The online market is getting competitive each day and keeping your pace up is the need of the hour. One of the best ways to be updated with the online marketing world is to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to its full potential.
When we talk about SEO, we usually think that it is all about targeted keywords, however, it is more than that. One of the lesser-known ways of SEO optimization is URL optimization and not many are aware of its importance.
In this article, we will not only highlight the importance of URL optimization, but we will also provide you with some tips on how to do it.
While you ensure SEO optimization on your blogs and articles, you must also pay heed to URL optimization so that you are found by your targeted audience easily. Making a website and publishing SEO-friendly content every day is not much of a big deal when compared to URL optimization, because an optimized URL will help you stand out from the 3.5 billion searches on Google every day and reach your audience in a more cohesive manner.
What is a URL?
Starting with the basics, first, let’s understand what a URL is. For starters, the URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. This is basically the web address that appears on your address bar when you open a file or a site on the World Wide Web. It can usually be accessed by everyone and anyone at any given time but if it is protected with certain accessibility securities, then only those with access will be able to open it.
URL can be used for both, website address or for a file in the form of video, audio, pdf, image, etc.
Now that you have understood the basics of what a URL is, let’s have a look at what are good URLs and what are the bad ones.
Good and Bad URL structure SEO
| Good URLs | Bad URLs |
| /category/lipstick/maybelline | /this%20is%20a%20bad%20url%20 |
| /service-name | /p=26648 |
| /service-name-location | /ViewPressRel.asp?aId=263127 |
Why is URL optimization important in SEO?
As we talked about it before, not many people are aware of URL optimization, which is one of the best tricks to boost your site. However, those who are, are using this trick to reap maximum benefits. Have a look below at what the top benefits of using an optimized URL are and why you need this to include in your SEO strategy.
- A good URL structure SEO will help the engine crawlers to understand your web page topic and by making a connection between those pages, it will ensure that your web page gets found in relevant searches.
- Depending on your SEO practice, URL optimization will aid your webpage with ranking and will also push your site higher up in the searches of the search engines.
- A well-structured URL will help your users to navigate your site easily, which will also determine how long they spend time on your site. The more time they spend on your site, the better it is as the Google algorithm will boost it on the search engine.
The best tips for URL optimization
Match your URL with your page content
Search engine crawlers will always check your URL first and see if it corresponds with the content on your page. Thus always keep your URLs similar to the content that you have on your site.
Make simpler URLs
Simpler URLs are easy to read, be it machines or humans. Check if your URL has redundant words that have no meaning and remove them. The easier and simpler your URL would be, the better results you will get.
Make descriptive URLs
Making your URLs descriptive will go a long way. Ensure that your URL is fulfilling the intent, i.e. it is readable and the visitors could easily remember it. Moreover, make sure that it sticks very close to your brand’s message. The more specific and detailed a URL is, the Google algorithm would give it more priority in the search engines
Use lower case letters in your URLs
Using lowercase letters in the URL increases readability. Using uppercase letters in the URL might look messy and confuse the visitors. Also, the Google algorithm prefers lowercase letters to be used in the SEO-optimized URLs.
Avoid using punctuations in the URLs
If you want to make your URL more readable and memorable for the visitors, then you must exclude all the punctuations from it, even if the URL sounds grammatically incorrect. Punctuations in the URL confuse the visitors and Google algorithms, which can be a great setback for you.
Use hyphens or dash instead of underscores
When you use underscores in your URL, the Google algorithm sees it as a single URL and hinders with readability, which can cause problems for your audience to find you on the search engine. If you want to break up the words use hyphens or dash instead to ensure that your URL readability is utmost.
Include primary keywords in the URL
When making your URL SEO-friendly using primary keywords in it is one of the best practices. As SEO depends on using the right keyword at the right place, using it in the URL while keeping in mind that the particular keyword that you are using is matching with the intent of the page will not only help you in ranking on the search engine but also be visible to your visitors and target audience.
Webpage redirects management is important
Webpage redirects are one of the worst things for your visitors’ experience. Not only would it increase bounce rates on your website, but it will also pull your ranking down easily and rapidly. However, you can avoid this by making your URLs SEO-friendly. This would make the user experience better and help Google Algorithm to rank your site better as well.
Use static URLs instead of Dynamic ones
There are two kinds of URLs, Static URLs, and Dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs have symbols and are similar to the URLs of e-commerce sites. However, static URLs are more cohesive and represent the intent of the page in an easier way. Therefore, using static URLs will help the Google Algorithm to rank you on the search engines and make you visible to your target audience as well.
Conclusion
This was all from our side. We hope that this short guide on URL optimization would work in your favor. Not only have we highlighted the importance for SEO- friendly URL optimization, but we have also given tips on how you can do it. SO next time when you are planning your URL optimization strategy, do keep this guide handy.
