When search engines start looking at a site, the first thing
that that is noticed is URL structure. If the structure is confusing it can
result in only a few web pages getting indexed and this may result in good and
engaging content going undiscovered.
One of the common problems of URLs is that they are gibberish
and do not tell much about the page. The other problem is that there may be
several URLs that point to the homepage of the website. Duplication may have
been caused due to sorting options and tracking parameters.
Making a site SEO friendly is not hard. All that you need to
do is to follow the best practices and call in a professional in the
development stage of the site, so that it is able to get properly indexed and able
to attract targeted audience. SEO friendly links may be easily accessed by
search engines and this helps increase their popularity.
SEO friendly URL
structure
Simple and
straightforward – The URL needs to be written in a simple and
straightforward manner so that it is easy to read and understand. It needs to
make sense to the search engines and the users. Avoid gibberish punctuation
marks and numbers and make them more meaningful by adding keywords related to
the site.
Emphasize on right
URLs – One of the important things that you need to understand is that not
all URLs on the site are important. The web pages need to be accessible so that
they are easily indexed and crawled. This ensures that they are not hidden from
popular search engines.
Consolidate www and
non www domains – Ensure that both the www and non www domain link
structures are consolidated. If you do not do this then some of the backlinks
may go to www domain whereas the others may go to the non www domain.
Avoidance of dynamic
and relative URLs – Absolute URLs are preferred to relative ones, as they
may create infinite loops and this can trap the search engines. The other
problem is that relative URL may be dependent on the context and when they
change it may not work.
Create XML sitemap
– Most people tend to confuse HTML sitemap with XML sitemap. The XML sitemap
helps search engines find the web pages of your site easily. It is advisable to
include only those web pages that show up in results for SEO reasons.
Close irrelevant
pages – Avoid using sessions IDs as they may create many duplicate URLs and
this can confuse the site visitors. You can choose to conceal pages that do not
contain the target keywords. You can send specific instructions to the search
engines to avoid pages that you do not want to be indexed and crawled. This
ensures that they do not show up in the search results.
Use special tag to specify
canonical URLs – Apply the canonical tag so that you may be able to
highlight the canonical URL. This helps the search engines decide on the canonical
URL of your site.
https://moz.com/blog/15-seo-best-practices-for-structuring-urls
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