URLs for SEO are an important element that will have a positive impact on your rankings. If you do it right. Best practices in SEO will mostly only focus on key points like using the most important keywords on your website, e.g. in Meta descriptionen, title tags, Alt text of images and page text. Considering the fact that more than 3.5 billion searches are made on Google every day, it is extremely important for you and your website to make it as easy as possible for Google to understand and categorize your website.
The use of a strong and clear URL structure could help you to be placed better than your competitors.
In the following we will explain to you how you can URL-structure to the next level.
Why are clean URL structures so important in SEO?
URLs are an essential element in SEO that is often underestimated. Here are the main reasons why a well-structured URL is so important:
Keyword relevance
The inclusion of keywords in the URL can improve the visibility of a website in search results. Keywords in the URL help search engines better understand the content of the page. But be careful: Keyword stuffing should be avoided in order not to be classified as spam.
User experience
A clear and easy to understand URL helps the user to recognize the content of the page even before clicking. This not only improves the user experience, but also increases the likelihood that the user will actually visit the page.
Crawling and indexing
Search engine crawlers have an easier time finding a cleanly structured URL to index. This is especially important for large and complex websites, where efficient indexing by search engines plays a major role.
Confidence building
A clear and logical URL-structure looks more professional and trustworthy. Unclear or misleading URLs can put users off, even if the content of the page is high quality.
Easier linking
A concise and descriptive URL is much easier to share - both online and offline. This increases the chance of Backlinks and social shares, which can have a positive impact on SEO.
All in all, URLs are more than just addresses for web pages; they are a tool that, if used correctly, can significantly improve visibility and user experience. Therefore, it is advisable, already in the planning phase of a website, to pay attention to the URL-structure to pay appropriate attention.
Match SEO URLs with page titles
The connection between your URL and your page title can improve your search engine rankings. One way to achieve this is to use the URL-structure to the page title. Compare afterwards the pages with this practice and without it.
Let's say your page title is "get rich with crypto". When a user performs a Google search and clicks through to your page, it is expected that the URL of this page matches the page title - and the page content matches both.
This not only helps search engines index your site, but also builds trust and authority with your audience. Your URL should then look something like this.
Page title: Get rich with crypto
The SEO friendly URL:
https://www.domain.com/reich-werden-mit-krypto
Remove unnecessary words
If you have a good SEO URL-If you want to keep your URLs as short as possible, you should keep your URLs as short as possible.
Go with the URL structure never more than four sub-folders deep. Avoid filler words, numbers and symbols that do not match your keywords. Instead, use short words that directly match your keywords. Underline important words to emphasize your URL and avoid umlauts, which do not work well in URLs.
Your URLs should address two audiences: Google and its users. If the topic of your page is not quickly identified by a look at the URL is to be understood, it is not optimized for SEO. Words that do not make sense are considered redundant and can be removed. The website optimization company Yoast has compiled a list of stop words in its knowledge database, which are among the most common words in the German language. The list includes words such as "und" and all possible articles.
An example of a URL, which contains stop words, would be:
https://www.domain.com/wie-man-seine-url-structure-for-seo-optimized
The same URL, which has been optimized for SEO by removing stop words, is:
https://www.domain.com/seo-url-optimize-structure
Avoid punctuation
Like stop words, punctuation marks can also be regarded as non-essential characters. But they deserve to be explained in a separate section. With the advent of Content-Marketing practices and companies that invest heavily in developing helpful resources to answer common questions, your page title could be a question. Or it could contain commas, parentheses, quotation marks, etc.
While punctuation is perfectly fine in SEO elements like title tags and meta descriptions, you shouldn't use it in your URLs. They only cause confusion for search engines and distraction for users, which will have a negative impact on your search engine ranking.
Use hyphens
Punctuate descriptive words within your URLto improve readability for users and search engines. In the SEO community, there is always a discussion about hyphens and underscores and which format Google prefers. Interestingly, Google does not treat hyphens and underscores the same when indexing URLs. Hyphens are considered to be word separators that make the readability of the URL improve, while underscores are treated as word connectors.
