Cutts Explains Benefits of Unique URLs

by Lucy Griffiths on 8th June 2010

Search expert Matt Cutts is advising organisations to avoid keeping individual product, location or information pages hidden away behind a search or a post.

He recommended a unique, "easily crawlable url" for each store and suggested that creating a HTML sitemap listing all of a company’s relevant offerings is a good way to improve a site’s usability.

Citing a business with multiple premises as an example, Mr Cutts indicated that businesses with only a few locations, but [are] still keen to utilise SEO services, might consider just one page to link each individually.

Alternatively, organisations with many outlets across a country may be better off using an online destination in each county or region that, in turn, can connect users to the particular branch for which they are looking, the expert noted.

He pointed to US brand Pinkberry as an example, as the company – which offers consumers the chance to customise their mix of frozen yoghurt – has unique pages but no sitemap, meaning some engines fail to recognise its existence.