Dazeal said:
Dazel,
If everything on the webpage is the same…
kirklands.biz/ashland-oregon-florist.htm will rank better than kirklands.biz/ashland_oregon_florist.htm
both will rank better than kirklands.biz/ashlandoregonflorist.htm
Most website layouts are information hierarchies, all webpages branch off a home page. (also known as the top down approach) All of the above file names will rank better than kirklands.biz/ashland/oregon/florist.htm
Also keep in mind that kirklands.biz/ashland/oregon/florist.htm is three levels down from the home page. Most search engines only spider deep pages every couple of months.
Never use spaces or non alpha numeric characters in your file names.
For example: kirklands.biz/oregon florist/ Medford Oregon.htm
(a file named Oregon Florist.html in a directory named Medford Oregon would be translated to
http://www.kirklands.biz/Medford Oregon/ Oregon%20Oregon Florist.html)
BIG HINT: Use whole words in the file name where possible, and when using abbreviations, only use those that are widely known. And use all lower case characters in the file name.
I think you are focusing too much on the root or file names…remember content is still “king”.
Create a focus webpage for Medford Oregon Florist. Be abundantly clear. State your intentions up front and several times. Create content so good that other websites point to your’s as a resource.
Think about who would come to your Medford Oregon Florist webpage and why. What do you have that they want?
Like Cathy says “be different”. Make them sit up in their chair and take notice of what you're doing on your webpage.
Consumers come to your webpage looking for something specific. Use information design (not graphic design) to help the consumer get to what they want fast. It'll increase their comfort level.
Create “Niche webpages,” look for what your competitors aren't doing.
Does your webpage have a specific "voice" and attitude? How well does your webpage represent your flowershop?
Don't over engineer your webpage. The latest gizmos may be cool to teenagers or 20 somethings (and some of us old folks), but if your consumer is outside that demographic, you may be irritating them.
Sorry this is so long, didn’t mean to get on my bandwagon…
.