Example:
https://www.domain.com/seo-optmierte-url-structure
If Google were to be considered "SEO optimized URL-structure".
https://www.domain.com/seo_optmierte_url_structure
Would read Google as "seooptmierteurlstruktur".
So Google reads hyphens more easily and is thus up for your URL-Structure advantageous
Avoid dynamic parameters for SEO URL structures
A dynamic URL is a "URL, which results from the search of a database-driven website or the URL of a website that executes a script." They often contain characters such as ?, &, %, +, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi and are limited to E-commerce-sides usual.
Whenever possible, you should avoid URLs with dynamic parameters, as search engines prefer static, SEO-friendly URLs with a logical structure and descriptive keywords.
When your Content-management system automatically creates URLs with dynamic parameters, you can use a link shorteningPlugin more control over the creation of your URL and thus bring about the various parameters.
With a link shortening tool you can for example:
https://www.domain/xyzproduct/i?HAPL=u#abc43567q
to nike.sneakers/running.
Avoid subfolders
Your URLs should be as simple and as short as possible. URLs often contain many subfolders and this structure can make it difficult for search engines to find your page. crawl. To create SEO-friendly URLs, keep them clean by limiting the use of subfolders.
A URL with subfolders could be:
https://www.domain.com/2017/11/09/wie-kann-ich-kryptowährungen-kaufen
With an SEO-friendly URL the subfolders would be removed as follows:
https://www.domain.com/wie-kann-ich-kryptowährungen-kaufen
Go with the URL Never structure more than four sub-folders deep. Avoid filler words, numbers and symbols that don't match your keywords. Instead, use short words that directly match your keywords. Underline important words to emphasize your URL and avoid umlauts, which do not work well in URLs.
Limit your redirects
If you use too many redirects to your website, it can cause your website to slow down. Slower websites usually have a higher bounce rate. A high bounce rate is a sign to Google that users don't like your website.
For the search engines, it may be that the redirects are not tracked correctly (or not at all). This means that these Ranking-signals may not be taken into account.
Avoid the risk and limit redirects when possible. If absolutely necessary, use a 301-forwarding for a permanent forwarding that is between 90 and 99 % of the Link-Juice to the forwarded page.
A 301 Redirect is a quick and easy way to redirect old URLs to new pages. To ensure that the old URL is redirected to the new page, you need to use the right code framework. For this you can use e.g. a Plugin on your website.
There are also a few other ways to redirect old URLs to new pages. Whatever you decide, it's important that you have the shortest possible redirect chains.
Use a descriptive domain
Domains are composed of three parts:
- Top-level domain (TLD)
- Domain name
- Optional Subdomain
Using a descriptive domain that is relevant to your business and contains your most important keywords will improve readability for users.
The simpler a domain or URL for people to read, the better it is for search engines, as search engines increasingly focus on accessibility and usability as a ranking factor.
So, a rule of thumb for creating SEO URLs would be to use a descriptive, memorable domain that can be easily read by both users and search engines.
Shorter is better
A key element of an optimized URL is the readability. The goal is to create a URL structured in such a way that it can be easily indexed by search engines and improves search engine rankings by default. Lengthy, complex URLs should be avoided.
Develop instead a URL-structure for your website that follows the principle "shorter is better".
Avoid URLs like this:
https://www.domain.com/diese-kryptowährungen-werden-imjahr-2023-durch-die-decke-gehen-und-dir-hohe-gewinnen-bringen
Instead, write the above link in an SEO-friendly URL like these around:
https://www.domain.com/besten-kryptowährungen-2023
Use lowercase letters and standard characters
SEO-friendly URLs support Google's readability guidelines. Therefore, creating URLs that use lowercase letters and standard characters is a best practice to improve search engine rankings.
