The Ultimate Guide For An SEO-Friendly URL Structure

08/03/2018 The Ultimate Guide for an SEO-Friendly URL Structure
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O | Jul 14, 2017
8 O Tip to
Optimize Your URL
tructure
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Firt impreion count.
And when it come to our weite, our URL are often the
firt thing Google and cutomer will ee. The are alo the
uilding lock of an effective ite hierarch, paing equit
through our domain and directing uer to their deired
detination.
The can e trick to correct if ou don’t plan ahead, a ou
can end up with endle redirect loop. Neither Google nor
our ite viitor will appreciate thoe.
o the are worth getting right. ut getting URL tructure
right involve a complex lend of uailit and acceiilit
factor, along with ome good oldfahioned O.
Although there i no oneizefitall approach, there are
ome rule we can all follow to get the mot out of our URL
and et our ite up for future O ucce.
1. Ue Your Keword
ver time ou launch a page on our domain, it hould
have a purpoe. Whether tranactional, informational, or
adminitrative, it reaon for exitence hould e clear at the
outet.
You’ll want thi page to e dicovered  the right people
(and crawler), o ou will incorporate ome keword
reearch and include the relevant term. The mot
decriptive of thee — the term that get to the nu of what
thi page i aout — hould e included in the URL, cloe to
the root domain.
We’ll deal with multiple page that roadl tackle the ame
topic later, ut for now, let’ aume the imple example of a
page that clearl handle one topic. Let’ go for whike.
Generic example:
http://example.com/topic
Whikeaed example:
http://example.com/whike
ven thi in’t quite a imple a it eem, though.
hould we ue “whike” or “whik” a our tandard
pelling? oth are valid, with the former eing an Irih
pelling and the latter cottih. The Irih pelling ha een
adopted in the U.., ut we’ll need more proof efore
proceeding with that a our choen variation.
The Moz Keword xplorer i great for thi ort of
predicament, a it group keword together to give an
etimate of the earch volume for particular topic. In thi
era of vague kewordlevel earch volume, it provide a
nice olution.
The earch volume i with “whike” and our ite i aed in
the U.., o let’ run with that.
2. uild a ound tructure for
the Future
Perhap the igget challenge we all face when defining a
itewide URL hierarch i enuring that it will till fit our
purpoe for ear to come.
It i for thi reaon that ome weite end up a a
patchwork quilt of udomain and conflicting path to
arrive at imilar product. Thi i poor from a uer’
perpective, ut it alo end confuing ignal to Google
aout how ou categorize our product offering.
An example of thi would e:
http://example.com/whike/irihwhike/jameon
http://example.com/uhmill
The firt URL flow logicall from domain to categor to u
categor to product. The econd URL goe from domain to
product. Hierarchicall, oth product hould it at the ame
level in the ite and the Jameon example i etter for O
and uer.
We encounter thi a lot, though. Wh?
It can e a imple lack of communication, with a product
team launching a new item traight onto the ite without
conulting other partie. It can alo e down to a failure of
future planning.
ither wa, it’ eential to la out our tructure in advance.
Work together with different team to undertand the future
direction of the uine, then add our O knowledge to
hape the ite architecture. It will rarel e perfect, ut the
more ou plan, the fewer error ou will have to undo down
the line.
3. Avoid uper uou Word &
Character
A a rule of thum, make ure a uer can undertand what
our page i aout  looking at the URL. That mean ou
don’t need to include ever ingle prepoition or
conjunction.
Word like “and” or “the” are jut ditraction and can e
tripped out of the URL altogether. Jut a uer can
undertand what a topic i aout without thee hort
word, Google will derive all the meaning it require too.
You hould alo avoid keword repetition within URL.
Adding the ame keword multiple time in the hope of
increaing our ranking chance will onl lead to a pamm
URL tructure.
