Is it better to have keywords in the URL path or filename?

It seems that having relevant keywords in URLs is
very helpful. Does Google give higher importance
to keywords in the path vs filename?
E.g. http://example.com/tools/hammers/acme-metal-pounder
or http://example.com/tools-hammers-acme-metal-pounder?

Alex Black, Waterloo, Canada

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• google
• seo
• keywords
• URLs

[rahulxxx2000]

how can i ask you questions Matt please tell me !!!!!!!!!!!!

[GoogleWebmasterHelp]

@rahulxxx2000 We're not currently taking new questions for video (we're still getting through ones that were asked earlier), but you can ask webmaster-related questions in our help forum, which you can find on Webmaster Central. There's a link to Webmaster Central at the end of each video.

[intmarble]

Matt i am completely last with Google strategy about keyword some search engine rank keyword google not so if i have keyword in my content is google going to heat me or not ??? what is the best thing to do ???

[agapitoflores001]

Awesome. Mabuhay to Google! They've been really helpful to users since then.

[sitebeseen]

Remember that the more "/" in the path, the deeper Googlebot typically must crawl to reach the page; that's going to affect the page rank. "example.com/keyword/keyword/f­ile" is 3 levels from the home page whereas "example.com/all-keyword-here.­html" is 1 level down.

Other factors being equal, Google will find pages closer to home before pages several levels away from home. (Thus xml sitemaps to help google find pages "they otherwise would not find.")

[paraplegicracehorse]

Hmm. So, Matt says Google (yahoo, bing or whoever) doesn't care. Since MOST users won't even notice, this is probably more a case of how it's easiest for you to manage and track the pages within your site.

[tali156]

טוב

[GoWayneCounty]

@nqkoi159 Read between the lines - Google and readers are the same. Google wants what surfers want.

[anthonydaser]

First Matt should have mentioned two things. 1st ask how diverse is the content on your site? Meaning the file structure could play a great role in segmenting keyword targeting into top-level category pages. 2nd he should also mention keywords closer to the root will have a slightly higher relevancy.

[nemock]

Brilliantly nuanced answer. The keywords can be there in different ways, but hello? The the human factor needs to play in here soon or later or why are you building the site? Thanks for the answer.

[bigal21110]

again, think user first!

[mq3500]

Guess it has to make sense too. No point making up "false" folders and directories just to have a shortened URI at the end of it.