URLs not only hold the location of a webpage, but they also provide signals to search engine crawlers about the content of the webpage. URLs are the first thing that both, the visitors and the search engines see. Therefore, URL optimization is necessary. This blog lists 7 tips to make a proper search engine friendly URL.
A URL or Uniform Resource Locator is a web address that helps a computer to locate the resource on the internet. A URL basically consists of a protocol, a domain, and a path. Proper URL optimization benefits SEO in many ways:
- URL sends a signal to the search engine and the visitors to tell them what the webpage is about.
- URLs are a factor in the rankings of a webpage. Using keywords in URLs makes your webpage more visible.
- URLs serve as an indicator to users of social media sites what the links are about.
Go through HOW TO BOOST LOCAL SEO: A FEW SIMPLE STEPS to learn some simple techniques on how to boost SEO for website traffic. You should focus on the searches and keywords that drive traffic to your website. To track your rankings and measure SEO efforts, you can use some of the powerful tools that will help you stay on top.
The following techniques can be followed to make proper search engine friendly URL.
Most important URL Optimization tip is to create readable URLs
For a visitor, the easier it is to read a URL, the better are the chances of clicking and reading the content of the webpage. If your URL is difficult for a human to read, then how can a search engine read and crawl it? To be noted, crawlers use keywords and phrases from a URL to understand what the content is about. So, if your URL is readable, only then you can expect more web traffic.
Search engines also use the signals of the visitors to determine the engagement and the content of the webpages, and accordingly rank web pages on the search listings.
To learn more about the importance of content in SEO marketing, visit our blog and read about: IMPORTANCE OF CONTENT IN SEO MARKETING.
Always use hyphens for maximum URL Optimization
To make proper search engine friendly URL, use hyphens or underscores instead of other symbols as word separators because crawlers can read underscore and hyphens. So if you use any other symbol in your URL to separate words, it will not be read by crawlers.
Avoid the use of capital letters during URL Optimization
Using capital letters in URLs has fallen out of SEO favor from a couple of sites in the recent years while some sites still continue to use them. Unlike Microsoft operated servers, other servers are case sensitive. People use lower cases while typing in a browser to search for their requirements. Hence, using small case letters in URLs is better than using capital letters.
A useful URL Optimization tip is to add target keywords in URLs
Using focus keywords is an integral part of URL optimization. This is because keywords used in URLs come up in the SERPs. Searchers also consider URL keywords while selecting which result to click on. Another reason is that when you share links in emails, social media or other places where you can’t or haven’t used anchor text, it is the keyword in the URL that allows people who see it to know what the URL is about.
For better results on how to find target keywords click on the link below: HOW TO DO A KEYWORD RESEARCH ON GOOGLE ADS (ADWORDS) USING KEYWORD PLANNER FOR SEO BASED CONTENT‘.
Avoid numbers and symbols for maximum URL Optimization
The use of numbers and unnecessary symbols can make your URL unreadable or confusing. This will hurt your SEO and the overall ranking of your website.
Shorten long URLs
For proper URL optimization, it is preferable to create short URLs. The optimum length is 50-60 characters. Search engine crawlers can easily read long URLs, but they truncate URLs in SERPS. This might hide words that searchers are looking for. Shorter URLs are also easier to remember, to embed, to copy and paste, and to share through emails or social media.
Do not use stop words
To make proper search engine friendly URL, it is better to not use stop words like and, or, but, of, the, a, etc. Not using stop words makes the URLs shorter and more readable. Another reason is that these words are ignored by the crawlers, so they don’t really help in the rankings and just make the URLs long and complicated.
View our blog on ‘WHY SHOULD YOUR BLOG HAVE A SEO-FRIENDLY URL’, to know more about the importance of SEO-friendly URL in promoting your blog.
The key idea for URL optimization is to make URLs readable for both, the search engine crawlers and searchers. These techniques will help you get the most out of your URL and will complement your SEO efforts.
To get the maximum benefits of search engine optimization, click on MOST IMPORTANT AND EFFECTIVE ON PAGE SEO TECHNIQUES FOR SPECIALISTS.
