Can you create SEO Friendly urls in e-pages ?

[kittyandpolly]

Hello,

I am looking to get some SEO work done on my site and have had some negative feedback about the e-pages platform. Basically, I've been advised that the urls are too long and this can be a barrier to good SEO. Is there anyway to change these urls, to make them more SEO friendly or is it better to move to another e-commerce package ?

Hope someone can advise.

Thanks

[kittyandpolly]

Hello..

If anyone has any ideas on this, I'd love to hear from you. I'm really disappointed that no one from BT has responded as we are trying to decide whether it is worthwhile staying on the E-pages package.

Thanks.

[orchie · Accepted solution]

Hi kittyandpolly,

The answer really depends on how effective and which strategy your SEO company are/take and which search engine's you are targeting. The majority of search engines such as Google use very complex algorithims that take into account your website content, keywords and descriptions, inbound links (who links to you) and a number of other factors and very little weight is put on the URL (with the exception of the actual domain name e.g. www.mywebsite.com before the "/"). ePages provide a document (PDF) concerning SEO here that might be useful.

I have been involved in SEO for over ten years and have had a lot of success with ePages websites and if you like can provide you with an example of an ePages website that is ranked on Google at position number 4 on page 1 for very competive keyword's.

What I can assure you is that moving to another platform will make absolutely no difference in the short term except cost you time and money, the best thing you can do is make sure that you are using a credible SEO company and that your website content, keywords etc. are in tune with each other.

A couple of (free) tips you can use to create inbound links to your website are:

- Send out free PR Shots at websites such as www.free-press-release.com and www.ukprwire.com

- Register on free business directories such as www.applegate.co.uk and www.freeindex.co.uk

- Join in on the business discussion forums such as www.ukbusinessforums.com  and http://forums.teneric.co.uk/ and make sure your website is in your signature 

I hope this helps, if I can assist with anything else please reply to the post.

[kittyandpolly]

Hi there,
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I consulted with a few local SEO companies and did actually find one that has said more or less the same as what you are saying ie there are lots of different factors to take into account , so that has reassured me ! And thanks for the free tips..I will be following up on a few of those !

Thanks again.. really appreciate it.


Kitty and Polly

[mcoles]

SEO friendly URLs are a myth. They're human friendly - but search engines don't really case what's in your URL. I've written more here: http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/seo-friendly-urls-myth-and-fact/ So it's still worth changing them, but for your customers not google.

[mandylopez]

Having a keyword rich URL is kind of a good thing to have, as long as it makes sense to users and describes the content of the page.

The first step then is does the title of the page, the words in between the <title></title> tags describe the content concisely in a way that encourages the visitor to see the content as answer to their need.

Consider the various functions of a title. Typically it is the hyperlink in search results that leads to the page. Typically it is the browser bar title. Typically it is a bookmark title or used as a link.

Most CMS's allow keywords or phrases to be inserted into titles or other tags, or URLs, in different ways. Typically a title could be <phrase> | <sitename>. Typically a URL could be /<phrase-words-separated-by-dashed>.html.

Having a phrase that describes your page content and the benefits and needs that it fulfils, and using that also (in a different) configuration in your URLs is generally the best way to go.

So what comes first URL or Title or other tags. I would say the first thing to do is to ask yourself, "What need does my page address" then write a page title considering all of the places that it will be used. Then take the major element of the page title and create a URL.

Keep in mind if your page title addresses the value of the content, and the content addresses the needs of the visitors, then any URL is good enough.