If you want to get your website ranked higher on search listings, making your URLs SEO friendly is a great starting point. If you’re not sure how to achieve this, these following five tips can help.
1. Avoid keyword stuffing
Paying attention to your main keyword when deciding your URLs can work in your favour, but don’t repeatedly use your keyword in an effort to get your site noticed, as this could have the opposite effect. Not only will your URL look spammy, but it sends out the wrong signals to search engines. According to Big Commerce, keyword stuffing is likely to incur harsh Google penalties and isn’t an effective method to improve search rankings.
2. Pay attention to case sensitivity
Some servers aren’t effective at managing case-sensitive URLs, which can have a direct impact on the interpretation of page content. Microsoft servers are generally adept at automatically redirecting case-sensitive URLs, but Linux/UNIX aren’t, so pay attention to this matter when constructing page URLs.
3. Careful word separation
If you need to separate words in your URLs, it’s important that a URL still looks readable and understandable, but will also gain approval by search engines. Using hyphens or underscores are acceptable methods for separating words in URLs, but avoid leaving blank spaces as this doesn’t translate well into a readable title. If URL readability is your priority, make use of professional Belfast SEO services, such as from companies like ryco marketing who will help you with any issues you have.
4. Be careful using punctuation characters
Some punctuation characters when inserted into a URL can completely mess it up, compromising its readability and SEO friendliness. In some cases, these characters can break certain browsers. Get to know which punctuation characters are safe to use in your URLs, and which ones are best avoided. Again, professional SEO services can assist with this task.
5. Minimise URL folders
If a URL is long and cumbersome with several folders or slashes, it can give the impression to users and search engines that a site has depth. Additionally, if you need to make any changes to the URL string, having lots of folders or slashes increases the risk of errors, and could make the process more complex. If possible, try to minimise the number of URL folders you use, whilst still making the URL obvious and understandable, to improve its structure, user-friendliness and readability.