A Uniform Resource Locator (short URL) is the web address we want to include in a Browser to access a web page. Web URLs are also called links. Many people will click on a link to go directly to your website. So does it matter how the URL of the page for a perfect SEOURL structure is? Yes, that's it...
What exactly is the (SEO) URL structure?
A URL is an address on the Internet. It consists of a protocol, a domain name and a path. The protocol specifies how the Browser receives the information via this page
- either http:// or
- https:// (The "s" stands for safe).
The Subdomain is the part of the domain that comes before the main "root" domain. You can set up multiple subdomains, but they are essentially different websites, so you shouldn't have many subdomains if you don't really need them. Subdomains are created to organize the content of your website. You can use any string of characters for a Subdomain not just "www."!
The Domain name is the unique address where a website can be found.
The top-level domain (TLD) is for example com, org, net, and there are many more!
The path refers to the exact location of a page, post, or file.
SEO URL structure can be different
Not all websites use the same URL-structure. And that is all right.
The URL-Structure of a website depends on the individual needs of the website.
For example, the URL of an international website will likely be structured for multiple languages or locations. The URL-The structure of a blog site may be different from that of an eCommerce or membership site. And the URL-The structure of a government website is likely to be different from that of a social network.
Depending on the purpose of the website, the SEOURL-structure, but regardless of which structure is chosen, basic best practices still apply to ensure proper URL-structure.
The secure protocol "https://" is nowadays standard for most common Browser. Older certificates such as "http://" are sometimes even rejected or warned against during transactions and data exchange.
Why is the URL structure important for SEO?
URLs are the organization of your website's content. They are the link between your content and a user. The URL-structure is important primarily for these two reasons:
1. user experience - simple, speaking URLs
A good user experience is the most important factor when it comes to SEO.
Improve your user experience by creating a logical SEOURL-Structure with page hierarchies. Intuitively organized content makes your website easier for people to navigate.
You want your website to be as easy to navigate as possible.bern so that visitors can navigate the website safely and are not confused.
Not only should you structure your URLs logically, but also SEO friendly URLs use. URLs that are simple and easy to read and contain keywords that describe the content of a web page are SEO-friendly.
For example, if you are looking for information on pancakes, a URL like Pancake when deciding to click on this link.
A URL like https://www.beispiel.de/index.php?id_wca=22147&clcp29sap does not clearly explain what the landing page is about and is not friendly. Simple and Speaking URLs offer the best user experience. Optimize URLs with descriptive keywords that give a clear understanding of what the page is about.
You should use your SEO-URL-Structures optimize, because that helps search engines deliver relevant results to searchers, and searchers know exactly what they're looking at when they click the link.
2. the PageRank from Google
Good SEOURL-structure show Google what the different pages of the website are about and how they relate to each other. Also the internal linking (links to pages within your website) helps.
When you optimize your URLs for humans, you also make it easier for search engine bots to find your website. crawl and index them in order to deliver relevant content to searchers. URLs are a ranking factor for Google and other search engines.
This means that optimized SEO-URL-Structure the Google PageRank (PR) promote. PageRank is the way Google evaluates the value of a website and its Relevance for a search query.
Root domains generally have the highest PageRank and even though the use of keywords on your root pages is your Ranking you should not rely solely on the URL-Rely on keywords to rank. Avoid stuffing the URLs with every keyword and include only what is useful.
SEO-friendly URLs increase the likelihood that the link will be clicked, and this can also improve your PageRank increase
After your website has gone online and every time you URL of a page, you must change your Sitemap in the Google Search Console (re)submit. You want to submit your Sitemap so that the search engines crawl and index your pages immediately, so that the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) to keep your website up to date.
Your twelve SEO best practices for good & catchy URLs
1. follow smart & catchy URL structures
The URL-Hierarchy must definitely be established before you start building your website.
There is no hard and fast rule for the absolute best SEO-URL-structure. And URLs can be different depending on the purpose of the website.
But a URL structure that simply, logical and is easy to remember and conveys the meaning of the words used is considered the best. Design your SEOURL-The structure should be intuitive so that users and search engines can quickly and easily understand the connections between the different pages of your site. Once your SEOURL-structure, it is fairly easy to find the correct URL-select keywords for each page.
2. use a secure HTTPS protocol
HTTPS is the secure version of the HTTP protocol. A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypts the communication between your Browser and a website so that hackers can intercept the data but cannot read it.
HTTPS makes your website more credible because it instills trust in users - they feel safer providing their credit card details, address and phone number.
This seems simple, but only just under 70 % of all websites in Europe currently redirect to HTTPS.
