Search Engine Optimized or Friendly URLs

Search Engine Optimized or Friendly URLs

First let us review. What is a URL? A URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. What does that mean? A URL is an address or pointer to something on the World Wide Web. It tells your browser what you want to do or where you want to go.

Search Engine Friendly URLS Do’s and Don’ts

DO:
Use Static URLs containing specific relevant keywords or key phrases
Keep them sort
Use hyphens “-“
Use lowercase letters


DON’T:
Use dynamic URLs
Really long with too many keywords or phrases
Use underscores “_”
Use UPPERCASE


New dynamic web pages are here to stay. They are not going anywhere but Search Engine still like the static pages of old. You know the ones.

www.yousite.com/specificnameofcontent.html.

Search engines like this type of URL. Immediately the search engine knows something about your page and what it’s all about. URLs like:

www.yoursite.com/blog.360. com/blog-EDgm4_8zaaeFJ3_WjMBVFrIRS_8-?cq=1&tag=shopping

tell the search engine and your searcher very little about your site.

Don’t get me wrong, the pages of dynamic sites will eventually be indexed if the home page is good enough. But who has that kind of time.

Friendly Search Engine Optimized URLs have the keywords in the static URL. Search Engines like them, they are indexed faster and add relevance to your page.

ULR Length
To be as Search Engine friendly as possible keep URLs short and to the point. URLs should be like street addresses, the simpler the better. As well, optimized page URLs should be targeted to one Keyword or Keyword phrase.

Hyphens or Underscores in URLs
As a general rule, use hyphens NOT underscores. Don’t ask why, it just is what it is. If your URL contains underscores your pages may not show well unless the searcher actually types underscores in the search term or phrase. URLs like “I-am-friendly” appear much higher on search engines then “I_AM_NOT_FRIENDLY” This brings up another good point, upper case versus lower case.

Use of upper or lower case in URLs
Never have your URLs entirely in UPPER CASE. Search engines are supposedly not case sensitive but we all know there is a difference. Think about how you type when using a search engine. Do you type in all caps or do you normally type in lower case? At the most you might type in proper or title case. The norm is to type a search request in lower case. Match your Search Engine friendly URLs to how people actually type. You will receive better results.

Review of Search Engine Optimized URLs
Friendly URLs should be static or be rewritten to appear static. Avoid dynamic strings on pages that are targeted to bringing in traffic to your site. Keep your optimized URLs short with one keyword or keyword phrase. Use hyphens to separate words and do not use all upper case letters. Capitalizing the first letter of each word is okay.

Search Engine Optimization Guides
Search Engine Optimization Basics
Search Engine Optimized or Friendly URLs.
Search Engine Optimized Title Tags
Search Engine Optimized Content
Search Engine Friendly Header Tags
How to get other sites talking about your pages.

More Search Engine Optimization Topics
How do search engines work?
Submitting to search engines
Submitting to directories
Creating effective keywords