What is URL
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. The location of a webpage or file on the internet. The URL for the website you are currently visiting is ZabiNiazi.com.
Similar to how buildings and houses have a unique street addresses, likewise, webpages also have unique addresses to help locate them. On the internet, these addresses are called URLs or (Uniform Resource Locators).
A website URL is made up of a domain name, (ZabiNiazi), domain category (.com), and sometimes other elements like a subdomain (support) and path. (/blog).
Google Ads provides ads with a “Display URL” that’s shown with your ad as a final URL and determines the destination users are taking after clicking the ad.
URL Structure Dos and Don'ts
- Simple, descriptive words in the URL:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation - Localized words in the URL, if applicable.
https://www.example.com/sanj-jose/pfefferminz - Use UTF-8 encoding as necessary. For example, the following example uses UTF-8 encoding for Arabic characters in the URL:
https://www.example.com/%D9%86%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9/%D8%A8%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9 - Country-specific domain:
https://example.de - Country-specific subdirectory with gTLD:
https://example.com/de/ - Hyphens (-):
https://www.example.com/summer-clothing/filter?color-profile=dark-grey - Underscores (_):
https://www.example.com/summer_clothing/filter?color_profile=dark_grey - Words in the URL joined together:
https://www.example.com/greendress - Using non-ASCII characters in the URL:
https://www.example.com/نعناع - Unreadable, long ID numbers in the URL:
https://www.example.com/index.php?id_sezione=360&sid=3a5ebc944f41daa6f849f730f1
URL Best Practices
- Include your core or Focus Keyword in your URL
- Separate words with dashes –
- Match URL’s with Titles used in the blog/page
- Write URLs in lowercase, without apostrophes or other special characters
- Limit redirection hops to two or fewer
- Fewer folders is generally better. Avoid xyz.com/category/blogs/ur;-best-practices
- Consider using a robots.txt file to block Googlebot’s access to problematic URLs.
- Typically, consider blocking dynamic URLs, such as URLs that generate search results
- URLs that can create infinite spaces, such as calendars.
- Using regular expressions in your robots.txt file can allow you to easily block large numbers of URLs.
- Wherever possible, avoid the use of session IDs in URLs. Consider using cookies instead.
- Whenever possible, shorten URLs by trimming unnecessary parameters.
- If your site has an infinite calendar, add a nofollow attribute to links to dynamically created future calendar pages.
- Check your site for broken relative links.
- Spell out numbers in the URLs
- Remove dates from Blog posts
- Eliminate Stop words (the, or, and, of, an, a, to, for, etc.)
Ensure content redirects to the correct version of your site, like ZabiNiazi.com to www.ZabiNiazi.com
Use your .htaccess file to create redirects to your preferred domain
Create redirects when moving to a new domain name, versus allowing the old site to expire
HTTP Vs HTTPS
If you are thinking about switching to HTTPS protocol but aren’t sure how it will affect your website, this article will guide you through the process. I will first explain the difference between HTTP and HTTPS in terms of performance, security, and SEO benefits.
HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol which enables the communication between different systems., transferring data and information over a network.
HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, and functions similarly to HTTP, HTTPs work to protect communication between web servers and browsers when transporting data.
HTTPS secures the connection with a digital security protocol that uses cryptographic keys to encrypt and validate data. The most common way for websites to use HTTPS and have a secure domain is by obtaining a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport layer Security (TLS) certificate. TLS is widely known as the standard for HTTPS, most SSL certificates support both TLS/SSL protocols.
HTTP
- It is a hypertext transfer protocol.
- It is less secure as the data can be vulnerable to hackers.
- It uses port 80 by default.
- It’s a good fit for websites designed for information consumption like blogs.
- It operates at the TCP/IP level.
- HTTP does not improve search rankings.
- Vulnerable to hackers
HTTPs
- It is a hypertext transfer protocol with security. It is designed to prevent hackers from accessing critical information. It is secure against such attacks.
- It was use port 443 by default.
- If the website needs to collect private information such as credit card numbers, then it is a more secure protocol.
- HTTPS does not have any separate protocol. It operates using
- HTTP but uses an encrypted
- TLS/SSL connection.
- HTTPS helps to improve search ranking.
- It Is highly secure as the data is encrypted before it is seen across a network
SSL Tips
- Set a reminder to renew your SSL certificate each year
- Redirect your HTTP pages to HTTPS after purchasing your SSL certificate
- Update your XML sitemap and robots.txt file after installing your SSL certificate
SEO Advantages HTTP vs HTTPS
Google Chrome Advantage
Chrome labels the site as “Not Secure” if the site does not have HTTPS. While the HTTPS sites get Green Secure Signal.
Online Transaction Advantage
If your online business involve monetary transactions, having HTTPS is a necessity.
Google gives preferences to the sites that use HTTPS over the competitors who don’t.
AMP Factor
It is not possible to implement AMP without switching over to the HTTPS.
FAQ
The direct answer is No. The URL length doesn’t matter. Google uses URLs as identifiers, it doesn’t matter how long they are. Personally, I try to keep them shorter than 1 000 characters, but that’s just to make monitoring easier.
I’m currently only aware of one part of google’s systems where the URL length plays a role that part is canonicalization.
Canonicalization is what happens when Google finds multiple copies of a page on your website and pick one URL for indexes. From the available URL options, Google systems tend to select shorter and cleaner URLs. This does not affect ranking; it’s purely a matter of which URL is shown in the search.
The number of slashes in a URL does not matter.
So to sum up when it comes to search rankings neither the URL length nor the number of slashes matters. Use a URL structure that works for you and that you can keep for the long run.