URL Optimization Best Practices

Understanding the basics of URL optimization is essential to creating great URL structures that help search engines and users alike. If you want to boost your search engine visibility, keep reading because this article shares some great information!

What Is a URL?

A URL, or "Uniform Resource Locator", is the web address that directs users to a specific webpage on the internet. It serves as a unique identifier for content, helping both search engines and users locate specific pages.

What Is URL Optimization?

URL optimization is the process of structuring URLs to be as clear, relevant, and concise as possible. A properly optimized URL uses keywords, minimizes complexity, and aligns with SEO best practices to improve page ranking and user click-through rates. Users and crawlers alike should instantly be able to discern what a page is about based on the URL alone.

Why Are URLs Important in SEO?

URLs play a critical role in SEO by helping search engines understand page content and relevance. Optimized URLs improve site navigation, and crawlability, make content easier to find, and can impact a page’s ranking potential. Here are a few reasons why URLs are vital for SEO:

• Relevance to Keywords: URLs containing targeted keywords give search engines clear signals about page content, improving ranking potential.
• User Readability: A concise, readable URL structure enhances user experience and improves metrics like session duration, and also pages per session. The main reason URLs improve metrics like these is that users will find your URL structure more intuitive and will be more easily able to find the type of content they need.
• Crawl Efficiency: A well-structured URL makes it easier for crawlers to navigate and find pages on your website. By making it easier for crawlers to navigate your website you will improve your crawl budget.
  

Why Are URLs Important to User Experience?

URLs improve user experience by being logically structured and intuitive to use. By making your URL structures simple users will be able to understand where they need to go in order to be served the type of content they need or want most. Users appreciate clean, descriptive URLs that set clear expectations for page content.

SEO URL Best Practices

By utilizing the best practices shown below you'll ensure that your URL structures will help improve many aspects of how crawlers and users interact with your content. In addition to improving these things, you'll also help improve your content's visibility in search rankings as one of the most important things to optimize is your URL. Read through the best practices shared below and figure out how you can apply these to your own content strategies going forward.

Plan URL Structures in Advance

Before you start writing out any content you need to figure out what pages you need to create. What is the main topic or service you need to write about? Once you understand the main topic, service, or niche you will write about you need to break it down into pillar pages and topic clusters. As you break down your content you'll naturally find primary concepts that rise to the surface - these are your pillar pages. You'll also find concepts subordinate to these primary concepts - these are your topic clusters.

To understand more about pillar pages you'll want to read more on pillar pages to understand how to utilize and structure them.

To understand topical clusters you'll want to read more about them in our article breaking them down so you can create your own clusters.

The importance of making this distinction comes into play not only when you structure your URLs, but also when it comes to fleshing out your internal linking structures. Planning URL structures in advance will help you better understand which pages you need to write, and also help you identify the hierarchy of each of these pages. In addition to these benefits, you'll also get a solid content calendar established so you can begin carrying out keyword research, content creation, and other important aspects of your content plan.

Choose Between Flat or Hierarchical URL Structures

Once you determine the type of URLs you need, you can determine which structure you plan to use. Some swear by flat URL structures, and others swear by hierarchical structures. There are pros and cons to both, so let's dive into each type so you can decide for yourself.

Flat URL Structure

Flat URL structures are those in which most pages are at a URL depth of 1, meaning they are directly accessible from the root domain without layers of subdirectories. An example of a depth-1 URL would be: example.com/page-title. Although some pages may be deeper, a flat structure typically prioritizes direct links from the root.

The main benefit of a flat URL structure is that it offers clear, simple paths for crawlers, making it easier to ensure all pages are indexed quickly. Flat structures work well for small to medium websites with limited content types.

However, flat URL structures lack hierarchical context, which can reduce relevance for complex content. They can be harder for users to navigate on large sites and may limit your SEO opportunities by not providing keywords in subdirectory paths.

Hierarchical URL Structure

Hierarchical URL structures organize content into a clear hierarchy, often using categories and subcategories to reflect logical relationships between pages. For example, a hierarchical URL might look like: example.com/category/subcategory/page-title. This structure is beneficial for larger websites or those with varied content types, as it allows for easier navigation and clearer content organization.

While a hierarchical structure can improve SEO by adding contextual relevance, it does require more planning. Overly deep URLs can slow down crawling and indexing, as search engines may prioritize top-level pages over deeply nested ones. Careful planning helps prevent issues with crawlability and reduces the risk of creating URLs that are too complex or inflexible.

However, with a well-planned hierarchical structure, you can optimize your content for both users and search engines, offering a clear path through related topics. This structure supports a more customized approach to content organization and provides better opportunities to enhance keyword relevance through subdirectory paths.

