If you want to make your website rank higher in Search Engine Ranking Pages(SERP), On-page optimization is the first step for making website's ranking better in SERPs. On-page optimization covers lot of things including headings, titles, image tags, description, URL structure etc.
How to make URL structure ideal ? How to make them Search Engine friendly ? Here are some points to making URL structure ideal :
1. URLs Must be 100% Readable - If it is easy for users to read and understand a URL, then it will be easy for search engines also. Every word in your URL must be easily read by people and search engines. People read URLs before clicking on them to try and understand the content of a website page.
2. Try To Use Static Pages - Use Static pages over Dynamic pages. Try to avoid unnecessary parameters like &, ? and = in the URL, which are common features of dynamic URLs generated by PHP scripts or web server code. By keeping your URLs static it’s much easier for both people and search engines to read your links.
3. Use Hyphens, Not Underscores - When creating URLs with multiple words in the format of a phrase, hyphens are best to separate the terms (e.g. /brands/qwesys-digital-solutions/), followed by, underscores (_), pluses (+) and nothing. There has been confusion over hyphens or underscores in word spacing. Now both can be read by crawlers, though still prefer hyphens.
4. Target keyword - Include the Exact Target Keyword in URL if possible. Including exact keyword in URL helps in SERP. If your targeted keyword is in URL, search engine will put URL higher in SERP because it give more relavant result to the user.
5. Making URL Short and Simple - Shorter URLs are more preferable. Short URLs are easy to remember. Users will directly come to website by typing URL in browser. Don’t Use Too Many Folders. Make it simple and better.
6. Case Sensitivity - Don’t ever allow any uppercase letters in your structure. Since URLs can accept both uppercase and lowercase characters. If you have them now, 301 them to all-lowercase versions to help avoid confusion. If you have a lot of type-in traffic, you might even consider a 301 rule that sends any incorrect capitalization permutation to its rightful home.
7. Duplicate URLs: If you have two URLs that serve very similar content, consider canonicalizing them, using either a 301 redirect (if there’s no real reason to maintain duplicate) or a rel=canonical (if you want to maintain slightly different versions for some visitors, e.g. a printer-friendly page).
8. Don’t stuff keyword - Repeating keywords in your URL does not help your SEO rankings. It might actually hurt your chances of earning click-throughs and rankings.
9.Multiple URLs pointing to homepage - Quite often, a website would have several URLs leading to its homepage:
http://www.example.com
http://example.com
http://example.com/index.html
10. Descriptive are better than numbers: If you’re thinking of using 563/cvt237/, go with /Company/Qwesys/ instead. Even if the descriptive isn’t a keyword or particularly informative to an uninitiated user, it’s far better to use words when possible. If nothing else, your team members will thank you for making it that much easier to ID problems in development and testing.
11. Avoid Subdomains - File extensions basically, don’t end your URLs with .exe or .php as they might prevent your pages from being crawled. I prefer no extension if possible, as it gives freedom to move from one technology to another or from static to dynamic pages without any loss of traffic or investment in redirection.
How to make URL structure ideal ? How to make them Search Engine friendly ? Here are some points to making URL structure ideal :
1. URLs Must be 100% Readable - If it is easy for users to read and understand a URL, then it will be easy for search engines also. Every word in your URL must be easily read by people and search engines. People read URLs before clicking on them to try and understand the content of a website page.
2. Try To Use Static Pages - Use Static pages over Dynamic pages. Try to avoid unnecessary parameters like &, ? and = in the URL, which are common features of dynamic URLs generated by PHP scripts or web server code. By keeping your URLs static it’s much easier for both people and search engines to read your links.
3. Use Hyphens, Not Underscores - When creating URLs with multiple words in the format of a phrase, hyphens are best to separate the terms (e.g. /brands/qwesys-digital-solutions/), followed by, underscores (_), pluses (+) and nothing. There has been confusion over hyphens or underscores in word spacing. Now both can be read by crawlers, though still prefer hyphens.
4. Target keyword - Include the Exact Target Keyword in URL if possible. Including exact keyword in URL helps in SERP. If your targeted keyword is in URL, search engine will put URL higher in SERP because it give more relavant result to the user.
5. Making URL Short and Simple - Shorter URLs are more preferable. Short URLs are easy to remember. Users will directly come to website by typing URL in browser. Don’t Use Too Many Folders. Make it simple and better.
6. Case Sensitivity - Don’t ever allow any uppercase letters in your structure. Since URLs can accept both uppercase and lowercase characters. If you have them now, 301 them to all-lowercase versions to help avoid confusion. If you have a lot of type-in traffic, you might even consider a 301 rule that sends any incorrect capitalization permutation to its rightful home.
7. Duplicate URLs: If you have two URLs that serve very similar content, consider canonicalizing them, using either a 301 redirect (if there’s no real reason to maintain duplicate) or a rel=canonical (if you want to maintain slightly different versions for some visitors, e.g. a printer-friendly page).
8. Don’t stuff keyword - Repeating keywords in your URL does not help your SEO rankings. It might actually hurt your chances of earning click-throughs and rankings.
9.Multiple URLs pointing to homepage - Quite often, a website would have several URLs leading to its homepage:
http://www.example.com
http://example.com
http://example.com/index.html
10. Descriptive are better than numbers: If you’re thinking of using 563/cvt237/, go with /Company/Qwesys/ instead. Even if the descriptive isn’t a keyword or particularly informative to an uninitiated user, it’s far better to use words when possible. If nothing else, your team members will thank you for making it that much easier to ID problems in development and testing.
11. Avoid Subdomains - File extensions basically, don’t end your URLs with .exe or .php as they might prevent your pages from being crawled. I prefer no extension if possible, as it gives freedom to move from one technology to another or from static to dynamic pages without any loss of traffic or investment in redirection.
