The Dos and Don’ts of Crafting URLs for Your Blog

Keywords in the URL are the main factor contributing to whether your blog post will rank.

One aspect that is often overlooked but can have a significant impact is the URL structure of your blog.

A well-crafted URL can improve the user experience and boost your SEO efforts. In this blog post, we will discuss the dos and don’ts of crafting URL structures for your blog, focusing on creating SEO-friendly URLs.

Following these tips ensures that your blog’s URLs are optimized for search engines and readers. Let’s dive in!

What is URL SEO?

URL is the practice of optimizing your URLs for SEO according to search engine optimization best practices.

These best practices include building a relevant site architecture, using hyphens between words, and choosing words that accurately describe your page’s content.

How do URLs impact SEO?

You must be wondering how URLs impact your website’s SEO. There are several misconceptions about the role URLs play in your Google rankings.

A poorly optimized URL won’t land you on page 600 of Google results. Google pays more attention to how users engage with your site — and a poor URL can deter users from clicking. 

In short, URLs can impact your SEO, but they mainly do so through how they influence users. So, to make your URLs SEO-friendly, your best shot is to make them user-friendly.

Understanding the Importance of Keywords in the URL

When optimizing your blog for search engines, URL structure is often an overlooked aspect of SEO.

However, it is crucial in improving your website’s visibility and ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs).

A well-crafted URL helps Google understand your page’s content and makes it easier for users to navigate your site.

So, why is URL structure important for SEO? Well, it’s all about user experience and search engine optimization.

When a user sees a URL that is clear, concise, and relevant to the content they are searching for, they are more likely to click on it.

This can result in higher click-through rates (CTR), a positive ranking factor for search engines. Additionally, a descriptive URL can give users an idea of what to expect when they visit your page, leading to a better overall user experience.

Regarding SEO, the best URL practices include using relevant keywords in your URL, keeping it concise and descriptive, and using hyphens to separate words.

For example, a URL like “www.yourblog.com/how-to-craft-seo-friendly-urls” is much more SEO-friendly than “www.yourblog.com/pageid=1234”.

Including keywords in your URL can also help search engines understand your page’s topic and improve your chances of ranking for relevant searches.

Crafting SEO-Friendly URLs: Best Practices to Follow

Crafting SEO-friendly URLs is a skill that every blogger should master. Following best URL practices, you can optimize your website’s visibility and improve its ranking on search engine result pages. So, what are these best practices?

First and foremost, including relevant keywords in your URLs is crucial. This helps search engines understand your page’s topic and improves your chances of ranking for relevant searches.

For example, if your blog post is about “how to craft SEO-friendly URLs,” a URL like “www.yourblog.com/how-to-craft-seo-friendly-urls” is much more SEO-friendly than a generic one like “www.yourblog.com/pageid=1234.”

Another important aspect is to keep your URLs concise and descriptive. A URL that indicates what the page is about is more likely to attract users and improve their overall experience.

Using hyphens to separate words in your URL is recommended, as search engines recognize them as word separators.

In addition to using relevant keywords, including them at the beginning of your URL is also beneficial. This gives more weight to the keywords and further helps search engines understand the content of your page.

Lastly, it is essential to note that URL structures should be consistent throughout your website.

This means using the same format for similar types of content, making it easier for users to navigate your site and search engines to index it.

By following these best practices, you can ensure that your URLs are optimized for search engines and provide a positive user experience. Craft your URLs carefully, and watch your blog’s visibility and ranking soar.

The Pitfalls to Avoid: What Not to Include in Your URLs

Crafting SEO-friendly URLs for your blog is not just about what you should include but also what you should avoid.

Avoiding certain pitfalls ensures your URLs are clean, organized, and optimized for search engines and users.

One of the biggest pitfalls to avoid is using long, complicated URLs. These can confuse users and make it difficult for search engines to understand the content of your page.

Instead, aim for concise and descriptive URLs that give users a clear idea of what to expect when they click on your link.

Another pitfall to avoid is using special characters or symbols in your URLs. While they may seem creative or eye-catching, they can create confusion and make it harder for search engines to index your pages.

Stick to alphanumeric characters and hyphens to keep your URLs clean and organized.

