SEO-friendly URLS are links that are intended to be made in a way to help both users and search engines easily understand what a web page is about. You have to make them short, detailed and keyword-rich. Generally, URLs are meant to tell about the location of a document or page for the visitors and search engines. By optimizing your URLS, you can leverage their SEO benefits. Let’s learn how to do that in this blog post.
What is a URL?
URL, Uniform Resource Locator, is a link that describes the location of a page. How you format and organize your URLS on your site is called URL structure. This includes how you make up a URL with protocol, subdomain, domain name, path, and other components.
Why are URLs Important for SEO?
Apart from the title tag, your content, link anchor text, search engines also use the URL of your page to understand what your content is about. If you think URLS aren’t that important, Google’s SEO Starter Guide gives you a reality check. It even has a whole section just for URLs.
A clear URL structure plays a key role in your website’s Information Architecture, which outlines how content is organized, accessed, and understood by both users and search engines. It establishes relationships between pages and determines the appropriate URLS and directory paths.
The Anatomy of a URL
Let’s understand this with the help of an example:
First, we have Scheme or Protocol: https://
- This part is called the protocol.
- It tells the browser how to connect to the website.
- HTTP is basic.
- HTTPS is secure (It means your data is protected).
Secondly, we have www.
- This is the subdomain.
- It’s often “www” but can also be something like “shop” or “blog.”
- It helps organize different parts of a website.
Next is: example.com
- This is the domain name.
- It’s the main name of the website.
- Example is the name and .com is the extension (also called top-level domain or TLD)
After that: /blog/seo-guide
- This is the path.
- It shows the specific page or section you want to visit.
- /blog is a folder
- //seo-guide is the page inside that folder
Then we see: ?ref=homepage
This is the query string. It sends extra info to the site, like where the visitor came from or what they searched for.
Finally: #introduction
This is the fragment. It’s used to jump straight to a specific section on the page. It doesn’t load a new page. It just scrolls down to a certain heading or part that has the ID “introduction.
You’ve probably clicked links that take you directly to an answer in an FAQ or to a heading further down a long article. That’s what this does.
So in this case,
#introduction tells the browser:
“Go to the section of the page labelled ‘introduction.’”
How to Create SEO-friendly URLs in 6 Simple Steps?
Following these simple steps, you can create SEO friendly URLS
Choose between a static URL vs. a dynamic URL
You have to begin by deciding which type of URL to go ahead with. Now, this totally depends on your site’s needs and goals. Choosing a static URL means there will be a set address which is not going to change without changes to your site’s content or structure. And choosing dynamic, on the other hand, means that the URL will change based on user input, interaction, or other dynamic elements, like a search query or filtering options. Dynamic URLS often contain parameters such as “?” or “&” to pass information between the user and the server, which can result in a different URL being generated based on specific criteria or actions.
Now let’s see which one is good for SEO?
Generally, search engines prefer a static URL. This is because they are typically easier to read, more SEO-friendly, and provide a better user experience since they don’t change.
They also contain relevant so they are more likely to attract organic visitors. But if you want to make tracking and managing the site content easier and flexible, you may choose dynamic URLS. When you are choosing dynamic URLS, they allow you to display large amounts of content without the need for creating multiple static pages. But they can be more challenging for search engines to crawl and index, and may sometimes confuse users with lengthy, confusing strings of parameters.
Conduct Keyword Research
Next, you need to find the relevant phrases for your site. This step involves finding the right terms and phrases that your target market often uses. while they look for products or services relevant to your niche. This step is crucial to make your URL SEO friendly and bring organic traffic. Using relevant keywords can boost the chances that your content will appear in the SERPS when users search those terms.
Learn how to do keyword research for local SEO in detail in our dedicated blog post.
Use keyword Research to Create a Page Title
Employ the keywords to create a page title that is clear, short and descriptive. Page title tag optimisation is one of the most important components of SEO. This is because it appears as a clickable link in search engine results. That’s why it must properly represent your page’s content and persuade the users to click.
Here are the tips you need to follow while creating a page title:
- Employ your targeted keywords on your page naturally. Make sure to do it naturally.
- You must aim for around 50 to 60 characters to make sure it will be displayed properly.
- Try out different titles and test how they perform to find the most effective one for your page.
Start Optimizing Your Permalink
When you create a new page or post in a content system like WordPress, it automatically creates a permalink (URL). You should optimize this link to help search engines understand your content better.
Here are some simple tips to make your permalink more SEO-friendly:
1. Remove any special characters. This is very common. Your page’s permalink can include them. This can confuse the search engines and make it hard to understand your page’s content. Instead, use terms that are actually relevant to your niche.
2. Make sure to use the main keyword in your URL. This will help the search engines understand what your page is about, and this way, you can boost your chances of ranking higher in the SERP for the given keyword. Make sure not to do this forcibly, as a search engine can consider it spam.
3. There is case sensitivity in the URLS, so to avoid ambiguity, you should use lowercase characters. By adopting such a practice, you can prevent any possible issue.
4. Keep your URLS short and simple for better UX. Plus, this way you can make it easier for visitors to remember your links.
5. Using hyphens is also a highly recommended practice. They are easy on the eyes and simpler to understand for even search engines. You can also use underscores, but they can sometimes be misinterpreted for spaces, which can result in broken links.
Use Breadcrumbing
Breadcrumbs are one of the most effective navigational tools used in on-page optimization as they can help visitors understand their location on a website and eliminate confusion. They appear at the top of a webpage, and they are meant to give a hierarchical sequence of links that run from the homepage to the current page.
Not just users, breadcrumbing is also helpful for search engines to find and index your pages. It’s really important for both user experience and ranking, especially if your site is big and has numerous layers of classification.
Test your URLs to Make Sure They Don’t Return a 404 Error
Make sure your URLS don’t show a 404 error, which happens when a page can’t be found. A 404 error can frustrate users and hurt your SEO. This is very crucial part of technical SEO.
Check your URLS often by clicking on them. If you find a 404 error, fix the broken link or redirect it to the right page. This improves both user experience and your website’s SEO. Regularly checking for 404 errors helps search engines better index your site and can improve your rankings.
FAQs
1. How do I handle URL optimization for multilingual or multi-regional websites?
You can use appropriate structures like subdirectories, subdomains, or country-specific domains. Ensure each URL targets the correct region or language.
2. What’s the impact of a long URL versus a short URL on SEO?
Short URLs are more readable, easier to share, and often rank better. Avoid unnecessary words or complex structures in the URL.
3. Can I use dynamic URLs effectively for an e-commerce site with thousands of product pages?
Yes, but ensure they are clean, descriptive, and free from unnecessary parameters. Manage duplicate content with proper tags.
4. How do search engines treat URLs with numbers, like /page/2 or /product-12345?
Numbers are fine for pagination or product IDs, but ensure URLs are clear and descriptive for better SEO.
5. What role do custom short URLs (like bit.ly) play in SEO, and should I use them for my site?
Custom short URLs don’t directly affect SEO. They’re useful for sharing but shouldn’t be used for primary content URLs.
