There are a lot of ways of improving the SEO of your site. There is content creation, which can be optimized. Images can be optimized too. URLs and links to the site and specific pages can also mean the difference between ranking higher and not being visited. There is a lot of things to consider when it comes to URL but we’ve created a list to help you along.
If you already have pages that are being linked to and frequently visited it may be better to leave them as they are, or you can use redirects. The jury is still out on whether it is good or not for SEO to have 301 redirects. Don’t panic. SEO-optimized URLs are easy.
Top URL and Links considerations for SEO
SEO is not just text and images, links are worth considering too if you want a fully optimized site. Here are some considerations.
- URL structure: Use a clear and concise URL structure that accurately reflects the content of the page. Avoid long, complicated URLs with unnecessary parameters. Categorization using deeper URLS such as spinlabs.co.uk/tips-and-tricks/seo-optimized-URLs is not necessarily better than spinlabs.co.uk/seo-optimized-URLs. Structure helps people find pages too.
- URL length: Keep your URLs short, ideally less than 100 characters, possibly shorter to improve readability and make the pages easier to share.
- URL keywords: Include relevant keywords in your URLs to help search engines understand the content of the page. Use hyphens to separate words. Do not overuse and try not to repeat the same words and their synonyms in the URL itself.
- Canonical URLs: Use canonical tags to indicate the preferred version of a page, especially for pages with similar or duplicate content. This can prevent duplicate content issues and improve SEO.
- Internal links: Use internal links to help search engines discover and index your content. Link to related pages and content to improve the user experience and keep visitors on your site. Having links in the menus is one way of doing it. But having internal links to pages such as “Seo-optimized images” helps visitors too.
- Anchor text: Use descriptive anchor text for your internal links, including relevant keywords where appropriate. Avoid using generic text like “click here.”
- Link placement: Place internal links within the body of your content, rather than just in the footer or sidebar. This can improve the user experience and make it easier for search engines to understand the context of the link.
- Link depth: Avoid creating links that are buried several layers deep within your site. Keep links as close to the homepage as possible to improve their visibility and SEO value.
- Broken links: Regularly check your site for broken links and fix them promptly. Broken links can negatively impact the user experience and your SEO.
- Navigation: Use clear and intuitive navigation to make it easy for users to find the content they are looking for. This can improve engagement metrics, such as time on page and bounce rate, which can positively impact your SEO.