URL Structure
How your website's URLs are organized and formatted, affecting both usability and SEO.
URL structure refers to how your website's web addresses are formatted and organized. A clean URL structure helps both users and search engines understand your site's hierarchy and what each page is about.
Good URLs are: short and descriptive (/blog/seo-guide vs. /p?id=12345&cat=7), use hyphens to separate words (not underscores), lowercase, and include relevant keywords naturally. They should be readable by humans — if someone sees the URL, they should have a rough idea what the page is about.
URL hierarchy should reflect your site structure. For example: /category/subcategory/page-name creates a clear path from broad to specific. This helps search engines understand the relationship between pages.
Things to avoid: excessively long URLs, unnecessary parameters, session IDs in URLs, uppercase letters (which can cause duplicate content issues), and changing URLs without proper redirects. Once a URL is established and indexed, don't change it unless absolutely necessary.
Why It Matters for SEO
Clean URLs improve user experience, are easier to share, and give search engines useful context about page content. URLs appear in search results, and descriptive URLs can increase click-through rates. Good URL structure also supports effective site architecture.