I'm very curious about best UV practises. I wish there was a thread here for general UV tips like the giant topology thread and normal baking thread. Often I wonder if I'm unwrapping things inefficiently when I end up splitting things to minimize stretching but raising the vertex count in-engine. It seems like a balance…
Fewer cuts is usually better. It's often better to have a bit of distortion rather than have lots of UV cuts. UV seams are always a little visible even with modern tools but you can compensate for distortion. What you have in the final image looks ok though. I'd try and find something to put in the hole in the bottom…