Tips For Creating SEO Friendly URLs

SEO friendly URLs are addresses understandable by both search engines and users. These URLs may contain keywords or phrases that represents the page’s content.

How to create URLs which are SEO friendly? We will discuss about the best practices and tips on creating SEO friendly URLs to enhance the user experience and search engine rankings.

Anatomy of URL

A URL is the online address entered in the browsers search bar by the users to visit the website. URL is made up of various components. It includes:

• Protocol
• Domain name
• Sub domain
• Subfolder
• Slug

Protocol

The protocol is at the beginning of the URL; it defines that how the browser is going to communicate to the server that host the page. http:// is used to ensure the security and the accuracy of the delivered data.

Nowadays. https:// is more used to improve the security. By getting SSL certificate you can minimize the risk of data getting stolen by third parties like passwords, card numbers and all the personal details.

Domain Name

A domain name refers to the website’s name. When visiting a specific page, users enter the website’s address. Domain has two components, the name and domain extension.

It is important to pick an appropriate domain name as it impacts the accessibility of the website. It should be precise, easy to remember and relevant to the website’s niche.

Sub Domain

A sub domain is a part of domain, that is used to create separate sections of the website. It is added as a prefix to the domain.

Sub domain gives an excellent structure and user-friendly navigation. It can be used to focus on specific keywords to increase the relevancy of the website.

Subfolder

Subfolder are directories created in the domain to organize the relevant material together. This method stands out when your website offers different products and services.

By keeping products in their respective subfolders makes a good logical structure, which is easy to explore.

Slug

A slug is portion that serves as an identifier of the page. It is precise phrase or a keyword that gives the idea of the page. It is included in URL after the domain and directories.

Mostly slugs are automatically created depending on the page title or heading. You can manually edit the slug to make the URL search engine friendly by inserting a relevant keyword. 

How to create SEO Friendly URLs

Creating SEO friendly URLs requires following steps:

Static vs Dynamic URLs

First decide which URL to use static or dynamic on the basis of the website’s goals. Static URL does not change without the changes made to the website’s structure. Whereas dynamic URL is like customizable web address that changes on the basis of search queries.

Keyword Research

Now next thing to do is find relevant keywords for your website. Keyword research tells that what your target market is looking for or what phrases are they using to find the product that resembles yours. Now carefully choose a keyword that perfectly fits for your product and place it in the URL. Remember that, the keyword you’re choosing does not make the URL too long. 

However, you can place long-tail keywords in your content which will help you in getting higher ranking on the SERP, because their volume is good and the competition is low.

Using Keywords in Page Title

Use the keywords to create a page title. Page title is considered as one of the most critical parts of SEO. It must be the most suitable keyword according to the page’s content.

It helps in increasing the chances of the page to rank higher and increase organic traffic. Avoid keyword stuffing as it is considered as negative approach in SEO.

• Removing Special Characters
  Remove the special characters from the permalink as it confuses the search engine crawlers and makes hard to understand the content on the page.
• Including Primary Keywords
  Adding the main keyword in the URL helps search engines in determining how relevant a search query is to the website. 
• Use Lowercase Characters in URL
  URLs are case sensitive, so it is better to use lowercase letters to avoid any ambiguity.
• Keep URLs short
  Keep the URL simple and short to enhance the user experience 
• Hyphens (-) vs Underscores (_)
  When deciding between hyphens and underscores, it is a better practice to use hyphens in your URLs as they are easy to read and understand by both people and search engines.

Include Breadcrumbs

Include breadcrumbs aa they act as a navigational tool that assists the users in understanding their location on the website. Adding breadcrumbs makes it simpler for the search engine to index and provides additional information about the website.

Test URLs

Test all the URLs of your website to verify that the links are working well. Incase of any error, resolve it as soon as possible.

Does changing URLs affect SEO?

Changing URLs helps in get better ranking on the SERPs. You can use Prestashop url clean module for automatically optimizing your URLs.