How to optimize your URLs for SEO

As optimize your images, optimizing your URLs is an underestimated SEO lever but so effective. By following best practices like being concise, using hyphens, including keywords, and removing unnecessary parameters, you will get perfectly optimized web addresses.

Your pages will benefit from better indexing and better positioning in search results. Don't neglect either the importance of 301 redirects to preserve your SEO capital during a URL change.

Thanks to short, clear and semantic URLs, your site will become much more user-friendly for both search engines and visitors. A technical detail that makes all the difference to your visibility!

To go further, don’t hesitate to adopt WP Rocket Plugin which will boost the loading speed of your pages. With optimized URLs and loading times, your SEO will be even more effective. So it’s up to you to sculpt your URLs!

🌿 Choose short and simple URLs🚦

Search engines give more importance to short and simple URLs, composed of relevant keywords. An optimized URL must be readable by both an Internet user and a web crawler.

It is recommended to limit the length of your URLs to less than 60 characters if possible. Beyond that, they take up more space in search results and hold up less well on different media. On mobile in particular, a long URL can be cut off before reaching the relevant information.

The structure of the URLs must also be as simple and intuitive as possible. Avoid session parameters, random character strings or an excess of folders which clutter the URL without providing information.

Stay factual: each page should ideally have a URL reflecting its actual content. For example “www.monsite.com/chaussures/baskets/marque-x/model-y” rather than “www.monsite.com/article758421”.

With short URLs, durable and refined, you will clearly improve the robots' understanding of your architecture, and therefore the indexing and referencing of each page.

🌿 Use hyphens to separate words

When it comes to optimizing your URLs for natural referencing (SEO), choose short URLs and simple is an essential practice. Indeed, URLs play an important role in the indexing and ranking of pages by search engines. Here's why it's recommended to take this approach.

First of all, short URLs make it easier to memorization and entry manual for users. URLs that are too long and complex can be difficult to remember, which can lead to less direct traffic to your site. By opting for concise URLs, you make it easier for users to navigate and improve their overall experience.

Additionally, simple URLs are easier for search engines to understand and interpret. When you use relevant keywords in your URLs, it helps search engines understand the content on your page.

Another important recommendation for optimizing your URLs is to use hyphens (-) to separate words. Search engines prefer hyphens over underscores or spaces because they make words easier to read.

For example, instead of using “mysite.com/my_page“, it is better to use “mysite.com/my-page".

🌿 Include the targeted keyword

When it comes to optimizing your URLs for natural referencing (SEO), choosing URLs short and simple is an essential practice. Indeed, URLs play an important role in the indexing and ranking of pages by search engines. An additional tip to maximize the impact of your URLs is to include the targeted keyword.

By using the specific keyword in your URL, you clearly tell search engines what your page is about.

For example, if your targeted keyword is “SEO optimization“, you can structure your URL as follows: “mysite.com/seo-optimization”.

This allows search engines to instantly understand that your page is about SEO optimization. Including the targeted keyword in your URL has several benefits. First of all, it improves the relevance of your page in the eyes of search engines.

When a user performs a search related to your targeted keyword, search engines are more likely to consider your page as a relevant match. Additionally, including the keyword in the URL also makes it easier for users to understand your page content.

🌿 Avoid dynamic URLs

URLs called “dynamic” are generated automatically and contain technical parameters or random character strings.

Example: www.site.com/article?id=452d59e7

This type of opaque URLs poses a problem for natural referencing. Search engines prefer sustainable URLs containing descriptive keywords. To avoid dynamic URLs, it is recommended to set up URL rewriting rules at the web server level.

These rules allow technical URLs to be transformed into SEO optimized URLs. This rewriting can be done via a file .htaccess if your site works with Apache. On WordPress, plugins like Yoast SEO also allow you to remove unnecessary parameters from URLs.

By adopting clean and sustainable URLs, you will make the work of search engines easier and significantly improve your SEO optimization.

🌿 Do not use stop words

When writing content for your website, it is important to avoid the use of stop words. Stop words are words that have no meaning or value on their own, and are often used to fill spaces or to appear to fill a page.

Stop words, also called “stop words", as “a”, “the”, “of”, “for”, etc. do not bring any semantic or SEO value to the URL. It is therefore advisable to remove them from URLs to maximize their relevance.

