URL Structure
URL structure refers to how your web page addresses are organized and formatted. A clean, logical URL structure helps both visitors and search engines understand what a page is about before even clicking on it. It’s a small but meaningful part of good SEO practice.
What a Good URL Looks Like
A clean URL: yoursite.com/wordpress-seo-tips. A messy URL: yoursite.com/?p=1247. Clean URLs are readable, descriptive, and contain the target keyword for that page.
Best Practices for URLs
- Use lowercase letters only
- Separate words with hyphens, not underscores
- Keep them as short as possible while still being descriptive
- Include the target keyword naturally
- Avoid dates in URLs for evergreen content
- Remove stop words like “a,” “the,” “and” when they add no meaning
Setting URL Structure in WordPress
Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard. Choose the “Post name” option for clean, keyword-rich URLs. Avoid the default numeric URL structure that WordPress sets up initially.
Changing URLs on an Existing Site
If you change URLs on a live site, always set up 301 redirects from old to new URLs. Without redirects, you’ll lose any SEO authority those pages built. Plugins like Redirection handle this for you.
Related: Permalink
URL structure refers to how your web page addresses are organized and formatted. A clean, logical URL structure helps both visitors and search engines understand what a page is about before even clicking on it. It’s a small but meaningful part of good SEO practice.
What a Good URL Looks Like
A clean URL: yoursite.com/wordpress-seo-tips. A messy URL: yoursite.com/?p=1247. Clean URLs are readable, descriptive, and contain the target keyword for that page.
Best Practices for URLs
- Use lowercase letters only
- Separate words with hyphens, not underscores
- Keep them as short as possible while still being descriptive
- Include the target keyword naturally
- Avoid dates in URLs for evergreen content
- Remove stop words like “a,” “the,” “and” when they add no meaning
Setting URL Structure in WordPress
Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard. Choose the “Post name” option for clean, keyword-rich URLs. Avoid the default numeric URL structure that WordPress sets up initially.
Changing URLs on an Existing Site
If you change URLs on a live site, always set up 301 redirects from old to new URLs. Without redirects, you’ll lose any SEO authority those pages built. Plugins like Redirection handle this for you.
Related: Permalink