I don't know about you, but I personally NEVER buy from a website that isn't secure. If your website only works over HTTP, you're probably losing potential customers from tech-savvy users.
HTTPS is also a GoogleRanking-signal and prefers websites with SSL. In the ChromeBrowser shows the padlock symbol in the URL-bar indicates whether the website has a secure connection or not. Click the icon to learn more about the connection.
3. hiding the prefix "www" (prefix)
The www prefix used to be used to avoid confusion because it was very obvious that it meant a website domain. Nowadays, however, it is no longer necessary to specify it.
And if you do insert it, it looks antiquated, takes longer and takes up more space in the address bar. Many Browser hide WWW and HTTPS:// in the address bar because this information is not so important for most users as it is marked with the security lock symbol. If you want to see them, just double-click in the address bar, they are still there.
Hide the www prefix to make your domain "naked" and cleaner. Redirect the www version to the naked domain.
4. edit the URL of the page so that it is relevant
When you publish a page on your website, it should have a clear purpose. Don't use randomly generated numbers that are confusing and don't Relevance have
Adapt the URLs of your website so that they describe the content of the page. This improves the user experience and can increase click-through rates.
5. keep it short and simple
Most URLs automatically use the title of the page or post as the defaultURLbut sometimes the title can be an unnecessarily long string for the URL be. The shorter the URLthe better - short URLs usually rank better, too.
6. use meaningful keywords
Use 1-2 relevant keywords in your URL and tell Google what you want the page to show up in search results for. Fill in your URL not with more keywords, because that can seem like spam. Use a Keywordwhich appears in the title of the page or post.
In addition to the URL you should also include these keywords in the Meta description of your page, as Google displays these words in bold in the search results, making your page stand out better.
7. use hyphens to separate words
URLs do not use spaces to separate words. Do not use underscores either.
SEO best practices use hyphens between words because they show Google and users where the breaks are between words, and because they're so much easier to read than a jumbled word.
8. eliminate stop words
Stop words (the, and, or, of, a, to, for, etc.) must be used in your URL do not occur. Remove these words from your URLto make them shorter and easier to read.
9. ALWAYS use lowercase letters
URLs are case-sensitive according to the domain name. This means that WolfOfSEO.com you still to https://wolf-of-seo.de/ leads, but https://wolf-of-seo.de/Blog/ takes you (in older browsers, newer ones test and correct automatically) to a 404 page instead of our contact page
Nevertheless, always use lowercase letters for your URLs and if you have used uppercase letters, update your links and redirect them to the new ones.
Squarespace automatically uses lowercase letters. So if this is your website platform, you don't need to worry about capitalization.
10. redirect old URLs - 301 redirects
It's likely that over time you'll make changes to your website and opt for an SEOURL-structure that you want to change later to improve the user experience. In this case, it is recommended to set up permanent redirects.
Redirects ensure that there are no broken links for humans and bots.
Every time you make a URL you edit or modify, you add a 301-forwarding, so that someone who is waiting for the old URL clicks, automatically to the new URL is redirected and does not see a broken 404 error page.
However, avoid too many redirects because they can slow down your page. One or two redirects are fine, but it's best to make the page accessible without redirect loops. That's why it's so important to have a good SEO at the beginning of your site.URL-structure to avoid redirects!
11. the removal of data from blog posts
If you change the date from the URL of a blog post, the content remains relevant to searchers because people always want the most up-to-date content. URLs without dates can improve search engine click-through rates and help content stay relevant for years in the Ranking remain.
As long as the post doesn't refer to a specific event or day, there's no reason to format your posts with the date. If you do, it can even lead to a drop in click-through rate, as people are less likely to want to read an outdated post from 2013 than a current source.
This way, you can update powerful posts with new content and then republish the post with a new date, without changing the old URL to have to redirect. Updating and republishing old content is a strong SEO strategy.
But overall, it's best to remove the date to ensure a good user experience! If you leave out the date, the URL easier for users to navigate.
For example with the date (it is always a few characters longer):
https://www.beispiel.com/blog/ws/2022/05/04/internal-linking
- with the full date inside.
https://www.beispiel/blog/internal-linking - without the date and a simplified URL with keywords that still explains what the post is about, makes reading and reading out for Google a lot easier!
SEO-friendly URLs - a small conclusion at the end
URLs are the building blocks of your website and, when optimized, can help drive traffic to your site. Clean SEOURL-structures work better in search, appear more trustworthy, and are easier to share.
I hope these quick best practices help you with your website URLs. Let me know if you have any questions, and drop me a line in the comments!
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