Search-friendly URLs

Overview

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is the address you see in your browser bar when viewing a web page on the Internet. It will look something like http://freeseoexpert.com . All of your web pages can be optimised to produce search-friendly URLs which in turn will give your rankings a boost on search engines.

Search-friendly URLs

With careful consideration of your site architecture and page hierarchy, it is possible to create search-friendly URLs for every one of your pages that are optimised with all of your main keywords. Placing keywords that are directly related to that particular page in the URL helps to define its content and reinforces the theme that flows throughout the whole page.

Avoid Query Strings

Websites that are Content Management System (CMS) driven are typical examples of producing numerical query strings when defining pages. These URLs end with parameters similar to something like /page?id=12&name=urls… Even Wordpress defaults to this, but within the settings it is easy to change the configuration and display the page URLs in any way you like. Search engines really don’t like page URLs displayed with multiple query strings and session IDs, which can even prevent them indexing the page altogether. Find a way of preventing these page names at all costs.

Search-friendly Categories

Take a look at the URL of this page.
http://freeseoexpert.com/sem/seo/on-page-optimising/search-friendly-urls
This URL has been created with keywords that are directly related to this particular page. Keywords aren’t repeated and the link has been created with general keywords getting more and more specific until they are directly related to the content of the page displayed. This is the same for all the pages on this website. I have designed the category structure so that it creates page URLs in this way. When you think about how your website is going to be and more importantly going to grow, spend some time thinking of your category architecture and file hierarchy before you create any pages.

SEO Expert Tip

When you design your website, always consider how your website is going to grow with your business and build that in from the start.