A URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is the address for a file that can be accessed on the Internet. Like any other part of the webpage development process there are certain best practice guidelines that should be followed when creating URLs and determining their structure. A good URL structure can help with the success of your website from a user perspective and also from a search engine optimization standpoint.
The first step to having a quality URL structure is to have descriptive and organized file names within your root directory folder, since your URL structure essentially mimics your file folder structure. For the benefit of the user, it’s important to have a simple URL that is easily understandable. It should incorporate a few keywords from the page so that the user knows what the page is about. A website’s URLs shouldn’t be page2.html, page3.html, etc. If it doesn’t include any words that explain what’s on the page it doesn’t make for a good user experience. The URL should be short and memorable so that the user can go directly to the page by typing the address into their browser. They will also be more likely to link to it if it’s short and concise.
For SEO, it’s important to try and incorporate one or two keywords into the URL because it shows up in a search engine result along with the meta title and meta description. If the word that was searched for is in the actual URL, it will appear bolded. To the person searching, this is proof that your page is relevant to what they are looking for. Using all lowercase letters in a URL is also a best practice since they are used most frequently. A URL that contains capital letters might confuse the user, since it’s not what they are used to seeing. While keywords are important, too many of them shouldn’t be used in a URL for two reasons. First, a URL shouldn’t be too long in the first place and second, a URL with too many keywords can look like spam.
There are two different types of URLs: dynamic and static. A dynamic URL is used for a page that works as a template. The content changes depending on the time and the user. The page isn’t pre-written, it’s created the moment the site is retrieved and draws from information located in a database. A good example of a dynamic URL would be the results page if you search for something on Amazon.com. The page is specific to what the searcher is looking for. It contains items that they are looking for along with other recommendations that are catered to them. Another example would be a page on a news website that is updated frequently. It’s easy to pick out a dynamic URL because it contains characters like “?” and “&”. A static URL, on the other hand, stays the same unless the actual HTML code is changed. It was believed that static URLs were better for ranking purposes since the search engine robots could crawl and index them easier, however Google states that dynamic URLs don’t have a significant disadvantage.
When it comes to URL naming and structure, be sure to spend some time following and implementing these guidelines. It will help for SEO purposes and will create a good user experience for your website visitors, who will then be more likely to return.
About the Author:
Brick Marketing is a Boston, MA based full service SEO and SEM company. For more information please call 781-999-1222 or visit http://www.brickmarketing.com.
