URL Directories vs. Pages vs. Sub-domain

I am trying to understand what is the best approach of setting up the URL for Google.

I have trouble getting internal pages in top positions on Google. The main page will get at the top but the actual internal page that is SEO won't.

http://MyDomain.com/Product1 (a directory that has index.htm)
Versus
http://MyDomain.com/Product1.htm (a page)
Versus
http://Product1.MyDomain.com (sub domain)
Versus
http://Product1MyDomain.com (I would have to have lots of domains.)

Does Google prefer one over the other?

Web sites will trade links on the main page so I think that is one problem with trying to get the internal pages in good position.
Any suggestions?

Your second example is the way my site is set up and all the pages are in Google, but they turn up high in different searches depending on which topic is being searched

Anne.

Thats a good question. I have not had much work done with sub-domains in Google. I have always done well with individuals page off shot from the mainpage such as http://www.domain.com/mypage.html

Does anyone know the effectiveness of Sub-domains in Google. Does page rank transfer to these to a lesser degree from the mainpage. Or does Google consider this a new domain with unique pagerank and link popularity? I am thinking maybe a combination of both.

Ben

Don't use Sub-Domains too much, they are considered to be different sites, but if you have too many of them and they are interlinked, then you might get hit for farming.

I'd go with the first or second option.

i'll go with:
http://MyDomain.com/Product1.htm

Dont use subdirectories. Google does not like them.

You may want to use a directory if you have more than a few pages (lets say at least 10) with unique content.

It seems so far that the pages URL is winning in this discussion.

Anne and everyone, did/does it take longer to get the internal pages in good positions? Have you tried to trade links on the individual internal pages to help the Page Rank (PR)?

The two main down sides to the internal pages is that they don't get direct link trades on those pages and the PR seems to always be lower than the main page. Any thoughts?

I'd also like to know the answer to Ben's comments.

in order to have your optimized internal pages show up in serps:

1. make sure you have a few links to that page internally. i would prefer that you keep a link in the link menu, so that you have an internal link to that page from every page in your site.

2. make sure that you have at least 1 link from an external site.

if you do not satisfy the second thing, i observed that your internal page will not show up in serps in any way. 1 external link is a must.

and as always, try to use your keyword while linking to that page for better performance.

Thanks! I think I have done all that except...

I do have at least 1 link from an external site but it is not from the main page of the external site. Do you think that it is necessary that the link from an external site come from the main page?

if you get a link from the main page of a site, it'll be better.

but it's not necessary. what we are trying to do is: get some quality links which will contribute to the (external) PR of your site.

so, you may get a link from the main page of a site which has a PR 2

or you may get a link from a deep internal page of a site, which has a PR 6.

the second option would be more beneficial.

I managed to achive good rankings for my internal pages with just a few external links to that pages.

Can internal pages ever get better Page Rank than the main page of the web site?

It's not common, but theoretically it's possible if they have more or better quality (higher PR) external links to them than the main page.

Gringo.

It certainly is possible. I have a site where one section is higher than the rest, and this is a direct reflection of the fact that people have been linking straight to it.



Excuse the vernacular, but is this crap? I find that subdirs can be a positive advantage, as sometimes they get me two listings for the price of one.

For example, a search for search-term-1 might return:-

www.domain.com/ la de dah
[indented] www.domain.com/search/term-1.html la de dah

Anyone else have any thoughts on sub dirs. I've always structured my sites like this and have had good results.

I agree Amy, I too have had good results with naming directories.

I like the www.keyword.com/keyword1/keyword2.htm combination.

Sites also rank higly if they have name anchors such as..
www.keyword.com/keyword1/keyword2.htm#keyword

The "everything in root" argument has its merits too, particularly for sites with high PR. I like the structured directoy route and have many top 10 rankings. Its when your heirarchy get too deep and you are goingh towards a vertical structure that the directory approach loses it value.
1- 2 levels is fine and works well imo.

BTW, it is very possible for a sub directory on a completely different theme as a root index page to get a good PR...
http://www.isg-vsg.de/backgammon/BGHome.htm

(Yes, Im a backgammon nerd ;-)

What has it got to do with PR? That is worked out seperately no? I was mainly talking about search terms. I'm glad to see that you have good results too and that's an interesting result with the name tag... I will use it now ;)

Backgammon eh, we'll have to meet up on yahoo for a game sometime

It has to do with PR because the deeper the structure, with all else being equal, the less PR is inherited. Even with perfect interpage linkage, PR is lost even just one level down in a directory heirarchy (assuming no extra external links).

It is not just that more link to a home page than a sub page. It has to do with "parenting" of pages that do not have links. There is evidence to show that when you have a high PR on your index page, you may want to stick to a very flat structure, meaning no directories at all as PR will be distributed only one level down. A typical example of this effect is the DMOZ directory. With each level down you go, the less the PR gets. Thats with all things being equal of course. Yet you can have a deep directory with a high PR as long as there are incoming links. You often find on this ion things like "check lists" or "do's and don'ts" pages.

As for backgammon, i grew out of Yahoo a few years nback in search of a dedicated backgammon server. I can recommend highly playmaker.com or gamesgrid.com for backgammon. thats where you can get a good tough match without the whining and cheating that goes on in Yahoo :-)

I am however "Gotchainthere" in Yahoo. Although I havent played there for ages. My rating there is about 2030. Playmaker about 1810 (REAL competition there).