Instead of using stop words, it is better to use relevant keywords and clear, concise sentences to convey your message. This will help improve the quality of content, make it easier for users to read, and optimize your website’s SEO.

🌿 Avoid numbers and special characters

When it comes to optimizing URLs for SEO (SEO), it is recommended to avoid the use of numbers and special characters. URLs that are friendly and readable by users and search engines are more effective for SEO.

Numbers in URLs can make the address less understandable and less attractive to users. They can also make it difficult for search engines to understand the content of the page.

Special characters, such as punctuation marks or symbols, can also cause problems. Some systems or browsers may not interpret these characters correctly, which may result in display errors or compatibility issues.

For an SEO optimized URL, it is best to use relevant keywords and separators such as hyphens (-) to improve readability. For example, instead of having a URL with numbers and special characters like “example.com/page1?category=123“, it is better to have a friendlier URL like “example.com/page-name".

🌿WordPress permanent links

Permanent links are the unique URL addresses that point to each page, article or content on a WordPress site. By default, WordPress uses a fairly technical permalink structure, such as /year/month/day/article-title.

But it is recommended to optimize the structure of the permalinks to improve the natural referencing of the site. To do this, you must go to the WordPress Dashboard, then to Settings > Permanent links.

We can then modify the default structure to instead use elements such as the category name or the article keywords. The ideal is to adopt a structure in “/category/item-name” to embed relevant terms in the URL.

It is also advisable to disable prefixes “category" or "tag” which are added automatically by WordPress. This avoids SEO-damaging keyword duplication.

Optimized permalinks improve natural referencing because they are better understood and indexed by search engines. They also offer a better user experience. After modifying the permalinks, do not forget to redirect the old URLs to the new ones, in order to avoid unfound pages.

🌿 301 Redirect

The 301 redirect is a commonly used technique in SEO to permanently redirect one URL to another. When you put in places a 301 redirect, you tell search engines that the original URL has been permanently moved to a new URL. This helps transfer SEO juice and authority from the old URL to the new one.

The 301 redirect is useful in several scenarios. For example, if you have modified the structure of your website and certain URLs have changed, you can set up redirects 301 to redirect old URLs to new ones.

This helps maintain the visibility of your site in search results and to avoid 404 errors for users accessing old URLs.

Additionally, 301 redirect is also useful when you merge or delete pages. Rather than letting users and search engines stumble upon non-existent pages, you can redirect these URLs to relevant pages or to the home page of your site.

When setting up 301 redirects, it is important to follow certain best practices. Make sure each old URL redirects to a new URL relevant and similar.

Avoid chain redirects where one URL redirects to another and then another, as this can slow down page load times and harm user experience.

🌿 Closing

Technically optimizing your URLs is a lever Underrated but so effective SEO. By following best practices like being concise, using hyphens, including keywords, and removing unnecessary parameters, you will get perfectly optimized web addresses. Also think about analyze in depth the SEO performance of your competitors

Your pages will benefit from better indexing and better positioning in search results. Don't neglect either the importance of 301 redirects to preserve your SEO capital during a URL change.

Thanks to short, clear and semantic URLs, your site will become much more user-friendly both for search engines and for visitors. A technical detail that makes all the difference to your visibility! Even when it is an online store, SEO errors should be avoided. 

To go further, do not hesitate to adopt the WP Rocket plugin which will boost the loading speed of your pages. With optimized URLs and loading times, your SEO will be even more effective. So it's up to you to play sculpt your URLs!

FAQ

Q: Why optimize your URLs?

A: Optimized URLs help engines understand content and improve rankings. This is a key element of SEO.

Q: How do I make a URL descriptive?

A: By using relevant keywords, the structure of the site, in a readable version for the user. Avoid purely technical URLs.

Q: What is the ideal length of a URL?

Go home 60 and 100 characters maximum. Beyond that the URL is too long and complex. Focus on brevity.

Q: Should we use hyphens in the URL?

A: Yes, Hyphens improve readability. Example: www.site.com/conseils-seo.

Q: Can I modify an existing URL?

A: Yes via the URL rewrite function in the CMS or by creating a 301 redirect.

Q: How to avoid duplicate URLs?

A: By applying consistent naming rules, and without duplicating the page name.

Q: Are there tools to audit URLs?

A: Yes SEO tools like Screaming Frog and Google Search Console allow you to analyze and correct URLs.