Ever thought that URL structure matters a lot?
Yes, It does. It is very much important to optimize URL structure for better performance in Search engines and traffic. There will be some questions in your mind related to this topic and in this article, I am going to explain to you the same.
Whenever you search anything in google, Each and every time you will only get clean and easy to understand URL at the top of Google. For instance, here are the results I got when I searched Content marketing on Google.
You can see, these are very simple and short. Even anyone can remember them very easily. The reason behind their ranking is their URL structures. I am not saying that anyone can’t rank for any keyword without having a good URL structure, but it is taken into consideration while ranking any website on google.
So, let us start with the first tip.
By this heading, I want to tell you that keep your URL structure as easy as possible. As we saw in the above-given image, URL structures are very simple and people can remember them very easily.
If your URL can’t be remembered by people, you are going wrong. You should improve it. You can do that by following these tips while setting up the URL structure of your articles or your site. You will never like to Use Dynamic URL structures. They will not give users a good experience.
Dynamic URLs are the URLs which contains some symbols like “#”, “?”,”+”,”=” and more within it. They are used to navigate throughout the page if the page is bigger in size. In wordpress, If you will not setup URL structure, It will assign default URL structure of WordPress which is Dynamic.
Here is the example of dynamic URLs which is not User friendly or Human friendly.
http://www.domain.com/post.php?id=258
http://www.google.com/search?q=example+of+dynamic+URLs
As you can see, these URLs are not human friendly as if the person isn’t techy, he/she can’t remember them. Instead, Check the below given URL structures,
http://www.domain.com/blog/article-url
http://www.domain.com/article-url
In comparison with dynamic URLs, Static URLs are very easy to remember and they are Human friendly. Yes, In some cases you need Dynamic URLs and they also get indexed in Google but they are not Good when it comes to User Experience.
2. Using keywords in URL
You would like to use keywords in your URLs because it will help you to get better Search engine rankings. Whether it is Dynamic URL or simple URL, you can get better rank in search engines by using keywords in it.
It is always good to put keywords in URLs. For example, You have main keyword has Backlinks for the personal blog then your URL can be http://www.yoursite.com/backlinks-for-personal-blog to make it look better and easy to remember. Moreover, you will rank higher in search engines because you have exact match keyword in URL.
I’ve many articles on my blog ranking in a same way. One more thing you need to care about is delimiters. It is always recommend to use “-” as delimiter to seperate keywords in an article. If there is no delimiter between keywords in URL then it is very hard to read and remember. Here is the example for that,
http://www.domain.com/backlinksforlongtermblog – Hard to read and remember.
http://wwww.domain.com/backlinks-for-long-term-blog – Very easy to read and remember.
So, Now you know that simple URLs and keywords in it rocks the rankings. There is much more to know about URL structures, Let us continue the most important part.
URL Optimization for SEO
3. Length of URL
If your URLs are very long then you have to take care of the length of the URLs. It is because google don’t display whole URL in SERPs, You need to Shorten your URLs to make URL show whole URL in SERPs.
So, the optimal length for the URL to get better results is 40-60 chracters including your domain. So, Trim up your extra characters and Slugs from your URLs and make it as short as possible. Use keywords in it to make it more SEO friendly.
Here is the example of the Perfect URL.
Home page –> http://www.domain.com
Article page –> http://www.domain.com/article-keywords
Category and tag pages –> http://www.domain.com/category-or-tag
Similarly, you can put static and simple User friendly URL structures for every pages on your blog or site to get better results.
Nowadays, Google wants to give users a perfect page in which users can solve their questions without messing up anything. So, Google will only show simple and trustworthy pages to users. If your URL structure is better, you will rank higher.
Wrapping it up:
URL structures matter a lot when it comes to user experience and search engine performance. If users will able to remember it, there are more chances that they will come again to your site to take more knowledge from your blog or site.
Search engines takes URL structure into consideration and There are some cases in which any site is ranking on #1 spot without having the same keyword in whole content but only once in URL. So, We can’t underestimate URL structure.
