Site architecture for spatial location: Countries, states, regions: How deep should I go?
-
Hi,
Based on the answers to my question about how to put the spatial location in the URL I'm now thinking about whether and how to flatten my information architecture.
My main content is trails and courses. For both categories I have most content for Vancouver, BC (over 100 trails). I have some trails from California and more trails from other areas in BC (5-20 trails for 3 separate counties).
My current site architecture is:
trails -> country -> state/province -> county/regional district -> list of trails.
So a trail page is 5 clicks away from the root.
My course structure is:
courses -> course list
(I have far fewer courses but need to start structuring them)
I did a search for site:example.com and found that my course pages rank most highly (probably because I have more inbound links for them) then I get workout pages then I get trail pages last of all.
I want to be set up to scale for the rest of the world but I think I have to start winning in my local area first.
What ideas might be good for a better site architecture?
I'm thinking of doing this:
trails -> location page -> list of trails for county.
The location page would be a single page with a tree hierarchy from country to county - nicely styled to help the user. Something like:
Canada
-> British Columbia
-> -> Greater Vancouver
-> -> Okanagan-Similikameen
-> -> Squamish-Lilloet
United States
-> California
-> -> Marin
I would make the urls be /trail/ca-bc-greater-vancouver/baden-powell-trail.
I'm considering whether /trails/ca-bc/ (i.e. to get the state) should return a list of the counties. I'm worried about duplicate content for doing this.
Curiously, my competitors don't have this structure at all. Access to their trails is by searching.
Thoughts?
Many thanks in advance
-
You are on the right track.
If you read this document you may get a better understanding, it has some outdated stuuf about in links not being able to hurt, you, but the stuf about page rank and links is invaluable knowlage.
http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html
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
-
Multi-Locations Business Internet Presence
We are at a crossroad and it's time to decide which direction to travel. We had 4 physical locations represented by 3 websites, August 1st we now have 6 addresses and are going to redesign our websites. Heritage Printing .com is our primary and does very well in DC for printing & signage. Heritage Printing Charlotte .com does well in NC for signs. How would you proceed? Build 2 more websites for a total of 5: Heritage Custom Signs & Heritage Custom Signs DC .coms Build a unified site under Heritage Printing .com (w/ subdomains or locations folders) I fear losing our Internet Presence and Page Rank w/ Google by unifying but also fear fueling the ever growing fragmentation of our brand. FYI: We recently Trade Marked Heritage Printing & our logo So fellow Mozzers, what do you recommend and how would you proceed? TY in advance KJr
On-Page Optimization | | KevnJr0 -
How do I reduce the amount of internal links on my site?
Hi, Can someone help me with reducing the amount of internal links on our site please? https://www.thepresentfinder.co.uk Thanks Charlie
On-Page Optimization | | The-Present-Finder0 -
Looking for a Tool to Assist with Site Optimization. Does it already exist?
I'm looking for a tool that can help us quickly identify web pages on a client's site that contain a selected keyword phrase.
On-Page Optimization | | RosemaryB
I would like to enter say 100 keyword phrases and the client's URL and receive a report that shows - for each keyword - the client URLs that contained that exact phrase. Does anyone know of a tool that can do this? Thank you, Rosemary Brisco0 -
My Site's Name Not Ranking in Google
Hey all, I've seen a few posts like this. But I wanted to start a new thread in hopes I may find the underlying issue. I've had my site: http://www.ctrl-alt-success.com for about 2 years. Recently I've started really adding a lot of content to it. (about 2-3 posts a week). I get zero organic views which is fine as I know it's still in the beginning. But here's my main question. If I type "ctrl-alt-success" into google. I get some site that shows up. "ctrlaltsuccess.com" I've been looking at this issue forever. That site has been "coming soon" for nearly 2 years. lol My site doesn't even show up on the first 10 pages of google. However in Bing and Yahoo it ranks on the first page. What could my site be doing wrong that it's not even ranking for the exact domain name? Keep in mind, if I google "ctrl-alt-success.com" my site comes up fine. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | Ctrl-Alt-Success0 -
What are the benefits of footer expanded site maps?
Many sites display a site map on the bottom of each page with a limited depth of around two deep. Has anyone done a A/B test on this, for selected search terms? Is this good practice?
On-Page Optimization | | russelljames0 -
Site Redesign: Potential Problems?
We're looking at a cleanup of our site and making our navigation menu simpler and more visual. The problem is there's a massive fear that we will incur some sort of SEO hit at a time when we can ill afford one. The bulk of the changes are around some tertiary pages that have some SEO value but are not primary targets or traffic sources. The pages with content aren't moving URLs or changing, nor is the core content of the site, just the template. The new template, I feel, is easier to navigate and easier to spider (menus are flyout divs with images). So are there any tips or tricks to changing the layout of your site without hurting SEO? Anything we need to avoid?
On-Page Optimization | | Highland0 -
URL structure for a new WordPress site
Hi I'm building a new next big thing website from scratch (for a translation agency) and I encountered an issue with the URL structure. I need to chose the URL for important targeted keyword pages and I have a conflict between two tools I'm using. Please read below the situation: domain: mashtranslation.com target keyword: french translation services which URL you think is better from a SEO point of view (and possibly for users): mashtranslation.com/services/french/ OR mashtranslation.com/french-translation-services/ I'm asking this because one WordPress plugin (Wordpress SEO by Yoast) says the URL structure is not optimised while another tool (Market Samurai) says the URL is optimised.
On-Page Optimization | | flo20 -
Should press releases be posted on my site before released to wire?
Should I wait until my press release has been syndicated to post to my press page. If I post it to my press page first, will it cause a duplication problem?
On-Page Optimization | | BradBorst0