SEO Friendly URLs

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How to Create SEO-Friendly URLs

You have reached this article so I believe you are curious what SEO-Friendly URLs are and how to come up with this one. 

Let’s start our discussion with identifying what URL is, what is SEO-friendly URLs and how it is important in SEO especially on your blog post?

What is a URL?

I know this is a very basic discussion but some don't know what a URL is? seointel.com, does it ring a bell?

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The web address that we type into a browser to visit a web page is known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) also known as links. But why do we care about this stuff? What is it composed with? Will it make a difference if you’re going to tweak the URLs for SEO?

What is URL structure?

Just like we have our own home address, URL is like an address that we look for, and visit on the internet. It is composed with a protocol, domain name and a path. 

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When we say protocol, it specifies how a browser should retrieve resource information. The web standard is http:// or https:// (the "s" stands for "secure"). 

Next part is the domain name which is the human-readable or clean URLs of the precise place where a resource (in most cases, a website) is located is called (or hostname). Consider the top-level domain (TLD) as a subcategory of webpages. While you're probably aware of “.com”, there are also “.edu” for educational sites,”.gov” for government sites, and a slew of other options.

Then we have this called “path” that  specifies where a page, post, or file is located.

But remember that not all URL structures are the same, it can be different. 

Why URL structures can be different?

The URL structure of a website is determined by the website's specific requirements, for example a foreign site's URL will almost certainly be formatted for several languages or locales. A blog website's URL structure may differ from that of an eCommerce or membership site. The URL structure of a government website will almost certainly differ from that of a social network.

The URL structures will vary depending on the website's purpose, but no matter which structure is chosen, basic best practices for maintaining a proper URL structure apply.

Why does URL structure matter for SEO?

There are 3 main benefits of URLs, the first one is to improve user experience. A well-crafted URL gives humans and search engines an easy-to-understand indication of the content of the destination page. 

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You want to make your website as simple to use as possible so that customers can navigate it with confidence rather than bewilderment.

Use Search Engine-Friendly URLs  in addition to using logical organization in your URLs.  A Friendly URL Structure should be basic, easy to read, and contain keywords that describe the content on a web page.

If you're looking for information on pasta, for example, a URL like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pasta can assist you decide whether or not to click on that link.

https://www.thisisanexample.com/index.phpid wca=470&clcp27sap is a good example of a URL that is not pleasant or non-SEO Friendly URL because it does not clarify what the destination page is about.

The optimum user experience is provided by short URLs. Use descriptive keywords in URLs to give visitors a good idea of the page's content.

Creating a custom URL structure aids search engines in delivering relevant results to users and ensures that users know exactly what they'll see if they click the link.

The second benefit is the rankings or the PageRank. When analyzing the relevancy of a page or resource to a search query, search engines employ URLs as a minor ranking component. Target Keyword utilization in a URL can also act as a ranking factor, while they do give weight to the overall domain's authority.

While including keywords in your URL can boost your site's search exposure, URLs do not have a significant impact on a page's potential to rank. So, while it's worth considering, don't build URLs that are otherwise useless just to include a term, still Google uses URLs as a ranking element.

This suggests that well-structured URLs help Google PageRank (PR). Google uses PageRank to determine the worth of a web page and its relevance to a search query.

Root domains often have the highest PageRank, and while employing keywords in your root pages will help you rank, you shouldn't rely on URL keywords alone. Avoid jamming keywords into URLs and just include what's relevant, make it your URLs clean as possible.

The last benefit is the links (link anchor). When copied and pasted as links in forums, blogs, social media networks, and other online arenas, well-written URLs can function as their own anchor text in a pinch and helps you in link building.

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There are two advantages here:

Some websites (such as Facebook) may leave shared links in an unformatted state. Unoptimized, semantically invalid URL characters can appear bulky, deterring clicks rather than attracting them. Users can get a better concept of what they'll get when they click a link if it has a friendly URL structure which is human-readable.

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12 SEO best practices for URLs

• Use URLs HTTPS protocol - Before you begin developing your website, you must first determine the URL hierarchy.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for the ideal URL structure that has SEO-Friendly URL structure. And, depending on the site's purpose, URLs can be varied.

However, when to say URLs SEO friendly? If your custom URL structure is straightforward, logical, easy to remember, and expresses meaning with the words used.

Make your URL structure intuitive so that users and search engines can comprehend the links between your site's various sections quickly and simply. It's quite straightforward to choose the proper URL keywords for each page once your URL structure is in place.

• Hide the www prefix - HTTPS is the HTTP protocol's secure version. A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypts data sent between your browser and a website, making it impossible for hackers to read it even if they intercept it.

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HTTPS improves the credibility of your website by instilling trust in users, making them feel more secure while making a purchase with their credit card information, address, and phone number.

Although this appears to be a simple task, just 69 percent of all websites currently redirect to HTTPS.

I recommend making your website secure and if your site is solely HTTP, you're likely losing out on potential customers who are tech-savvy. Users trust you more with this.

Google uses HTTPS as a ranking indication and prioritizes websites that use SSL. The padlock icon in the URL bar of the Chrome browser indicates whether or not a website is safe. For further information about the link, click on the icon.

