When the term “Search Engine Optimization” pops up, some of the first few things that come up in your mind include keywords, load times, and other SEO strategies. Unfortunately, there is one factor in SEO that not many put thought into, let alone realize is an integral part of SEO: URLs. SEO-friendly URLs are vital to any SEO efforts being carried out, and without such URLs, many SEO strategies fall short of their company’s expectations.
That being said, how does one create an SEO-friendly URL? If this is the question you’re asking yourself, you’re in luck. Today, we’re going to share with you a handful of tips when making an SEO-friendly URL:
1. Keep It Simple
When creating a URL, you’re not only trying to appeal to Google. You’re also trying to appeal to real people, which is your audience. In this way, making your URL simple makes it easy for both humans and machines to understand what the page is about. As such, you must create as simple of a URL as possible for your website.
One of the ways you can do this is by eliminating words that don’t add value to the sentence. For instance, rather than having a URL that goes “https://www.yourwebsite.com/blog/what-are-the-reasons-your-car-is-slow,” it’ll be something like “https://www.yourwebsite.com/blog/reasons-your-car-is-slow.”
2. Make It Detailed
While we did tell you to make your URL simple, it is also vital to be detailed. We mean that whatever is contained in the URL should offer value and make the URL much more understandable and readable. There’s a difference between a URL that looks simple and yet is still informative versus one that contains no information at all, and the latter is what you must avoid.
Again, as you can see from the previous example, we removed unnecessary words from the URL to simplify the URL. However, we only kept the crucial words to ensure that the URL is still descriptive!
3. Remove Punctuation
If there is one thing you’ll notice about every SEO-friendly URL out there, it is the fact that none of them contains any punctuation. Sure, punctuations are vital for page titles and meta descriptions, but they should have no place in your URL. For example, rather than “yourwebsite.com/blog/why-is-my-car-so-slow?,” a more SEO-friendly URL will look like “yourwebsite.com/blog/why-is-my-car-so-slow” without a question mark.
Again, punctuations are unnecessary and will only hurt your URL’s SEO friendliness. If you notice any punctuation in your URL, get rid of them!
4. Replace Underscores
Similar to how there shouldn’t be punctuations in your URL, there shouldn’t be any underscores. Rather than those, they need to be replaced with hyphens. This is because underscores are viewed as Google as connectors, not separators. As such, if you were to write something like “why_your_car_is_slow,” it’ll look like “whyyourcarisslow” to Google. On the other hand, a hyphen separates a word, so a URL that reads “why-your-car-is-slow” will be read as “why your car is slow.”
Unless you are intentionally joining words together, replace underscores with hyphens. This makes it easier for Google to read your URL, improving your SEO considerably.
Conclusion
These are just some of the many tips you can follow to create SEO-friendly URLs that will help your website rank a lot higher. Regardless, if you haven’t implemented any of the above tips, we highly recommend doing so. It’ll take some time for you to optimize all URLs your website may have, but we promise that it is worth it. In the long run, improvements in the URL will help you rank higher, allowing you to improve your online exposure, enhance your online reach, and ensure your online success.
Internet Zone I is a California-based company offering digital services including web design, eCommerce, content writing, and more to meet the unique needs of any business. If you are looking for SEO content services and more to improve your website’s SEO, work with us today!