In this article, we will learn about the necessity of URL optimization in SEO, for all the newbies we have started this article by explaining what is URL and its parts. Further, we have described how to optimize URL and impact of Stop words on URL.
What is URL?
Well, in technical terms URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. Seems too jargon right? In simple terms, URL can be understood as the address of any file present on the web. As different people have different and unique addresses in the real world, in the same way, all files on the internet have a unique address or URL also known as a web address.
Different Parts of URL:
Now you have learned about what is URL, let’s learn about the different parts of the URL.
Let me state an example URL, https://rockgrow.com/index.php. This URL comprises three parts, a protocol, a hostname, and the filename. In this example, “HTTPS” is the protocol “onlineseoblog.com” is the hostname (where .com is a Top-Level Domain) and “index.php” is the file name. Let’s learn more about them in brief.
Protocol:
A protocol means a set of rules. In the internet’s context, a protocol is a set of rules which governs the format of data sent and received over the network. Some popular protocols are:
- HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
- HTTPS: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure
- FTP: File Transfer Protocol
Hostname:
A hostname or more commonly called a domain name is the label of the company or organization which is hosting the website.
Filename:
The filename is the name of the file which needs to be accessed through the URL. This is where you can implement some good SEO tactics for URL optimization.
How URL works?
How does it work? Well, you put the URL of any site in the address bar of your internet browser. The browser identifies the protocol and sends a request to the server with access to the file or webpage. The server then confirms the protocol and sends the data back to the browser and then you are able to access the webpage or the file which is stored on the server.
URL Optimization for SEO:
Now you have attained some basic knowledge about URL and how it works let’s learn about how to optimize URLs.
- Always use URL’s that are readable. Search engines will always rank URL’s such as “example.com/this-has-good-readability” over something like “www.example.com/1234”
- Do not use underscores “_” to separate words, use hyphens “-” instead. Search engines do not read underscores.
- URL’s are case-sensitive, therefore do not use capital letters in the URL and avoid confusing the search engines and the audience.
- Add high-grade SEO keywords in the URL. This will help rank your URL’s high on the search results.
- Keep it simple and do not perform keyword stuffing, this looks bad and also decreases the reputation of your site.
- Make the URL’s short instead of long, convey where the user will land in as fewer words as possible.
URL Optimization Trick: Avoid Stop Words
This is an important element of URL optimization and is confusing. Stop words comprises words which help make a sentence readable. Some important stop words such as “a, an, for, but, of, or, the, etc.” help increase the readability of URL’s but also increases its overall length. As per the points mentioned above, short URL is much better than long URL’s, but the URL must also make sense to the user. Therefore, general practice should be to use as fewer stop words as possible while making enough sense to make sure the readers know what they are clicking on.
Grab the In-Depth topic here: How to reduce the impact of Stop Word in URL
Concluding URL Optimization Article:
In conclusion, a URL needs to be simple and to the point, and normal persons to understand readability good enough, you can also supply a few keywords, but never overstuffed. So these are some tips you need to keep in mind when setting up URL for your articles to get the most out of the SEO.
So, this was all about URL Optimization if you have any queries comment!
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