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    4. What is the best way to handle special characters in URLs

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    What is the best way to handle special characters in URLs

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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    • WebRiverGroup
      WebRiverGroup last edited by

      What is the best way to handle special characters? We have some URL's that use special characters and when a sitemap is generate using Xenu it changes the characters to something different. Do we need to have physically change the URL back to display the correct character?

      Example:

      URL:  http://petstreetmall.com/Feeding-&-Watering/361.html

      Sitmap Link:  http://www.petstreetmall.com/Feeding-%26-Watering/361.html

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • CMC-SD
        CMC-SD last edited by

        As far as "search-engine-spider-stoppers" does this also go for "%" in on-page copy?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • AgentsofValue
          AgentsofValue last edited by

          Hi there,

          The special characters on your website URL is changed because URLs are sent over the Internet using the ASCII character-set. That's why the & is converted to %26.

          If you're trying to make your site rank, it is better to just simplify or shorten the URL. This is because search engines have problems indexing sites when the URLs contain special characters.

          The special characters below are known to be "search-engine-spider-stoppers":

          • ampersand (&)
          • dollar sign ($)
          • equals sign (=)
          • percent sign (%)
          • question mark (?)

          Hope that helps!

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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