An example of thi unnecear repetition would e:
http://domain.com/whike/irihwhike/jameon
irihwhike/jameonirihwhikehitor
The firt two ue of the main keword make ene, ut the
third and fourth are overkill.
A few additional point to ear in mind on thi topic:
Cae enitivit: It i urpriingl common to find
multiple verion of the ame URL, with one all in lower
cae and the other uing occaional capital letter.
Ue canonical tag to mark the lowercae URL a the
preferred verion or, if poile, ue permanent
redirect.
Hahe: Thee can e ueful to end uer to a pecific
ection of a page, ut retrict their ue in other
circumtance if poile. If the content uer are ent to
after the # mol i unique, make it availale via a
imple URL intead.
Word Delimiter: tick with hphen to eparate word
within our URL tring. Undercore will erve to join
two word together, o e war of uing thee.
URL Length: After 512 pixel, Google will truncate our
URL in earch reult page. A good rule of thum i to
keep 0ur URL a hort a ou can, without loing their
general meaning.
4. Minimize Dnamic URL
tring
Thi one can e harder than it ound, depending on the
content management tem ou ue. ome ecommerce
platform will automaticall pit out character tring that
leave ou with URL like:
http://domain.com/cat/?cid=7078.
Thee are a it unightl and the alo go againt the rule
we’ve een outlining aove. We want tatic URL that
include a logical folder tructure and decriptive keword.
Although earch engine have no prolem crawling or
indexing either variant, for Oaed reaon it’ etter to
ue tatic URL rather than dnamic one. The thing i, tatic
URL contain our keword and are more uerfriendl
ince one can figure out what the page i aout jut 
looking at the tatic URL’ name.
o how do we get around thi? You can ue rewrite rule if
our we erver run Apache, and ome tool like thi
one from Generate It are helpful. There are different fixe for
different platform (ome more complex than other).
ome we developer make ue of relative URL, too. The
prolem with relative URL for O i that the are
dependent on the context in which the occur. Once the
context change, the URL ma not work. For O, it’ etter
to ue aolute URL intead of relative one, ince the
former are what earch engine prefer.
Now, ometime different parameter can e added to the
URL for analtic tracking or other reaon (uch a id, utm,
etc.) To make ure that thee parameter don’t make the
numer of URL with duplicate content grow over the top,
ou can do either of the following:
Ak Google to diregard certain URL parameter in
Google Wemater Tool in Configuration > URL
Parameter.
ee if our content management tem allow ou to
olidif URL with additional parameter with their
horter counterpart.
5. Conolidate the Different
Verion of Your ite
A a rule, there are two major verion of our domain
indexed in earch engine: the www and the nonwww
verion of it. We can add to thi the complexit of having a
ecure (http) and nonecure (HTTP) verion too, with
Google giving preference to the former.
Mot O ue the 301 redirect to point one verion of their
ite to the other (or vice vera). Thi tell earch engine that
a particular URL ha moved permanentl to another
detination.
Alternativel (for intance, when ou can’t do a redirect),
ou can pecif our preferred verion in Google Wemater
Tool in Configuration >> etting >> Preferred
Domain. However, thi ha certain drawack:
Thi take care of Google onl.
Thi option i retricted to root domain onl. If ou have
an example.wordpre.com ite, thi method i not for
ou.
ut wh worr aout the www v nonwww iue in the firt
place? The thing i, ome of our acklink ma e pointing
to our www verion, while ome could e going to the non
www verion.
To enure all verion’ O value i conolidated, it’ etter to
explicitl etalih thi link etween them. You can do thi
via the 301 redirect, in Google Wemater Tool, or  uing
a canonical tag, the latter of which we will look at in more
detail elow.
6. Make Correct Ue of
Canonical Tag
o, canonical tag. Thee are a ver helpful piece of code
when ou have multiple verion of what i eentiall the
ame page.  adding a canonical tag, ou can tell Google
which one i our preferred verion.