User Modern URL Conventions

Consistent naming conventions make URLs predictable and easy to manage. For example, use lowercase letters, and hyphens to separate words, and avoid special characters. A standardized approach enhances readability and reduces errors.

Use Hyphens

Hyphens improve readability and are preferred by search engines over underscores. For instance, "https://example.com/seo-friendly-urls" is clearer and more SEO-compliant than "https://example.com/seo_friendly_urls."

Use Lowercase Letters

Always use lowercase letters in URLs to maintain consistency and avoid duplicate content issues. Uppercase letters can create confusion, as "Example.com/SEO-Url" is treated differently from "example.com/seo-url."

Avoid Dates (In Most Cases)

Including dates in URLs can make content appear outdated and reduce click-through rates. If your page deals with important time-sensitive content then the date matters. However, for evergreen content, opt for date-free URLs to keep the URL relevant and timeless, such as "https://example.com/url-optimization-tips."

But obviously if you are writing news articles, stock tips, advice or content specific to a particular year or date -you'll absolutely want to include the date.

Use Relevant Keywords

Before writing your content you should already know what keywords you need to target with each page. By default this means you will already know which keywords you need to target in your URLs. Include targeted keywords in your URLs to signal relevance to search engines. For instance, "https://example.com/url-optimization-guide" is more likely to rank for "URL optimization" than a generic URL. Avoid keyword stuffing, and keep URLs focused and clear.

Avoid Repeating Keywords

While you want to use relevant keywords in your URLs, you want to avoid stuffing keywords needlessly into them. For example if you have a hierarchical URL structure and you're targeting the keyword "dog food" you don't want a URL like: example.com/dog-food/dog-food-brands/pedigree/small-dog/wet-dog-food. A URL like this is spamming your target keyword and will potentially cause search engines to penalize your page because it can be seen as manipulative as opposed to helpful.

Instead utilize careful planning and forethought by optimizing your entire URL structures. You can optimize the previous URL structure like: example.com/dog-food/pedigree/puppy/wet. While this URL is on the longer end at a depth of 4, it is detailed and logically structured enough that crawlers and users alike would still be able to find and understand the page just using the URL.

Summarize Content on Page

The URL should act as a summary of the content the page covers. For example the URL mentioned in the previous example "example.com/dog-food/pedigree/puppy/wet", tells you the page is about a type of wet puppy food sold by Pedigree. You should always strive for these types of URLs because they are easy to understand by all (users and crawlers alike).

Concise URL

Short, simple URLs are easier to read, remember, and share. Aim for 50-60 characters and avoid vague or ambiguous meanings. It should be as short as it can possibly be while still conveying a clear summary of the page contents.

Avoid Filler Words

Words like "and," "the," and "of" add little value to URLs and can be removed to keep URLs concise. For instance, "https://example.com/best-practices-seo" is cleaner and more efficient than "https://example.com/best-practices-for-seo" and they both convey the same exact meaning.

Think of Your Users

Users prefer clear and relevant URLs that make it easy for users to see what types of content exist on your website. By doing these things mentioned in the list you won't just be improving your ability to rank, you'll improve many other aspects of user-related metrics as well. Always design URLs with users in mind, as a positive user experience contributes to better engagement and SEO results.

If a user is currently on the "example.com/dog-food/pedigree/puppy/wet" page and they want to see what other types of dog foods you carry - aside from pedigree - the user can quickly tell from the URL that if they visit the "dog-food" subdirectory that they'd likely find other brands of dog food. The reason the user can deduce this is because we have taken careful consideration of the names and structure of our example URLs.

How Can Utilizing URL Best Practices Help Your SEO?

By utilizing best practices for your URLs you'll improve your crawl budget, the efficiency of the crawlers, and you'll also improve various user-related metrics that will both help improve the visibility of your content. In addition to improved visibility, you'll also experience an improvement in your ability to rank as well.

How URLs Help Crawl Budgets

By following best practices for URL structure, you can help crawlers use their crawl budget efficiently. If URLs are poorly optimized or include errors, crawlers may spend valuable budget interpreting duplicate or redundant pages. Well-optimized URLs, on the other hand, allow crawlers to focus on important content, improving indexing efficiency and ensuring valuable pages are crawled more frequently.

How URLs Help User Retention

By utilizing these best practices you'll ensure that users are more intuitively able to navigate from page to page in search of the content they need. If you're more easily able to navigate your current users around on your own website the less likely they'll be to leave your pages in search of the answers they need. Help them find the answers they need by ensuring your URLs clearly point them in the right direction in the first place.