The maxim “what counts is the first impression” is a reality in the digital environment. A friendly URL is good for Google and good for the user – and the goal of any website or blog is to be easily found. An organized and “clean” address is one of the first lessons in SEO and a fundamental condition for good Digital Marketing practices.
Optimizing the user experience implies planning a friendly URL for the visitor and search engines, with a hierarchical structure that is easy to understand. Url is the abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator and means the standard resource locator used. Basically, it is the address that allows the location of folders, files, websites, etc … Both on the internet and on the intranet. There are several ways to create a friendly url, let’s see some of them.
What is the structure of a friendly url?
To better understand the importance of an url that is easy to understand and find, it is necessary to understand its hierarchical structure:
- Protocol (http, https etc.)
- Domain https://www.vancouverclinic.com
- Path https://www.vancouverclinic.com/blog
- Resource https://www.vancouverclinic.com/blog/meet-the-doctors
Friendly url: what to do and what not to do when using this feature
✔ Use the right keywords
A page created in a domain must have a clear purpose, and it is essential that there is a study of relevant keywords to the subject in question, in a descriptive, short and personalized way. So that your site is found by the right people and crawlers. Terms with spelling variations deserve extra attention: give preference to the best opportunities for your strategy and your business objective. For that, just use a good tool to map keywords and make the best decisions.
✔ Anticipate and build a URL with solid structure
Defining a URL hierarchy on a website aims to ensure that this address is adjusted to rapid changes in the digital environment. In this way, to avoid confusing addresses, which hinder the user experience and prevent your products or services from being found by search engines. Keep everyone involved in the project well informed about the company’s direction for the coming years, in order to implement best practices and avoid conflicting urls.
✔ Minimize dynamic URL strings
There are different ways to minimize dynamic URL strings, through fixes for different platforms. A good alternative is to use absolute URLs, which ensure the correct link and are more SEO friendly.
✔ Consolidate more than one version of your website
There are two main versions of a domain indexed in search engines, with or without www. In addition, it is possible to insert a secure (https) and non-secure (http) version. For the SEO not to be affected, it is necessary to establish a 301 redirect, in Google Search Console, or through a canonical tag (several versions of the same page).
When search engines detect duplicate content, it is necessary to adopt a canonical URL, robots use a special algorithm to identify duplicate pages and choose only one URL to represent the group in the search results, while the rest of the web pages are filtered.
✔ Create an XML Sitemap
Sitemaps are extremely useful for ranking in search engines. They contain all the pages (URLs) of the website, helping users and robots to find or navigate the page. An XML Sitemap is designed primarily for human users, as it is more comprehensive, easier to understand, static and consistent.
❌ Do not use particles between terms
Addition (“and”) and alternation (“or”) particles are not necessary in the elaboration of a url, as well as prepositions (in, for, with, etc…).
❌ Do not use accent marks or spaces
To separate words, use dashes (-) and do not accentuate them: the recommendation is that urls use alphanumeric characters and bars, in order to avoid incompatibilities.
❌ Do not use the page ID
Avoid entering numerical identifications on the page, unless it is inevitable or be part of your strategic plan for a friendly, organized and clean url.
Each site has its own language and strategy, and it is necessary to consider it case by case. Doubts? Leave a comment so that we can help you in the mission of creating a friendly url!