The 7 Best SEO Tricks For Creating SEO Friendly URLs
November 3. 2020
As most experienced web managers will tell you, the battle for SEO is one that you fight on multiple fronts. You need to optimize your content and your overall website design in order to yield good results. And you need to track your progress in order to know whether your current SEO strategies are working. But, one of the common mistakes people make when handling SEO is to take URLs into account. So, to help combat this, we are going to explore why URLs are important. And then we are going to cover a couple of SEO tricks for creating SEO friendly URLs.
Why are URLs important
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. In a nutshell, it is the specific information that the person can type into the upper tab in a web browser (URL tab), which will then bring up your website. A URL has to contain the protocol (either HTTPS or HTTP). Then comes the domain of your website. And after that comes the domain (.com, .org, .edu, etc). After that, the URL for a specific page on your website can be pretty much anything. Therefore, it stands to reason that you should try to optimize your URL so that it can help you get better SEO results.
SEO tricks for creating SEO friendly URLs
The following tricks are simple ways for you to ensure that your URLs are SEO friendly. By no means are these tricks substitutes for proper SEO research and management, as it that a far more complicated subject. Instead, you ought to consider them as small, yet impactful boosts to your online presence. An easy way to make your SEO results a bit better and your visitors’ experience more pleasurable.
1 – Pick a decent domain
If you are still at the early stages of creating a website, we suggest that you pick a decent domain. The reason behind this is that people innately trust domains that we’ve seen already. Domains like .com, .us, or .net are the best, but they can be hard to acquire. So, if in a pinch, try to find a domain that suits the name of your website. To give you an example, if you have a website regarding education, you can choose to call it educate.com (which is already taken, so you have to come up with an alternative). Or, you can opt to educate.me. That way you will use your domain to create a memorable website. This in turn will boost your online presence and increase your SEO results.
2 – Short URL
By default, your URL will be something long and nonsensical. This is simply due to programming as the way in which webpage creation is set up. But, you always have the option to change your URL, which you should definitely use. The main goal here is to keep your URLs short and sweet. This means that you should delete extra info like date, unclear characters, and unnecessary symbols. A short URL is easy to memorize. Furthermore, it won’t take up much space if you need to post your page on Twitter. And, finally, it makes website maintenance easier as you have a better idea of what your page is about simply by reading the URL. So, remember to keep your URL nice and short.
3 – Use hyphens
In most cases, you will use multiple words for your URL. And since you cannot simply put space between them, there are a couple of options you can go for. You can either mush all of your words together, which can be difficult to read. Or you can choose to use underscores. Our advice is to use hyphens, as they are industry standard for URL. By doing so you will not only make your URLs easier to read, but you will also give your website a sense of professionalism.
4 – Switch to HTTPS
While we are on the subject of creating a website, try to use the HTTPS protocol. While HTTP is still an option, you really ought to go with HTTPS as it is a safer, faster version. Before long, all websites will end up being HTTPS, or something newer. So, you might as well stay ahead of the curve.
5 – Use static URL
While they can be a bit harder to set up, you should always opt for using static URLs. These URLs remain the same every time you reload your page. Dynamic URLs usually have “?”, “&”, and “=”, so avoid putting these in your URL. Both users and search engines have an easier time reading static URLs, which makes them ideal for SEO boosting.
6 – Utilize keywords
One of the more important SEO tricks for creating SEO friendly URLs is to utilize keywords. By doing so you are not only increasing their potential viewership, but you are also boosting your SEO results in a natural way. Does this mean that you should use keywords for every URL? Of course not. An oversaturation of keywords is as big of a problem as not having enough. So, when utilizing keywords, try to maintain them at a reasonable frequency. The best way to do this is to install a plugin that will help you with keyword research and suggest ones that are suitable for your niche. Our favorites are:
- Spy Fu.
- SEMrush.
- Google Keyword Planner.
- Long Tail Pro.
- Ahrefs Keyword Explorer.
7 – URL structuring and sectioning
When creating your website you will probably have to section it and then map it out. Unless your website is quite simple (5 pages or less) you will need to section your content so that it is easy to understand and find. Well, doing so will require you to create categories and then implement those categories into your URL. Also, you should really consider submitting your sitemap to Google. Do this and your website will be easy to navigate, which will help tremendously with your SEO.