What to do when a Bad URL has to stay?
-
I am working with a friend on optimizing a site that has a troublesome set of issues.
The company has integrated some ERP system that cannot be changed or removed and it is creating goofy URL's. So my question is which URL do I build links to? the www.xxx.com or the crazy URL that it is being redirected to.
Site URL: www.nauticalchartsonline.com
redirect: http://www.nauticalchartsonline.com/n.c/NauticalChartsOnline.htmlI would greatly appreciate constructive feedback.. Thanks, Jeannie
-
I agree with James here. Especially if you have anchor text in the link, people aren't going to see that URL as much. While it's not the best URL, I've certainly seen worse.
Do you have any update you can give us with any interesting lessons learned or things that you did?
-
Send links to the new (ugly) URL. Consistency is critical, all links to the same content must use the same URL. The actual URL is less important; more a "would be nice" rather than a "must have"
-
Moldy, they will not allow me to change URL structure and know SEO will be limited. We are going to go ahead. Your answer was really helpful.
-
Can't you just do a quick .htaccess url rewrite to remove the /n.c?
If you want the links to have more value sending them to the actual /n.c/ directory would be better (as long as there is no plan to change the url stucture in future.)
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is it a good practice to get link for your original page by shorter URL links
Hello Moz Community, I have a question regarding getting links on bitly, tiny, or an other url shortner, Is it a good practice to get link for your page by shorter url I mean lets suppose i am getting natural guest post link from content for my blog home page
Link Building | | JoeySolicitor
https://coupontoaster.com/blog/ ; and shorten it with bitly and then hyper link so is it a good practice am I getting the same power and SEO consideration as if i would have done this without url shortener. And what anchor texts shall i be using like rich anchor text or any other like click here, visit here, bitly or etc Please kindly help me with this thanks1 -
Different URL (not homepage) showing up for main keyword
Hello, When we search for 'boutique hotels' the following URL appears on first page in Google UK: https://www.i-escape.com/united-kingdom/boutique-hotels While we're pleased to be ranking on first page, I was wondering why it hasn't picked up our homepage, as it has for our competitors. Does this simply mean Google deems this page more worthy of first page SERPs? Thanks again for your help Moz community!
Link Building | | iescape0 -
How do i replace bad hits on Google?
When people search for our brand name on Google, the 4th and 5th hits are threads from open forum. The discussions can hurt our image very much and we have to do something to replace it. I need some tips for how i can replace the community and push it down the list.
Link Building | | DialectAB0 -
Should I contact webmasters to remove URL's to my site from domains with a low DA?
Should I be contacting webmasters to remove URL's from domains with a low DA - to remove low quality links? Thanks, -Mike
Link Building | | naturalsociety0 -
Are the following considered bad links for Link Building.
I've been doing a lot of research lately on link building & I've read a lot about having a diverse amount of links. Social links, Blog links, comment links, footer links, No follow links, Directory links as well as links with Anchor text URL match, brand match, partial brand match, non-descriptive, and with keywords. But there is a lot of talk of removing those links that look like a site that's built just for link building purposes.... but Directories are basically built for link building are they not? I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if they feel links from the following directories would be bad links. (Non-Paid) http://www.yoganza.com http://www.wkool.com http://www.wee-directory.com http://www.voicelet.com www.hotfrog.ca http://www.webdirectorieslist.com http://multiplelistingboard.com http://mozdirectory.net http://freedirectorypr.info Industry specific below: http://bestautolinks .com http://automotivedome.com http://automobilebuzz.com http://craigsautolinks.com Thanks so much for the help!
Link Building | | DCochrane0 -
How to find all banklinks for a URL that forwards to a main URL
I have a client (yea! my second one doing seo) who has a law firm. He has a main site and then another site that just forwarded to his main website. He wants to find all the directories (and other places on the web) where his second site is listed. At the time when he was adding his firm into the directories, he was using his secondary url but now he wants to go back and use his main website. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a log of every place he added himself. I tried just searching Google for "mysecondarywebsite.com" (in quotes)for example but the SERPS return listings that aren't right. Suggestions?
Link Building | | Czubmeister0 -
How do i remove bad links ?
Google have sent me an email regarding manipulativre link or paid link etc. Tey are asking me to fix the issue then resubmit my site for consideration. My site IS still in the search results but i suspect that they may remove it soon. I suspect that a competitor may have a contact in google andthey are submitting complaints against my business but we do have many link to my site . How am i going to know exactly what link are the problem.
Link Building | | SydneyMove0 -
Urls rewriting "how to" with .htaccess
hi, Please i would need advices (links, tips, tool:generator ?) regarding url rewriting through .htaccess (newbee about it). It's a "refurbishing" website case , the domain doesn't change. But the CMS does ! I've got a list of urls (800) with which i don't want to loose rankings on : Here the type of old url syntax : http://www.mydomain.com/home/newscontent.asp?id=1133 Here the new url type would be: http://www.mydomain.com/name-of-the-article
Link Building | | mozllo
or/and
http://www.mydomain.com/category/Page-2 Tks a lot...0