URL Structure for SEO: Best Practices for Website URLs

Your URL structure affects both user experience and search rankings. Clean, descriptive URLs help visitors understand where they are and help Google understand what your pages are about. Messy URLs confuse everyone.

This guide covers what makes a good URL, common mistakes to avoid, and how to structure URLs for SEO without overthinking it.

Why Does URL Structure Matter for SEO?

URLs are a minor ranking factor, but they significantly affect usability and click-through rates.

According to Google's documentation, URLs should be simple and human-readable. When URLs appear in search results, descriptive ones get more clicks than gibberish. /services/kitchen-renovation beats /page?id=4728&cat=12.

Good URLs also help internal linking. When you can read a URL and know what's on the page, you're more likely to link to it appropriately. Clean structure makes your whole site easier to manage.

What Makes a Good URL?

Short, descriptive, readable by humans, and including relevant keywords.

Good URLs describe their content at a glance. /blog/how-to-improve-website-seo tells you exactly what that page covers. You could share it verbally and someone would understand.

Include your target keyword when natural. This provides a minor SEO signal and helps users recognise relevance. But don't stuff keywords—one or two descriptive words are enough.

What URL Mistakes Should You Avoid?

Long URLs, unnecessary parameters, keyword stuffing, and inconsistent formats.

Don't let your CMS generate URLs like /2024/01/15/blog-post-about-seo-tips-and-tricks-for-beginners-uk-2024. Keep URLs under 60-75 characters when possible. Cut unnecessary words—articles (a, the), conjunctions (and, but), and filler words don't help.

Avoid dynamic parameters when possible. /products?category=kitchens&sort=price works functionally but /products/kitchens is cleaner. Parameters can cause duplicate content issues if the same page is accessible via multiple URLs.

Should URLs Include Hyphens or Underscores?

Hyphens. Always hyphens.

Google treats hyphens as word separators. "kitchen-renovation" is understood as two words. Underscores don't get the same treatment—"kitchen_renovation" might be seen as one word. This is minor but there's no reason not to use hyphens.

Should You Include Dates in URLs?

Usually no, unless the date is essential to the content.

Dates in URLs (/2024/01/blog-post) make content look dated, even if you update it regularly. Users see 2024 in the URL and might assume it's old. News sites use dates because timeliness matters. Most business blogs shouldn't.

If you update content to stay current (as you should with on-page SEO), dateless URLs make more sense. Update the content, and the URL still works.

How Should You Structure Site Hierarchy in URLs?

Reflect your site's logical structure, but keep it shallow.

A logical structure might look like: /services/web-design/portfolio or /blog/seo-tips. This shows the relationship between pages. But don't go too deep—/services/web-design/residential/kitchens/modern/portfolio creates unnecessarily long URLs.

Two to three levels of depth usually suffices. If you find yourself going deeper, consider whether your site structure needs simplifying.

Can You Change Existing URLs?

Yes, but you must set up 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones.

Changing URLs without redirects breaks existing links, loses any ranking value those pages had, and creates 404 errors. A 301 redirect tells Google (and users) that a page has permanently moved, passing most of its SEO value to the new URL.

For important pages, changing URLs still risks some short-term ranking fluctuation. Only change URLs when the benefit clearly outweighs the risk. Fixing genuinely problematic URLs (long, parameter-heavy, confusing) is usually worth it.

For more on site structure and technical SEO, see our complete SEO guide or how website design affects rankings.