When it comes to optimizing your on-page SEO, one of the most important elements to focus on is the URL structure for each webpage. An SEO-friendly URL is appreciated by the search engines – aka Google – and it boosts the likelihood of your website reaching the all-important first page of search results.
However, there is a problem with this aspect: are there any SEO URL tactics that are even effective? At first glance, you might struggle to come up with any methods to improve the URL structure.
Yet as the following guide demonstrates, there are numerous steps you can take towards achieving an SEO-friendly URL for your site.
What is the best URL structure for SEO?
If you want to create a friendly URL structure, the process is thankfully an easy task. Most website building platforms allow you to edit the URL effortlessly – you just need to know how to change it for the better.
For instance, a generic URL will have an appearance like this:
BuilderBob.com/djdksjd-9902/sj3pi
This mix of letters, symbols, and numbers are not just confusing – it is not helping the SEO efforts of the webpage that it represents. At all. The URL structure is not only failing to supply details about the website to search engines but also for the potential audience it is attempting to target.
To avoid this superfluous URL structure, you need to change it up. When doing this, there are two points to keep in mind. The first point is to keep the URL length short, if possible. Secondly, you should incorporate the main target keywords for each page. Say you have a page that is advertising a kitchen remodel service in Chicago. The URL structure could take this form:
BuilderBox.com/Chicago-kitchen-remodel
As you can see, the URL is now in much better shape. It is concise and straight to the point. It includes a target keyword that will be used in relevant search queries. Most importantly, both search engines and users can easily understand the page relates a kitchen remodeler in Chicago.
There is also an added benefit of gaining favor with users. It can also improve your link building efforts. For instance, when a person wants to use a source to support their own content, they will know your page is suitable simply due to its URL.
How do you produce an SEO-friendly URL structure?
As mentioned before, changing the URL structure is made straightforward by many different website platforms. As an example, there is the Advanced SEO Friendly URLs add-on that can be used with PrestaShop. This add-on means that you can change up and improve the URL structure SEO with ease.
Due to its popularity, we will go through how you can edit the URL structure with WordPress.
Whenever you create a new post or page on WordPress, a URL is automatically generated based on the post/page’s title and settings. To edit the URL, simply click on the “Edit” button that is located below the title and beside the URL.
Before actually editing the URL, you will want to dive into WordPress’ settings page. You can do this by clicking on the “Settings” section and then visiting “Permalinks”. At this point, you will see various different choices when it comes to altering the URL structure. However, to ensure the keyword in URL SEO aim is maximized, ensure you select the “Post name” option.
Why is “Post name” the best pick? Firstly, you prevent meaningless aspects like the date from appearing in the URL. You also avoid a “Plain” URL, the type that offers no useful information. With “Post name”, a keyword-based URL is produced automatically based on the page’s title.
Ways to optimize your URL
You know how to produce an SEO-friendly URL. You understand how it can be edited to match your keyword-based needs. Now here are some extra tips for crafting the perfect URL structure.
- Stick to a short URL length: Google SEO URL length guidelines state the URL should target for four or five words at most. If it goes beyond that fifth-word limit, Google algorithms will give them a lot less attention. If you are struggling to hit this low number, your main keywords should be inserted within the beginning of the URL.
- Skip unnecessary words: There are SEO-friendly words, and there are words that do not fall under that definition. These include the likes of “and”, “the”, and “to”. Skip these words, so you maximize your URL length and stick with your targeted keywords.
- Use hyphens: You should generally avoid implementing symbols within the URL structure. However, there are two notable exceptions. These are slashes (/) and hyphens (-). Regarding the latter, hyphens are important to separate the words within the URL. Oh, and skip using underscores (_) to break the words up – Google recommends that you should simply stick with hyphens.
- Refine the hierarchy: The URL hierarchy is made up of the categories that precede a webpage (if applicable). A logical hierarchy is important for boosting the success levels of your URL optimization. This should look something like this: BuilderBob.com/building-services/house-extensions. As the hierarchy is easy to understand, Google and users both have a greater chance of understanding exactly what the page is about.
- Test it out: Even if you feel you have covered all bases, it is still recommended to use an SEO-friendly URL test. This test will spell out any possible errors with your current URL structure, and you can then use this information to fix these issues.
At Click Intelligence, we specialize in managing SEO campaigns. As a result, we know how all on-page SEO aspects work. One such element is the URL structure. When you overlook URL optimization, your website will be penalized by Google.
Fortunately, as this guide demonstrates, putting together a strong URL structure is easy. In essence, it just needs to have the right targeted keywords, be short in word length, and incorporate hyphens to separate each word.
