Optimize Your URL Structure
SEO-friendly URLs reflect your site architecture. A clean, logical URL structure helps users and search engines understand where a page fits in the hierarchy. Best practices include: How to Structure Your Website for SEO.
- Use Subfolders for Organization: Structure URLs to mirror your categories (e.g.,
example.com/category/subcategory/keyword-keyword). Backlinko notes that URLs should “logically follow your categories”. Place related content in descriptive folders or directories rather than using confusing query strings How to Structure Your Website for SEO. - Include Keywords: Incorporate primary keywords naturally in the URL slug. This not only informs users what the page covers, but can also give a mild relevancy signal to search engines. (For example, a page about “on-page SEO” might use
.../seo/on-page-seo-guide). - Keep URLs Short and Readable: Avoid overly long URLs or unnecessary parameters. Shorter URLs are easier to share and look clean in results. Use hyphens to separate words, and avoid spaces, underscores, or special characters How to Structure Your Website for SEO.
- Consistent Structure: Keep all URLs following the same pattern to avoid confusion. For example, if you use
/blog/subfolder for articles, use it consistently for all posts. - Avoid Subdomains for Core Content: In general, host main content on your primary domain (example.com) rather than a subdomain (blog.example.com). Semrush notes that subdomains act like separate sites and may not pass link authority as well. In one case, moving a blog from a subdomain to a subfolder doubled organic traffic.
- Use HTTPS: Ensure your URLs use
https://. Google gives preference to secure sites, and users trust HTTPS (SSL). More than 90% of search results now use HTTPS How to Structure Your Website for SEO.
By reflecting the site hierarchy in your URLs, you reinforce the structure. For example, if your flat architecture has two levels (category and page), your URLs might look like domain.com/topic/subtopic. This helps both users and bots navigate the content logically How to Structure Your Website for SEO.
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