What is a URL?
Content:
What is a URL?
Structure of an Internet Address
Why are URLs Important in SEO?
Better User Experience
Links
What Types of Links Exist?
Rankings
A URL is one of the most important parts of every website, created for the communication between computers and servers. It is user-friendly text that represents a company’s name, brand, or an individual.
You might say that a URL is like a phone number. Everyone uses a URL to access a website via a search engine.
A URL is important both for Google and for users. Different websites have different URLs — long, short, with letters, numbers, or characters that might sometimes lack general sense.
SEO specialists believe that a URL is also important for website positioning due to its name and the use of keywords.
Structure of an Internet Address
What is a URL composed of? A URL is one of the most important parts of every website. Let’s take our website’s address as an example:
https://prflare.com
Here we have the following parts:
- https — this is the name of the internet protocol
- www — World Wide Web, also officially called the internet service
- prflare — domain
- com — extension
- /en — language version of the website
From a web usability point of view, a URL must be easy to type and memorize. Every URL should also match the content of the website. A URL in one or a few words gives useful information to the user and also provides information to the search engine, identifying the website (identifier, parameters).
Why are URLs Important in SEO?
A URL is also a very important detail for indexing websites in Google. Thanks to this, a website can be correctly positioned in any search engine. A proper URL structure helps avoid technical and sensorial errors.
Google uses URLs for structuring the information in the search results sought by users. During a technical audit, specialists particularly examine the correctness of URL indexing, because each website should have as many URLs as it has actual subpages. This influences the promotion of websites.
Google bots will enter every URL of a website and thus allow them to appear in search results.
Better User Experience
The name of a URL, meaning the domain, also makes an impression on users. Besides the technical aspect, a URL must be easily searchable by users. If a URL cannot be quickly remembered or saved, it will leave a poor impression on readers who might not return to the website the second time.
That’s why it’s important to build a website not only from a technical standpoint but to think about what image the name will build and what impression it will have on target customers.
Links
It is known that links play a crucial role in website positioning. The significance of links is too high in order to have a good rank in search results. Link building is an important part of SEO positioning. The better the link structure, the more users visit that site, and eventually, the more popular the site becomes.
What Types of Links Exist?
- Natural links: these are links published on other domains (articles, photos, anchor texts, etc.). Most often, these links are published naturally without sponsorship. They can also be placed in forums, blogs, or comments.
- Internal links: these are links placed on a website to provide easier access to various internal pages and allow the reader to navigate more easily on the site.
- External links: this often refers to sponsored links to popularize the website on other platforms, share knowledge about promoted products or services. External potential helps the search engine better “understand” the website’s topics and increase users’ trust in the domain.
Rankings
Google also relies on URLs as part of the information that provides its metadata. Metadata is important from an SEO standpoint and includes the following: title, meta description. They display the main knowledge about the website in search results, as well as provide additional information about the website, for example: prices, reviews, and product availability, etc.
URLs are considered the most crucial issue related to SEO. An incorrect URL affects the display of a website in Google, and subsequently reduces the website’s ability to sell the presented products or services. It’s always worth examining this technical aspect to see if the URL is available for Google robots and is understandable for users.
