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Ask HN: Does cryptic string in URL affects SEO?

6 points by Frocer ↗ HN
We would like an unique identifier in our URLs for all of our user-generated contents, but I was wondering if it would hinder SEO in anyway. We are using both an UUID and a SEO friendly slug. A sample URL is as such:

http://domain.com/categories/92lePQKI3kfcz-5eBHGvkQ/pc/this-is-a-seo-friendly-slug-for-the-content

I have been Googling for a while now but haven't been able to find the answer, hopefully you guys could direct me to the right resources. Thanks!

3 comments

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TallGuyShort
I can't think of any reason that having the UUID in the URL would hurt your SEO in any way. You still have the slug, so key words are in the URL. As far as I know, having unrecognizeable data in the URL doesn't decrease the importance placed on your page.

One thing to consider is if using this method instead of some other method might decrease the number of links to the same URLs on your website. The more links there are to a particular URL, the higher it ranks. But all things considered, I think you're fine.

patio11
This is a good question. The answer is subtle: Google isn't going to penalize you, but users will.

All things being equal, long URLs get clicked on in the SERPs less than short URLs. (Test if you don't believe me, which should go without saying.) Additionally, that bit of human-unreadable garbage suggests to many users that your content will be, well, garbage, where the competing

http://example.com/birds/all-about-bluejays

will suggest to them "Well, heck, if I want to know about bluejays these are the guys." You only get a little space on the SERP to attract a click. The URL can be used as a resource there. Use it properly!

Additionally, since SEO is a game where winners win, I'd expect

http://example.com/birds/all-about-bluejays

to get more links than your ugly monstrosity of a URL, which is going to cause it to rank faster. This is a self-reinforcing cycle, obviously.

skwiddor
We always worked on the idea that parent directories carry more weight, it takes longer for the crawler to go down than across and the PR was always higher for those first level directories. (I'm talking in the past tense because I don't do SEO any more, though we used to get $1000 a month from AdWords).

Seems like your reason for this is to allow the same slug for multiple entries in the category. I'd more more inclined to just add one of . _ - on the end in the event of an unlikely clash!