Search Friendly

Site structure is a big part in not only Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) , But also making a very user friendly navigation system that’s easy to remember.

Some people over-do the navigation on their site using bad url’s or non optimized url’s. an example of these are:

• http://www.mysite.com/content.php?id=3

This is a non optimized url - i recommend looking at my The Power of Search Engine Friendly URLs post to combat this issue

• http://www.mysite.com/site/uk/products/computers/

Although your content is sectioned, which is good for your search engine optimization ( SEO ) , a user is never going to be able to remember this url if they want to come back. i recommend reducing this url to something like:

• http://www.mysite.com/products/Computers/

The country specific details can be dealt with in code, or for Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ), you should buy the .co.uk Domain for the UK sector.

The /Site/ folder is useless there are so many websites out there that section off their main website into a folder, it is pointless and also effects the ease of use of the navigation for the user.

This shorter structured type of URL is good for Ease of use, AND for sectioning off products for better seach enginge optimization, without overdoing it or going too far.

The other important thing to note about search engine friendly URLs , is your site should handle chopped url’s. for example if you have the path:

• http://www.mysite.com/products/Computers/

A user should be able to remove /Computers/ and see a list of all products on the url http://www.mysite.com/products/

Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) is always a balance, you wouldn’t want to over-do it and make a page impossible to use for your users, you need to make a compromise with Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) and ease of use.