Note: The canonical tag hould e applied onl with the
purpoe of helping earch engine decide on our
canonical URL. For redirection of ite page, ue redirect.
And, for paginated content, it make ene to emplo
rel=”next” and rel=”prev” tag in mot cae.
ThinkTank Weinar Wed, March 21, 2:00 PM
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framework for increaed ROI.
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Canonical tag are ueful for jut aout an weite, ut
the are particularl powerful for online retailer.
For example, on Mac’ weite, I can go to the Quilt &
edpread page directl  uing the URL
(http://www.mac.com/hop/edath/quilt
edpread), or I can take different route from the
homepage:
I can go to Homepage >> ed& ath >> Quilt &
edpread. The following URL with m path recorded
i generated:
http://www.mac.com/hop/edath/quiltedpread?
id=22748&edge=hrid
Or I can go to Homepage >> For the Home >> ed &
ath >> edding >> Quilt & edpread. The following
URL i generated:
id=22748&cm_p=u_hdr_ed%26ath_22748_quilt
%26edpread_COL1
Now, all three URL lead to the ame content. And if ou look
into the code of each page, ou’ll ee the following tag in
the head element:
A ou ee, for each of thee URL, a canonical URL i
pecified, which i the cleanet verion of all the URL in the
group:
id=22748
What thi doe i, it funnel down the O value each of
thee three URL might have to one ingle URL that hould
e diplaed in the earch reult (the canonical URL).
Normall earch engine do a prett good jo identifing
canonical URL themelve, ut, a uan Mokwa
once wrote at Google Wemater Central:
“If we aren’t ale to detect all the duplicate of a
particular page, we won’t e ale to conolidate all
of their propertie. Thi ma dilute the trength of
that content’ ranking ignal  plitting them
acro multiple URL.”
7. Incorporate Topical
Authorit
In Google’ own earch Qualit valuator Guideline (a
mutread document for all O!), there are clear
reference to oth main content and upplementar
content.
Main content will e our lead page in each ection that
reall et out what our categor i all aout. It will et out
our tall a a relevant ource for a topic. upplementar
content provide, a the name ugget, additional
information that help uer navigate the topic and reach
informed deciion.
URL tructure i an eential component of getting thi right.
o, let’ go ack to our whike example to ee how we
might tackle thi. Our ite i ecommerce focued and we
want to ell the product, of coure. However, going for the
jugular and onl puhing out product page i tantamount
to O tunnel viion.
Our initial reearch from Moz Keword xplorer i a great
reource a we make thee plan. elow, I have exported the
keword lit and reduced it to the highetvolume topic.
From here, we can tart to decide what might qualif a a
topic for a main content or upplementar content page.
Thi i a implified example and jut a firt tep, of coure.
However, it i worth noting that thi approach goe further
than jut categor > ucategor > product.  thinking in
term of main content and upplementar content, a
product i jut a likel to qualif a main content a a
categor i. The quetion i more aout which topic
conumer want u to elaorate on to help them make
choice.
From here, we can dig into ome of thee topic and tart to
fleh out what each hu might look like.
ome clear opportunitie alread tand out to create
content and rank via rich nippet. People want to know
how whike i made, what different varietie exit, and of
coure, whether it’ pelled ‘whike’ or ‘whik’. Thi could
e the eginning of a uine cae to create a whike
tating guide or a ‘hitor of whike’ content hu on the
ite.
Comined with ranking difficult metric, uine prioritie,
and content production capailitie, thi approach will oon
take hape a a ite hierarch and opportunit anali.
For our whike example, it might tart to comprie the
following tructure:
http://domain.com/whike/whiketatingguide
http://domain.com/whike/whiketating
guide/howtotatewhike
guide/howiwhikemade
guide/arlewhike
Again, there are deciion to make.
In the lat URL, one could argue that the tating guide page
for arle whike hould it under the arle whike u
categor page in the ite hierarch. arle whike ha een
earmarked a ‘main content’ in m preadheet, after all.
