Does it matter how deep your subfolder URL structure is for SEO purposes and Google rankings? No, not really. John Mueller of Google said even recently on Twitter "I don't think any search engine would care either way."
This is a topic we covered a bunch of times including (but not limited to):
- Google: Folder Level & Hierarchy Not That Important For Google
- Google: Too Many Subfolders Doesn't Hurt Your Search Rankings
- Google: Make Your Site Architecture Easy & Interesting
The only case where Google might do something special for the URL paths are when it comes to separating out adult content and/or location/country/language specific sections of your site.
As I explained before as long as GoogleBot can find the URL, you are good. If you hide a link to a URL deep within your site, on a page that GoogleBot needs to click several times to get to, there is less of a chance Google will find that URL.
John Mueller of Google added that you should likely not change your current URL structure over long paths in the URL, doing so won't really benefit you. John added "So if you have a reasonable URL structure, flat'ish or deep'ish, I'd just stick to it. If you're making a new site, pick a structure that makes maintenance & tracking easier for you, and that you can keep for 5-10 years."
Here are those tweets for context:
I don't think any search engine would care either way.
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) January 19, 2022
So if you have a reasonable URL structure, flat'ish or deep'ish, I'd just stick to it. If you're making a new site, pick a structure that makes maintenance & tracking easier for you, and that you can keep for 5-10 years.
— 🐄 John 🐄 (@JohnMu) January 19, 2022
Forum discussion at Twitter.
