the client wants to go ahead, is there any solution? A 301 to the final page would help?

Thank you in advance!

[Juandbbam]

Yes, you are right.  Thank you Ryan!

[RyanKent]

This is where I would suggest you take a step back and consider both sides.

From your side, you have a valid concern about the user experience. From the client's side, he wants to rank better.

Use your SEO knowledge and experience to help him understand the options. Otherwise I would ask, what is your involvement with the site? If you are the SEO then you should be making these decisions, not the client. If the client is making these suggestions then it seems likely he is not confident in your abilities or he feels he has superior knowledge on this topic. Either way is not a good foundation for a client relationship.

[Juandbbam]

Thank you Ryan,

The main problem is that (following my example) www.example.com/keyword/ doesn't exist. They just want one keywords, as it were a category.

[RyanKent]

It seems the client desires to stuff keywords into their URL which is not a best practice. The recommended solution would be to naturally use the keyword in the URL. If that cannot happen, drop it.

Let's assume you are selling blenders and the product is the Goldstar 1000. Some possibilities:

If you only offer the one product, you can add the keyword to the product name. www.example.com/goldstar-1000-blender.

If you strongly desire the format /blender/goldstar-1000 then create a quality /blender page with content that is sincerely helpful to users.