URL extensions naming
-
I have always wrote URL extensions as www.mysite.com/two_words.html .... when I need to separate two words, I use _ as the separator ...
I am a first time SEO Moz user ... I
While looking around the tools on SEO Moz, I happened to stumble across the on-page analysis.
A great tool indeed, rather worryingly though, one issue it flagged to me was my URL extension
"Characters which are less commonly used in URLs may cause problems with accessibility, interpretation and ranking in search engines. It is considered a best practice to stick to standard URL structures to avoid potential problems."
Can someone advice me if this really is a problem, its just not this project, its tons of sites I have already developed that I am also worried about ...
I always write file extensions with more than one word using _ to separate the words.
How should I write the extension, I am almost embarrassed to ask this question ...
Surely, even Google's algorithms are not smart enough to decipher two words without some some sort of spacing ....
Regards
J
-
Thanks ....
Hmmm, I learn something new everyday .... Well I learn lots, but this one in particular will inevitably lead me to changing very old habits
-
Adam is correct,
When I was hired at my company 3 years ago everything was underscores, so I had to evaluate if renaming would be beneficial. At the time I came across this video from Matt Cutts
What I took away from this is the following, which I use today as general guidelines.
If the page already exist and is performing well
I leave it as itIf the page already exist but isn't performing well and only has 2 keywords separated
Content Update, and re-evaluate a month of so laterIf the page already exist isn't performing well and is separating 3 or more keywords with underscores (red_delicious_apples.html) Content update, and switch to dashes and 301 direct old page to new page
If the page is a new page
Just use dashesThat is my general strategy for handling pages. There are other things to consider such as site uniformity, some owners/marketing directors don't like their sites urls to be mixed, and some sites which use CMS systems may have to go for an all or none approach.
I hope that helps.
-
Generally it is considered best practice to separate words using a hyphen (-) rather than an underscore (_) as Google recognises hyphens as spaces. It also looks much neater using hyphens in urls as opposed to underscores which is why I advise using hyphens instead.
However, it doesn't really make a huge difference as Google can generally recognise the keywords without the use of hyphens. There are of course exceptions to this. The most famous example of this being www.expertsexchange.com. I'm sure you can see the issues with this domain.
Hope this helps.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Changing url (permalink) structure of website??
Currently I'm working on SEO of one website www.mocomi.com. I want to change url (permalink) structure of entire website which has more than 5000 pages. Currently website have structure of http://mocomi.com/tenali-raman-the-kings-condition/ Which I want to change it to http://mocomi.com/fun/stories/tenali-raman/tenali-raman-the-kings-condition/ Likewise I want to change entire website permalink url structure to make site architecture more SEO friendly. Which means I'am going to add only categories & subcategories before actual link. Kindly guide with following questions which I need to move forward with this step. How much is it worth to change URL structure? Checklist or factors I need to consider while making this decision? Is it a good practice to change URL's of entire website at once or Should I change it in Parts? How much time it takes google to rank those urls again? Which are the best practices to do so?
On-Page Optimization | | Mocomi1 -
Need advice on the better URL structure to go with
I am rebuilding our existing website on a new platform and need advice on which URL structure would be the most ideal. The following examples are of a product that we have with a very long page title. Not all of our products have titles this long, but enough of them do to cause some concern. I was also wondering if I should end the url with file type .html or if leaving it out is better. Thanks in advance! OPTION 1. this example just uses the root domain and the entire product title separated by dashes http://ewheels.nextmp.net/staggered-full-set-br-2-20x9-ace-alloy-aff01-metallic-silver-machined-face-flow-formed-br-2-20x10-5-ace-alloy-aff01-metallic-silver-machined-face-flow-formed OPTION 2. this example uses the crawl path as well as the entire product title http://ewheels.nextmp.net/wheels/ace-alloy-wheels/ace-alloy-aff01-metallic-silver-machined-face-flow-formed/staggered-full-set-br-2-20x9-ace-alloy-aff01-metallic-silver-machined-face-flow-formed-br-2-20x10-5-ace-alloy-aff01-metallic-silver-machined-face-flow-formed OPTION 3. this example uses the crawl path and just the part number at the end since the folders already contain all the keywords necessary http://ewheels.nextmp.net/wheels/ace-alloy-wheels/ace-alloy-aff01-metallic-silver-machined-face-flow-formed/ace-2090aff01silace-20105aff01sil
On-Page Optimization | | elementmotor0 -
Using keywords in my URL: Doing a redirect to /keyword
My website in "On Page Grade" received an A.Anyway, I only have 1 thing to optimize:_"Use Keywords in your URL__Using your targeted keywords in the URL string adds relevancy to your page for search engine rankings, assists potential visitors identify the topic of your page from the URL, and provides SEO value when used as the anchor text of referring links."_My website is ranking in top10 for a super high competitive keyword and all my others competitors have the keyword on their domain, but not for my URL.Since I can't change my domain for fixing this suggestion, I would like to know what do you think about doing a 301 redirect from / to mydomainname.com/keyword/So the index of my website would be the /keyword.I don't know if this can make a damage to my SERP for the big change ir it would be a great choice.
On-Page Optimization | | estebanseo0 -
How important are image file names
Hi, How important do you think the image file names are for image search?
On-Page Optimization | | jjtech
I know it used to be the best practice a while ago but is it still important? Thanks in advance, JJ0 -
URL Keyword Variations?
I'm aware that keywords in the url aren't as effective as they used to be, but I'm still convinced that they do have a significant impact (based on results in one of the niches I'm in). My question is, will variations of keywords and "hidden" keywords have as much value as an exact keyword? For example, let's say that I'm trying to target the keyword "day." Will including variations like "daily" in the url work just as well? What about a brand name that includes the keyword hidden in its name, like "Dayest"? And, as a followup question, does including "stop" words have any effect? For example, if I'm trying to target the keyword "Day of the Month", would including "day" and "month" in the url be just as effective as including "day of the month"?
On-Page Optimization | | JABacchetta0 -
Blog URL
I know that this question has been asked in the past, and that website.com/blog is better for seo purposes than blog.website.com. We want to setup a custom blog on our site, using Wordpress. Our designers/host are telling us that buy using website.com/blog can causes issues b/c Wordpress is open source, and our site could be hacked? Is there anything we should do about this? Any suggestions? Any Advice appreciated!!! Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | TP_Marketing0 -
Change in Product Name
My site - http://www.guru99.com/quick-test-professional-qtp-tutorial.html Currently caters to an automation testing product from HP called Quick Test Professional popularly know and searched as QTP Recently HP changed the product name from QTP to HP Functional Test. Considering this , what do I do with exiting QTP pages and how do I optimize the site moving ahead...
On-Page Optimization | | krishrun0 -
Redirecting to a keyword-rich domain URL
It's best practice to choose a domain that has keyword in it. But if someone has just launched a website and the domain name does not have keyword, is it better to purchase a new domain name that has a keyword in the name and redirect existing domain to the new domain? Will that help SEO? (This just launched website does not have any traffic or links yet.)
On-Page Optimization | | Amjath0