The choice here come down to where we want to
conolidate value; dipering that value would reduce our
chance of ranking for an ‘tating guide’ term.
Thee are exactl the kind of deciion that can lead to a
confued tructure if a conitent logic i not followed.
All of thi will contriute to our topical authorit and
increae ite viiilit.
Thi tpe of content often alread exit on ite, too. I am
not claiming anthing revolutionar  aing a weite
hould have lot of ueful information, after all. However, the
tructure of thi content and how entitie are emanticall
linked to each other make the difference etween ucce
and failure.
Thi can e ued a a ‘quick win’ tactic and it tend to e
received well  all partie. Updating and moving exiting
content will alwa e an eaier ell than aking for an all
new content hu.
8. Create an XML itemap
Once ou’ve ticked off all of the aove, ou’ll want to make
ure earch engine know what’ going on with our
weite. That’ where itemap come in hand —
particularl XML itemap.
An XML itemap i not to e confued with the HTML
itemap. The former i for the earch engine, while the
latter i motl deigned for human uer (although it ha
other ue t00).
o what i an XML itemap? In plain word, it’ a lit of our
ite’ URL that ou umit to the earch engine. Thi erve
two purpoe:
1. Thi help earch engine find our ite’ page more
eail.
2. earch engine can ue the itemap a a reference
when chooing canonical URL on our ite.
Picking a preferred (canonical) URL ecome necear
when earch engine ee duplicate page on our ite, a
we aw aove.
o, a the don’t want an duplicate in the earch reult,
earch engine ue a pecial algorithm to identif duplicate
page and pick jut one URL to repreent the group in the
earch reult. Other we page jut get filtered out.
Now, ack to itemap. One of the criteria earch engine
ma ue to pick a canonical URL for the group of we page
i whether thi URL i mentioned in the weite’ itemap.
o, what we page hould e included in our itemap?
For purel O reaon, it’ recommended to include onl
the we page ou’d like to how up in earch. You hould
include a more comprehenive account of our ite’ URL
within the HTML itemap.
ummar
An Ofriendl URL tructure i the following thing:
a to read: Uer and earch engine hould e ale
to undertand what i on each page jut  looking at
the URL.
Kewordrich: Keword till matter and our target
querie hould e within URL. Jut e war of overkill;
extending URL jut to include more keword i a ad
idea.
Conitent: There are multiple wa to create an O
friendl URL tructure on an ite. It’ eential that,
whatever logic ou chooe to follow, it i applied
conitentl acro the ite.
tatic: Dnamic parameter are rarel an O’ et
friend, ut the are quite common. Where poile, find
a olution that allow our ite to render tatic URL
intead.
Futureproof: Think ahead when planning our ite
tructure. You hould minimize the numer of redirect
on our domain, and it’ eaier to do thi if ou don’t
require wholeale change to URL.
Comprehenive: Ue the concept of main content
and upplementar content to enure ou have
adequate coverage for all relevant topic. Thi will
maximize our ite’ viiilit.
upported  data: It normall require uin from a
lot of takeholder to launch or update a particular ite
tructure. Numer talk, o make ue of earch and
analtic data to upport our cae.
umitted to earch engine: Finall, create an XML
itemap containing all of the URL that ou want to
rank via O and umit it to earch engine. That will
enure all our hard work get the reward it deerve.
How to oot Your earch Viiilit with OFriendl
WordPre URL offer additional guidance on optimizing
URL tructure for WordPre weite and log.
Image Credit
Featured Image: Pixaa
Inarticle image 1: Unplah
Inarticle image 2: Pixaa
creenhot taken  Clark od, June 2017

The Ultimate Guide For An SEO-Friendly URL Structure

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08/03/2018 The Ultimate Guide for an SEO-Friendly URL Structure

O NW PPC CONTNT OCIAL ADVRTI MOR 

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