Make Your URL Structure SEO Friendly

If you think what is in URL then this article is for you. The name and structure of an URL decides the search ranking of the site in search engine results page. If a search engine can understand the correlation between the URL, content and the search keyword then it is guaranteed that the page will appear top in the search.

Simple and descriptive URLs will easily convey the purpose of the web page both to the users as well as to the search engines. This will also help to organize and categorize the content accordingly and the search engines crawlers can understand the sitemap of your site with ease. Extremely long and confusing URLs with few words as the one shown below may frighten the user to think whether the site is trustworthy or not.

In other words, the user will tend to read and share a descriptive URL as the one here. The user can also easily remember the URL and check it later.

URL is Displayed in Search Results

Finally, URL of a webpage is displayed in the search results of any search engines. In Google the URL is shown in-between Page Title and Meta Description and the keyword in the URL is also highlighted.

Use hyphens (-) in the URL for the search engines to understand properly and avoid continuous words or using underscore (_).

Good one – “http://www.tunespeak.us/seo-for-meta-description.html”
Bad one – “http://www.tunespeak.us/seoformetadescription.html”
Bad one – “http://www.tunespeak.us/seo_for_meta_desscription.html”

If you are using dynamic URLs it is recommended to rewrite the same to static ones so that the search engines can index it easily.

URL Picking for Your Domain

When you choose your domain name or site address ensure the following points are taken care:

• Keep your site URL as short as possible so that the visitor can remember your site easily
• Avoid using numbers and underscores in the URL
• Ensure to use a keyword in your URL related to your content

Dos and Don’ts with URL:

Dos

• URLs containing descriptive words relevant to your site’s content and structure are easier for the users to remember and navigate
• Using structured approach helps you to classify your content and easy makes it easy for visitors to know where they are at on your site
• Use appropriate 301 redirects to direct users to the appropriate pages in your site
• Use 404 redirect to inform the user about an alternate page in your site that the user may be interested in or mentioning the home page URL will inform help the user to visit the home page

Don’ts

• Lengthy URLs with confusing parameters like numbers or session ID
• Using generic page names like “untitled.html” or “page1.html”
• Stuffing unnecessary keywords in the URL may lead search engines to demote your site
• Nesting of pages like “…/page1/page2/page3.html”
• URL names having no relation to the content
• Odd capitalization of URLs, better to have a lower case URLs which helps the user to remember easily

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