Digital

#contenthacks: The Case for Simple URLs

by Nikki Volpicelli Posted On September 13th, 2017 | 10:00am EST

The key to crafting a smart URL? Keeping it simple. While there’s a handful of things you need to remember about winning the SEO game, this is one little trick you really shouldn’t sweep under the rug. If you want a great user experience, you need to make sure the link you and your audience is sharing is, well, a shareable one. Here are a few tips to make sure you’re on the right track to tracking your blog posts and site stories.

Use static URLs, which don’t change unless your HTML code does, to keep things consistent. This way, each blog post you share will follow a path, something that a dynamic URL does not. Neil Patel uses the examples below to drive home the difference.

This is a static URL (YES!):
www.examplestaticsite.com/forums/the-challenges-of-dynamic-urls.html.

This is a dynamic URL (NO!):
www.exampledynamicsite.com/forums/thread.php?threadid=12345&sort=date.

Keep things short and to the point. The shorter the URL, the more likely it is to the rise to the top of the search engine. Test it out for yourself: Google “dog” and see if any of the first page results show a link that’s longer than a 140 character tweet. You won’t.

Use the backslash to your advantage. blog.com/post is always better than post.blog.com, which can get confusing for a reader.  You want your reader/searcher to be able to pick apart your URL, using it to rewind their search for broader results or narrow it down using keywords. For more information, catch up on Patel’s Complete Guide on Structuring your URLs Correctly.

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