If many URLs are providing same content then you can use Canonical tag to avoid Plagiarism. So, these are some rules you need to know when it comes to optimizing URL structure.
Yes, It does. It is very much important to optimize URL structure for better performance in Search engines and traffic. There will be some questions in your mind related to this topic and in this article, I am going to explain to you the same.
Whenever you search anything in google, Each and every time you will only get clean and easy to understand URL at the top of Google. For instance, here are the results I got when I searched Content marketing on Google.
You can see, these are very simple and short. Even anyone can remember them very easily. The reason behind their ranking is their URL structures. I am not saying that anyone can’t rank for any keyword without having a good URL structure, but it is taken into consideration while ranking any website on google.
So, let us start with the first tip.
1. Keep your URL clean
If your URL can’t be remembered by people, you are going wrong. You should improve it. You can do that by following these tips while setting up the URL structure of your articles or your site. You will never like to Use Dynamic URL structures. They will not give users a good experience.
Dynamic URLs are the URLs which contains some symbols like “#”, “?”,”+”,”=” and more within it. They are used to navigate throughout the page if the page is bigger in size. In wordpress, If you will not setup URL structure, It will assign default URL structure of WordPress which is Dynamic.
Here is the example of dynamic URLs which is not User friendly or Human friendly.
http://www.domain.com/post.php?id=258
http://www.google.com/search?q=example+of+dynamic+URLs
As you can see, these URLs are not human friendly as if the person isn’t techy, he/she can’t remember them. Instead, Check the below given URL structures,
http://www.domain.com/blog/article-url
http://www.domain.com/article-url
In comparison with dynamic URLs, Static URLs are very easy to remember and they are Human friendly. Yes, In some cases you need Dynamic URLs and they also get indexed in Google but they are not Good when it comes to User Experience.
2. Using keywords in URL
You would like to use keywords in your URLs because it will help you to get better Search engine rankings. Whether it is Dynamic URL or simple URL, you can get better rank in search engines by using keywords in it.
It is always good to put keywords in URLs. For example, You have main keyword has Backlinks for the personal blog then your URL can be http://www.yoursite.com/backlinks-for-personal-blog to make it look better and easy to remember. Moreover, you will rank higher in search engines because you have exact match keyword in URL.
I’ve many articles on my blog ranking in a same way. One more thing you need to care about is delimiters. It is always recommend to use “-” as delimiter to seperate keywords in an article. If there is no delimiter between keywords in URL then it is very hard to read and remember. Here is the example for that,
http://www.domain.com/backlinksforlongtermblog – Hard to read and remember.
http://wwww.domain.com/backlinks-for-long-term-blog – Very easy to read and remember.
So, Now you know that simple URLs and keywords in it rocks the rankings. There is much more to know about URL structures, Let us continue the most important part.
URL Optimization for SEO
3. Length of URL
If your URLs are very long then you have to take care of the length of the URLs. It is because google don’t display whole URL in SERPs, You need to Shorten your URLs to make URL show whole URL in SERPs.
So, the optimal length for the URL to get better results is 40-60 chracters including your domain. So, Trim up your extra characters and Slugs from your URLs and make it as short as possible. Use keywords in it to make it more SEO friendly.
Here is the example of the Perfect URL.
Home page –> http://www.domain.com
Article page –> http://www.domain.com/article-keywords
Category and tag pages –> http://www.domain.com/category-or-tag
Similarly, you can put static and simple User friendly URL structures for every pages on your blog or site to get better results.
Nowadays, Google wants to give users a perfect page in which users can solve their questions without messing up anything. So, Google will only show simple and trustworthy pages to users. If your URL structure is better, you will rank higher.
Wrapping it up:
URL structures matter a lot when it comes to user experience and search engine performance. If users will able to remember it, there are more chances that they will come again to your site to take more knowledge from your blog or site.
Search engines takes URL structure into consideration and There are some cases in which any site is ranking on #1 spot without having the same keyword in whole content but only once in URL. So, We can’t underestimate URL structure.
If many URLs are providing same content then you can use Canonical tag to avoid Plagiarism. So, these are some rules you need to know when it comes to optimizing URL structure.
