The importance of URL structure and SEO

[mandy]

One of the most hotly debated topics in the search industry is the importance of a Web page's URL structure (the Web address) for ranking purposes. Some SEO (define) experts feel placing keywords in the URL is vitally important; a Web page simply won't rank well without keywords in the URL. This group often cites SERPs (define) with keywords highlighted as hard evidence for its viewpoint.

On the flip side, other SEO experts believe keywords in the URL don't make or break search engine positions. Yet this group recognizes how important keywords are from a usability perspective: both search engines' and site visitors'. This group doesn't give much emphasis to keyword-rich URLs for determining relevancy...

The people who least understand issues with URL structure and SEO are the very people who create them: Web developers, programmers, and software developers...

full article: http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3622997