• Edit the page URL to be relevant (URL rewriting)- The www prefix was selected to avoid confusion because it was self-evident that the domain was for a website. However, it is no longer required to mention it.

If you do include it, it will appear outdated, will take longer to type, and will take up more space in the address bar. In truth, the Chrome browser hides WWW and HTTPS:// in the address bar because the information isn't particularly vital to display, especially given the secure lock symbol indicator is there. Simply double-click inside the address bar to see it; it's still there.

To make your domain "bare" and cleaner, remove the www prefix. The www version should be redirected to the bare domain.

• Keep it short and simple - A page on your website should have a clear purpose when it is published. Use numbers that aren't created at random because they're confusing and irrelevant.

Make the page URLs on your website descriptive of the material on the page. This improves the user experience and increases the number of click-throughs.

• Use meaningful keywords - Most URLs utilize the page or post title as the default URL, although the title can occasionally be an uncomfortably long string of characters. The shorter the URL, the better—short URLs also tend to rank higher in search results.

• Use hyphens to separate words - Use 1-2 relevant keywords in your URL to notify Google what the page should appear for in search results. Don't use more than that in your URL because it may appear spammy. Use a term that appears in the page, post - title or blog title.

In addition to the URL, you should include these keywords in the meta description of your website because Google bolds these terms in search results, making your page stand out even more.

• Eliminate stop words - Spaces are not used to separate words in URLs. Also, don't use underscores.
• Hyphens between words are used in SEO best practices because they indicate Google and users where the breaks between words are, and they are much easier to read than a long string of words.

seointel.com/news/how-to-create-seofriendly-urls 

• Use lowercase letters - Stop words (the, and, or, of, a, an, to, for, and so on) are unnecessary in URLs. To make your URL shorter and more readable, remove these words. I eliminated the word "for" from the URL of this post because it is shorter and easier to read and remember.

• Redirect old URLs - Everything after the domain name is case sensitive in URLs. Seointel.com will still take you to seointel.com, but seointel.com/News will redirect you to a 404 page instead of our news page.

Always use lowercase letters in your URLs, and if you use uppercase, be sure to update existing links and redirect to the new ones.

If you're using Squarespace for your website, you won't have to worry about case sensitivity because the platform uses lowercase by default.

• Remove dates from blog posts - You'll almost certainly make modifications to your site over time, and you might set a URL structure only to alter it later to improve usability. Permanent redirects are excellent practice and suggested in this circumstance.

For people and search engine bots, redirects ensure that there are no broken links.

Add a 301 redirect to any URL you alter or change so that if someone clicks the old URL, they are instantly sent to the new URL and don't get a broken 404 error page.

However, too many redirects can cause your site to slow down. It's fine to use one or two redirects, but it's better to make the website accessible without any redirect loops. To avoid redirects, it's critical to choose a proper URL structure at the start of your website's life.

• Spell out numbers (sometimes) - People always want the most up-to-date content, thus removing postdates from the blog post URL maintains content relevant to searches. URLs without dates can increase search engine click-through rates and help content rank for years.

There's no need to style your posts with the date unless they're about a certain event or day, and doing so can actually decrease click-through rates because people are less likely to want to read an old post from 2013 than a current source.

It also supports evergreen content, so you can go back and add fresh content to high-performing posts, then republish them with a new date without having to redirect the old URL. It's a good SEO strategy to refresh and republish outdated content.

However, for a better user experience, it's recommended to delete the post date! Users will find it easier to navigate the URL without the postdate.

For instance, when it comes to the postdate which is usually longer:

With the postdate and complete post title, go to seointel.com/news/2022/04/04/create-a-good-seo-friendly-urls-for-content.

Without the postdate and a shorter URL with keywords that still communicates what the post content is about (this is what you want! ), seointel.com/news/create-seo-friendly-urls

• SEO-friendly URLs - Numbers can be confusing, but not always.

Take measures and purchase the spelled-out form of the domain name if your business name contains a number in it and in the root domain.

The domain should then be redirected to the parent domain. As a result, if someone is confused or doesn't know how to spell something, they will very certainly land up on your website.

When it comes to numbers after the root domain, try to stay away from them as much as possible. Consider how people write. When looking for something on the internet, 4 can easily be mistaken for "for" or 2 for "to," therefore it's best to just avoid the confusion.

If the number in question is a year or a specific day, obviously utilize the digits rather than spelling it out. The longer the number, the more likely it is to be an actual number, such as 47, rather than writing out 47. You get my drift.

The use of numerals in your URL is conditional. Simply balance the factors and select whether to include or exclude them, as well as whether to spell them out or not.

Conclusion

URLs play a big part in attracting customers to your website. In SEO standpoint, it is recommended to have URLs SEO friendly to improve user experience, ranking signal as well as in link building. Always remember URLs should be in lowercase characters and avoid capital letters or uppercase letters if you don't want to lose a possible client due to 404 errors. Then of course URLs should consist of focus keywords that are directly related to your blog post. The rule of thumb in creating URLs to make it user friendly is, keep it short and simple, don't make it longer than 11 characters and no special characters.