URL Structure

What is a URL?

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the web address that we enter into a browser to access a web page.

Example of our URL in Google Search Results

Web URL’s are also called links. Many people will click a link to access your website directly. So does it matter what the page URL is? Yes, it does! What your link looks like matters.

What is a URL Structure?

A URL is an address on the internet. It’s made up of a protocol, domain name, and a path.

URL Structure

• The protocol is how the browser gets the information about that page, either http:// or https:// (“s” stands for secure).
• The subdomain is the part of the domain that comes before the main “root” domain. You can create multiple subdomains, but they are essentially different website so you don’t want to have lot’s of subdomains unless your really need them. Subdomains are created to organize content on 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 is located. 
• 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.

Why does URL structure matter for SEO?

URLs are the organization of your website’s content. They’re the link between your content and a user. URL structure matters for these main two reasons:

• User experience 
  • Use a logical URL structure with page hierarchies. Intuitively organized content makes your website easier to navigate for humans.
  • Use SEO-friendly URLs. URLs that are simple, easy to read, and include keywords that describe the content on a web page are SEO-friendly
• PageRank  
  • URLs are a ranking factor in Google. This means optimized URL structures promote Google PageRank (PR). PageRank is the way Google measures the value of a web page and its relevance to a search query.
  • SEO-friendly URLs increase the likelihood of the link being clicked and this can also increase your PageRank

• Tracking in analytics — having a clean URL structure makes it easier to identify which pages are receiving what amount of traffic. You can tell which pages of the website have performed well by looking at the landing page.

SEO best practices for URLs

• Follow a good URL structure — Make your URL structure intuitive so that users and search engines can quickly and easily understand the connections between different pages on your sit
• Use HTTPS protocol — HTTPS is the secure version of the HTTP protocol. HTTPS makes your website more credible because it instills trust in users — they feel more secure making a purchase with their credit card info., address and phone number. HTTPS is also a Google ranking signal and prefers websites with SSL
• Hide the www prefix — Hide the www prefix to make your domain “naked” and cleaner. Redirect the www version to the naked domain
• Edit the page URL to be relevant — When you publish a page on your site it should have a clear purpose. Don’t use randomly generated numbers that are confusing and don’t have any relevance.
• Keep it short and simple

• Use meaningful keywords
• Use hyphens to separate words — this tells Google and users where the breaks between words are and they are so much easier to read than one all the words smashed together
• Eliminate stop words — Stop words (the, and, or, of, a, an, to, for, etc.) do not need to be in your URL.
• Use lowercase letters

• Redirect old URLs
• Spell out numbers (sometimes) — If your business name has a number in it and in the root domain, take precautions and also purchase the spelled-out version of the domain name.Then redirect it to the primary domain. That way, if someone is confused or just doesn’t know the spelling they will guarantee end up on your site.