Should your url be your title?

1. 82

   Dorsiposted 14 years ago

   When I first started writing at HubPages I was under the impression that one should make the url and the first title of their hub the same.
   So my question now is: When trying to write the url for maximum traffic, how much should you really deviate on the main title? Or does it even matter if the key words are in the body? The reason  ask is because I want to make some catchier titles but keep the url simple.

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   1. 67

      Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I would suggest keeping the URL simple while having your main keywords in it.
      
      For example: Your hub title is "Yet another miraculous homemade medicine"
      
      your URL should look like hubpages.com/hub/homemade-medicine/ .

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      1. 41

         videl05posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Well, I still think for maximum traffic, long URLs are better than short URLs. Why? Take the above example, you main keyword is “homemade medicine”, if you keep your URL the same with your hub title, it will help bringing in more traffic from people who are searching for other keywords, like “miraculous medicine” in Google.
         
         The only thing I am not sure is, to what extent will that consistency help hubs get ranked on Google, I remember one article I read about says, Google cares a lot more about whether the keywords appear in the domain name than in the URL, if that is the case, then probably we shouldn’t care about the URL either. Does anyone know more about this?
         
         As for keywords in the body, I think it is extremely important to have the EXACT keywords in your first paragraph (or the first 50 words) and <h1> titles (the capsule titles). Because every time I search in Google, I notice that Google will highlight the keywords in the first paragraph as the results, I guess this factor really matters.

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         1. 67

            Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            You wouldn't want your titles to look spammy and thus get penalized by search engines, would you? putting more than necessary keywords in URLs can get your hubs penalized.
            
            OK, in the example being discussed above, even "miraculous homemade medicine" in the URL would be alright but what do say if I add another couple keywords. Search the web for keyword stuffing in URLs to get the most appropriate information on them.

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         2. 47

            mailxpressposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            Hi,
            I recently read a Hub about the keywords being in the first paragraph will help getting indexed.  I'm going to start doing that and see if it works.
            mailxpress

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         3. 85

            Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I don't agree. I understand you're thinking along the lines of "the more keywords, the better", but I like short URL's for two reasons.
            
            One, if you're posting a backlink on forums or blogs, a short URL looks better.  I know you can use things like Tiny URL instead, but often they look spammy because they're obviously hiding something!
            
            Two, if you're in conversation with someone, you can tell someone "I have some information on my website" and if the URL is short and memorable, they'll remember it when they get home.  If it's too long, they're more likely to get part of it wrong.
            
            On HubPages, you can easily make up for any missing keywords in your Hub title.

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   2. 60

      beinghappy4everposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      If we are lucky enough we will get the url just like the good title. But most of the urls are taken. So I make a few changes with the title so as to get the url. And yeah, if the keyword density is right with the content you can choose a related url keeping the good title.

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   3. 60

      nikki1posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Your title to your hub is an important keyword/'s to your hub, along with your tags. Making them count is important. And, knowing where to share them is just as important. So you don't spam. And, you get the right attention to the right crowd.
      Good luck to your hubs

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2. 72

   Hauntyposted 14 years ago

   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/37414#post852353

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3. 41

   videl05posted 14 years ago

   Yes, Ultimate Hubber, you’re right on the point of keyword stuffing, should be avoided in URLs, and in the title too. I just wanted to say that keep your URL the same with your hub title is OK.

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   1. 67

      Ultimate Hubberposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      

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4. 90

   Will Apseposted 14 years ago

   It's always best to make your url an exact match for your main keyword phrase. After that the title should contain the keyword phrase and whatever it takes to make it little bit more appealing whilst adding as few words as possible.
   
   If the Url you want is taken on Hubpages its worth asking if you should carry on with that as a keyword phrase. If a hub is already on Google's page one you arn't going to do better than share traffic with it. If it's not successful and its a good hub, your page probably won't do any better.

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5. 73

   livewithrichardposted 14 years ago

   I think your keyword or keyword phrase should be your URL and in your title. Your keyword phrase should as close as can be after the .com like in the example Ultimate Hubber gave above. The further out in the url your keywords are, the less attention they will get in the SERP's.

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6. 74

   KeithTaxposted 14 years ago

   I start with the url and title the same. However, if the hub underperforms, I will play with the title, as well as rewrite parts of the text.
   
   Remember, the url is set in stone once created. The rest of the hub is open to regular editing. I've brought a few hubs to life with a title change; the url stayed the same.

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7. 58

   GarethAdams2010posted 14 years ago

   There is a lot of talk over keywords, titles, and so on, in all honesty think at it this way...
   
   Catchy titles grab peoples attention so they are good, just make sure your keywords are in there, Search engines these days (especially big G) also work on LSI keywords, however many people place far to much emphasis on having the "exact keywords" within there title, body meta description and anywhere else they can think of putting it, however if your keywords are placed in the middle of text that is has nothing to do with your keywords, (for examply placing "music reviews" in the middle of a site that talks indepth about seo isn't going to rank regardless of if you page title, description and title was "music reviews" simply because search engines will compute around a 0.01% keyword density for music reviews,
   
   short point - make hubs and pages usefull and appealing for a reader not a bot, and the search engine and rankings will follow. With the LSI keywords (keyword relationships to each other) you can see that natural writers, and people who have taken the time to write a good honest natural post will be more rewarded that blog spammers who use anchor texts.

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