How to Create SEO Friendly URLs in WordPress

You probably already know:

URLs are a fundamental component of SEO.

But it’s an important ingredient.

According to Brian Dean, URL is an important ranking factor in Google’s 200 ranking factors .

Specifically:

Therefore, URL optimization is an important task. And you shouldn’t miss it.

Previously, I did not pay attention to the URL of the article. As a result, the URL is very long and ugly.

This greatly affects the ranking of the article in Google results. 

So is URL optimization difficult?

Creating SEO friendly and optimized URLs seems like a simple matter.

You can say that:

I just entered a few words for the URL slug and put in a few keywords. It’s done.

But:

There are countless things you need to know to create URLs that please both search engines and, of course, readers.

In this article, I will give you all the knowledge you need to create the most optimized URLs for SEO.

Do we started

Select Top level domain (TLD)

Search Engine Land has an infographic detailing the friendly URL structure.

They have shown TLD is not a direct ranking factor. But if you choose TLD .com you will bring credibility to the website. 

Readers’ trust is a website’s biggest asset, right?

Please use HTTPS

Security in the network environment is increasingly important

Data theft and fraud when transacting on the Internet are increasingly common.

This makes users more cautious when surfing the web.

I suggest you use HTTPS instead of HTTP. 

If you don’t know what HTTPS is. It stands for ” HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure. “.

Roughly it is the secure version of HTTP. The data transmitted through this protocol is encrypted.

Therefore, hackers cannot steal sensitive information. 

HTTPS not only makes your readers feel secure when accessing your website, it’s also a ranking factor.

Searchmetrics has confirmed that HTTPS is increasingly prevalent and even a Google ranking signal.

SSL certificates are very cheap. Installing SSL is not too complicated.

You can learn all about SSL from where to buy it to how to install it in this article. ​

Choose an easy-to-read URL

Let’s say we have 2 versions of the URL as follows:

First URL:  https:///?p=123

Second URL:  https:///seo-onpage/

As you can see with the first version of the URL you don’t know what awaits you if you click on such a link.

If you are a skeptic, you may not dare to click on such links.

You don’t want your computer infected with a virus, do you?

What about the second URL?

It is easy to read, you get the idea of ​​the article when you click on the link.

In WordPress you can create readable URLs by going Settings -> Static Paths . Select the Post Title option and click the Save changes button.

Generate short URLs

Always remember that:

The shorter the URL length, the better.

Brian Dean has proven that short URLs rank better than long URLs .

He analyzed research results from a million Google search results.

And he discovered the following correlation between URL length and Google rankings:

From the graphic you can see that the articles in the first position have URLs of approximately 50 characters.

In the 10th position, the average URL has 62 characters.

Therefore, you should create the URL for your article about 50-60 characters.

Of course you do not need to check the number of characters is reasonable or not. If you use WordPress, let the Yoast plugin check it for you.

If your post is too long, Yoast will warn you.

For example, an article that I have not optimized the URL:

​I had to do 301 redirects for too many unfriendly URLs like this. So don’t make the same mistake as me. 

Make it a habit: try to reduce the length of the URL while still ensuring readability for each article when you plan to publish it. 

Also notice: Yoast has length checks for both mobile and desktop devices.

The trend of users using handheld devices is increasing day by day.

So it would be wise to always optimize for mobile first. Then the URL will automatically optimize for the desktop, right?

How many words should you use in your URL?

I try to use about 3-6 words when creating the URL. It is the number of words needed to let the reader know the topic of the article.

Here is an example of a recent post on my blog. I use 4 words and have a very readable URL. 

We still use the way to let Yoast check above to make sure the URL length is reasonable and easy to read.

Use dashes or underscores

When it comes to character separators between words in URLs you have 2 choices.

You can use the dash and underscore characters.

So which one do you choose?

Please select strikethrough. No need to think much.

That’s what Google loves.

Always use lowercase characters

You probably already know, but I just want to repeat:

Always use lowercase characters when creating URLs.

Uppercase characters will cause problems on Unix-based servers.

Use up to two directories in the URL

If you don’t know what a directory is, it’s simply the forward slash (/) you see in the middle of the text in the URL.

It’s like this.

Like other URL elements, you should use as little as possible.

Generally up to 2 folders.

Use 1-2 keywords

Including keywords in the URL is not a strange technique to you, is it?

But the question is how much to avoid being considered keyword stuffing and penalized?

As in the article by Search Engine Land you should try to use one or two keywords for each URL

One more point:

You should try to get your target keyword to the beginning of the URL.

Avoid repeating keywords in the URL

Have you figured out what repeating keywords in the URL is?

If it’s not clear, here’s an example from Moz:

Keyword repetition is meaningless to Google. Google won’t give you an advantage if you do.

Even if you don’t want to say you’re trying to handle URLs in an unnatural way.

Which of course does more harm than good.

Epilogue

URL optimization can be complicated if you are still new to SEO.

But if you break it down into sections, it will be easier to manage.

Basically here are a few points you need to remember

What is your URL optimization strategy? Please share more in the comments section below.