Upper case letters mixed with lower case letters can create a URL make it confusing. This structure also confuses search engines and users, so you should avoid it at all costs.
Common non-standard characters in URLs are those we see in dynamic URLs, such as %, &, #, @. Some Content-Management systems also insert non-standard characters into document files such as PDFs. So make sure you check the structure before you share your links.
Avoid URLs like this:
https://www.domain.com/beste%-methode&-für%-SEO-freundliche-URL-Structures?
Write instead the above URL as follows:
https://www.domain.com/beste-seo-url-strcture
Buy short domains that contain keywords
Domains are important when it comes to SEO, even if they are not as important as they used to be, so you don't need to throw your domain away. You should keep this tip in mind for future websites.
Domains that are short and have an important Keyword for your business rank better. People often link to your website by linking their name - if you are a Keyword in your domain name will help you rank for it.
Another SEO factor that Google pays attention to when competitors are neck and neck is brand queries. If the name of your website is a frequently searched keyword, this will have a positive effect on your position.
What should be considered when URL structures change?
The change of the URL-Changing the structure of an existing website is like changing the room numbers during a party while the guests are already there. Confusion is inevitable, and you could lose a few guests - or in your case, you could lose a few guests. Traffic, Ranking and ultimately also turnover. So, what should you bear in mind when taking this big step?
Planning is the key
Before you lift a finger, you should think about why you want to use the URL-structure and what improvements you hope to see. In other words, does it make sense in terms of usability? Crawling and the Keyword-Strategy?
Create backup
It's like a safety net at the circus. Before you make any changes, make a full backup of your website. If something goes wrong, you can restore everything quickly.
Set up 301 redirects
The most important rule of all: don't lose guests! With 301 redirects you are telling the search engines that the old URL now points to the new one. That helps Ranking and direct confused visitors to the right page.
Update internal links
Imagine you finally find your favorite store in a shopping mall and then it's closed. That's exactly how it feels to the user when internal links go nowhere. So, update your internal links so that they go to the new URL-structure fit.
Update sitemap
Yours Sitemap is like the table of contents of your book. After restructuring, you need to bring it up to date. Download the updated Sitemap then in the Google Search Console and others Webmaster-Tools high.
Monitoring and adaptation
After the changes are live, you should keep an eye on the performance. Use tools like Google Analytics and the Search Console to check the Traffic and the Ranking to monitor. If you notice that certain pages are experiencing a slump, it is important to react quickly.
So, restructuring URLs is definitely not a kid's birthday party, but with the right plan and tools, it becomes more of a treat than a nightmare. But remember, if you're going to URL-If you change the structure, do it right. Otherwise, the party could fall flat on its face.
Conclusion on SEO URL structures
In conclusion, it can be said that the URL-structure is an important element of SEO. A good URL-structure is an essential component for successful Search engine optimization. It supports the search engine crawler during indexing and helps to find the page on Google more easily. When you create a URL structured and visually appealing, you can contribute to a better rating of the page. In addition, you increase the click rate in the SERPs, which leads to the page being found more easily.
- Avoid special characters. Avoid symbols and special characters that appear in the URL-link will appear. This can hinder search engine optimization and should therefore be avoided.
- Use relevant keywords. Try to include relevant keywords in your URL to use. Search engines can better find out what your page is about.
- Pay attention to the structure. Avoid unnecessarily long URLs and try to keep them simple and self-explanatory. Also the structure of the URL should be clear and meaningful.
- Eliminate stop words. If possible, you should remove so-called stop words such as "and", "the" or "with" from your URL remove. This makes it shorter and can be understood more quickly.
- Use Lower case letters. Do not use capital letters in your URLsince most search engines do not support this. Use only lowercase letters to avoid problems.
The future prospects with regard to the URL-structure are also promising. The search engines are getting better at indexing pages that have a URL-structure that is considered logical and useful. That is why it is important to URL-Structure to continuously monitor and optimize to improve SEO performance.
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