What makes a good web address (URL) for SEO?

Use short, readable addresses with real words separated by hyphens, all lowercase, like /services/roof-repair. Once a page is live, avoid changing its address without a redirect.

A good URL (web address) for a page is short, readable and describes the page, such as /services/roof-repair instead of /page?id=4821. Google recommends descriptive words in URLs because they help people understand where a link goes. Google also says keywords in a URL on their own have very little effect on rankings, so do not change working addresses only to add keywords.

Guidelines from Google

Use readable words, not long ID numbers.
Separate words with hyphens (roof-repair), not underscores (roof_repair).
Pick one case and stick to it. Google treats /Roof-Repair and /roof-repair as two different addresses. All lowercase is the simplest rule.
Avoid extra parameters that do not change the content, such as tracking codes on internal links.
Use your customers' language in the words you choose.

Tips for small business sites

Keep addresses short. /services/roof-repair is better than /our-company/what-we-do/services-we-offer/residential-roof-repair-services.
Group related pages, for example all services under /services/.
Do not include dates or years in addresses for pages you will keep updating.

Changing an existing address

A page's address is how search engines and other sites know it. If you change it, set up a permanent (301) redirect from the old address to the new one. Without it, visitors and search engines hit a "page not found" error and the page can lose its place in search.

We can do this for you. Open a request in your client portal if you want a page address changed. Our team will set up the redirect at the same time.

Common problems

If the same page opens at two addresses (with and without a capital letter, or with and without a slash at the end), see the article on duplicate content.
If you renamed a page and its traffic dropped, check that the old address redirects to the new one.
If your addresses are long ID numbers, it is usually not worth changing them only for SEO. Plan it into your next redesign.

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