Avoid using unnecessary or irrelevant keywords in your URLs. This can make your URLs appear spammy and decrease their credibility.

Instead, focus on using relevant keywords that accurately describe the content of your page.

Lastly, avoid changing your URL structure too frequently. This can confuse users and search engines, leading to broken links and decreased visibility.

Stick to a consistent URL structure throughout your website to maintain organization and ensure a smooth user experience.

By avoiding these pitfalls, you can create clean, organized URLs optimized for search engines and provide a positive user experience.

Keep these best URL practices in mind as you craft your blog’s URLs, and watch your website’s visibility and ranking soar.

Tips for Keeping Your URLs Clean and Organized

Crafting SEO-friendly URLs is not just about including relevant keywords and avoiding pitfalls; keeping your URLs clean and organized is also essential. Here are some handy tips to help you achieve that:

1. Use lowercase letters

Using lowercase letters in your URLs is best to avoid confusion or duplicate content issues. Search engines treat lowercase and uppercase letters as separate URLs, so consistency is critical.

2. Remove unnecessary words and characters

Keep your URLs concise and to the point by removing any unnecessary words or characters. This not only makes your URLs cleaner but also improves the user experience and makes it easier for search engines to understand the content of your page.

3. Use a consistent URL structure

Consistency is important when it comes to URL structure. Choose a format and stick to it throughout your website. This makes it easier for users to navigate your site and search engines to index your pages.

4. Redirect old URLs

If you change your URL structure, set up 301 redirects for old URLs. This ensures that users and search engines are directed to the new URL and avoids any broken links or loss of ranking.

5. Use HTTPS

This tip isn’t directly about your URL structures, but it’s heavily related: Be sure to use HTTPS on your website.

HTTPS is the more secure alternative to HTTP, ensuring safe browsing on your website and protecting users’ information. 

This tip is relevant to URL SEO because the first thing to appear in most URLs is either “http” or “https.” That means it will be apparent to users from the second they see your URL whether your site is secure.

And if they don’t see it’s secure, they may not click. HTTPS also has a direct benefit on your Google rankings.

Google ranks sites with HTTPS higher than those without it. For that reason, HTTPs is vital for more reasons than one.

Use anchor text

Let’s talk about how to use URLs on a page. If you want to backlink to a specific URL, there are two ways: Display the full URL as-is or embed it in a piece of anchor text using a hyperlink. 

For example, here are two versions of the same link in the context of a sentence:

1. Learn more about safety in Cancun at https://passportsandgrub.com/is-cancun-safe-cancun-travel-warning/
2. Learn more about Is Cancun Safe for Travel in 2024!

Whenever possible, try to use anchor text. When Google crawls your page, it takes links into account.

With anchor text, Google gets a sense of the link’s context — but a bare URL doesn’t tell it anything, meaning it doesn’t contribute to your rankings.

If you want to go the extra mile and use keyword URLs, start with these guidelines:

1. Don’t keyword stuff. Keyword stuffing is forcing too many keywords into your URLs, hurting SEO and readability. Users and search engines will have a more challenging time understanding your URL, and Google may even punish your page. As for how many keywords should be in a URL, add no more than one long-tail keyword or a couple of short-tail keywords in the slug.
2. Aim for long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords are those with four or more words, meaning they are more likely to match search queries. They are also specific, so users who search for them are looking for exactly what you offer.
3. Consider head keywords. Head keywords are usually short, competitive, and high-volume keywords used to attract traffic. If your articles are high quality and cover a general topic comprehensively, a head keyword may be worth attempting to rank for. It’s common to use head keywords for pillar content. (Head keyword is also a term used to describe your main keyword for a page).
4. Keep keywords relevant. Never choose a high-volume keyword at the expense of accuracy. Using relevant keywords in URLs is critical to user satisfaction and ensuring search engines show your page for relevant queries. Placing number one for a keyword irrelevant to your content won’t lead to conversions. Be sure to consider how users search; the words they use for a product may differ from what you would use.

Want help creating Keyword SEO-friendly URLs?

I would love to give you a hand — and I can do much more than optimize your URLs. With over ten years of SEO experience, I know all the ins and outs of achieving better Google rankings, and we’d love to show you firsthand. 

With my SEO services, you’ll get help optimizing everything from page speeds to keyword research.