Using unique ID number/Post ID in URLs?

[RacingJim]

Just wondering what do you think of using numbers in URLS? I know from an SEO standpoint we are recommended to use totally SEO-friendly URLs,

e.g. bettingsite.com/keyword-friendly-url/

But I THINK (not 100% sure) one of my sites got busted for duplicate content, i.e. from writing about similar things I ended up with some pretty similar URLs and the topics were similar.

e.g. bettingsite.com/betting-tips/england-vs-slovenia-betting-tips/
and then
bettingsite.com/betting-tips/slovenia-vs-england-betting-tips/


So I was thinking, maybe putting a number in the URL would help things, e.g. would this be better (with 3651 being a post ID):

bettingsite.com/betting-tips/3651/slovenia-vs-england-betting-tips/

I'm unsure as I have never used numbers in the URL structure and don't particularly like them, but it could potentially help Google tell URLs apart on my site and see them as unique? The one thing that bothers me with the above URL structure is that surely Google is going to look on '3651' as a 'directory' as it comes BEFORE the article name.

Anyone experienced in this sort of stuff or had duplicate content issues? I could well be barking up the wrong tree but would be keen to hear any other advice. I know of some sites that use the number in the structure just fine e.g. http://www.freebets.com/tips/16460/r...-2-10-fontwell

However that site has been going donkeys years so I don't know whether it's wise to copy old things like that.

[Rostick]

e.g. bettingsite.com/betting-tips/england-vs-slovenia-betting-tips/
and then
bettingsite.com/betting-tips/slovenia-vs-england-betting-tips/

That should not be seen as duplicate content by google as far as I`m concerned ... especially if the content isn`t duplicated.

I think there is no problem with google if you add the id number and I recommend you do it. I use betting-tips/slovenia-england-3651, so maybe try to do it this way if you are worried that the number would come before the article name. Many top websites use this structure, surely there`s no problem.

[pinkytoe]

The post ID is usually a Google news thing on sites I thought.
I wouldn't go out of my way to be adding it without good reason.

If your site got busted for duplicate content, (I think you mean Panda) then your problems run alot deeper than urls from my experiecne.
It's quite hard to say without more info but I have pretty big site in a similar position with URLS and have no Panda or duplicate content issues.

[RacingJim]

Rostick - Yeh I guess a lot of the news sites and newspapers use numbers in URLs. I suppose they have so many stories that they would have a hundred similar articles on Balotelli transfer news etc. If it's good enough for BBC, Daily Mail etc etc then I guess it should in theory be fine for my betting sites.

[RacingJim]

The post ID is usually a Google news thing on sites I thought.
I wouldn't go out of my way to be adding it without good reason.

If your site got busted for duplicate content, (I think you mean Panda) then your problems run alot deeper than urls from my experiecne.
It's quite hard to say without more info but I have pretty big site in a similar position with URLS and have no Panda or duplicate content issues.

Yeh I won't be adding it across the whole site, I just have a news and previews section where I seem to end up previewing very similar events over the course of a season or two. You're right though it's probably a lot deeper than simple URL names.

[RacingJim]

Anyone else?

[-Shay-]

Sites that are in Google news actually require some sort of numerical indicator in the url (providing you don't have a specific google news sitemap).

That aside, if you're doing match previews & betting tips for specific matches, you may want to go to a category, post, year, month, day url format or something to that extent. The URL might look something like this /championsleague/roma-mancity/2014/12/10/ or /championsleague/2014/12/10/roma-city/

If you want betting tips in the url structure, then make betting tips the category, and create sub-categories for specific competitions. /betting-tips/championsleague/roma-mancity/2014/12/10/

I'd avoid using "betting tips" more than once in the url structure - either use it in the "category" or in the post name but not both. Using both "may" be assumed keyword stuffing depending on how cranky the panda is at any given point in time.

[ocreditor]

...

I'd avoid using "betting tips" more than once in the url structure - either use it in the "category" or in the post name but not both. Using both "may" be assumed keyword stuffing depending on how cranky the panda is at any given point in time.

I think as well this is important, but it's also relevant to the page title and not only the URL.