You may have heard the term 'SEO Friendly URL's' before in the SEO world, maybe from another consultancy, a friend or even just read about it on a forum or blog. The truth is, we get asked daily as to what an 'SEO Friendly URL' is and more importantly, what influence do they have on your Search Engine rankings?

Google's message is simple. Make your page as dedicated as possible to a chosen keyword without spamming it - write for the USER and not it's own index. With this in mind, it makes sense that the URL's are as targeted as possible to keyword in question. I break this down into the following elements that search engines look to determine the topic of a particular keyword:

Domain name - Does the domain have the keyword in? (Google has loosened up on ranking sites with keywords in the names, but this is still influential)

URL String - Does the shortname have the keyword in? (i.e www.example.com/cars/) - cars being the keyword targeted

Title tag - Is the keyword in the title?

Description - Is the keyword in the description (this isn't massively influential for search engine rankings, but mainly acts as copy to entice users to click your ad)

Header text (h1 and h2 tags) - These serve as headings for your web page and is generally more bolded than other text on the page.

General content/Images - Search engines will then look at the content to see if the keywords appear in the text (there are active spam filters, so do not overdo this)

In terms of URL structuring, which one would you rather click on:

www.example.com/products/productID?2283

www.example.com/products/cars

www.example.com/vehicles/cars

You would of course, choose the final option and this is because it is targeted and simple. Keeping URL's simple helps search engines decipher what a page is about seemlessly which helps massively with indexing. Search engines like to see a concise structure of URL's - it is a machine and loves static text, so feed it some. 

Some Content Management Systems do not allow for 'SEO Friendly' URL's, but this is not the be all and end all - you can have URL re-writes done and search engines will still rank pages with 'unfriendly URL's' - but it is in your interest that you are directing USERS as well as SEARCH ENGINES to simple to read URL's. For example, what user will remember the string www.example.com/productid3485? However, remembering a URL www.example.com/vehicles/cars is pretty simple.

If you have any questions with regards to Search Engine Friendly URL's, please contact us so we can help and give advice.

Posted: 24/01/11 17:24