Control your URL strings

Controlling URL strings is a critical aspect of optimising websites for better visibility and user experience.

By managing URL structures effectively, businesses can eliminate errors such as 301, 302, and 404 errors, ensuring that missing pages are handled correctly and URL strings accurately describe the content they represent.

Here's a comprehensive guide on how to wield control over URL strings to enhance SEO performance:

1: Use clean URLs.

Clean URLs, also known as user-friendly URLs, are URLs that contain words instead of query strings, question marks, ampersands, and numbers.

These URLs are not only easier for users to read and understand but also favoured by search engines for indexing purposes. When creating URLs for your website's pages, aim for simplicity and clarity, incorporating relevant keywords where possible to improve search engine visibility.

2: Manage changes with redirects.

As you edit your website content, changes are inevitable, and URLs may inadvertently move or change over time.

To maintain SEO equity and prevent users from encountering dead ends, it's crucial to implement redirects for old URLs that have been moved or renamed. Utilise 301 redirects to permanently redirect old URLs to their new counterparts, preserving link juice and ensuring a seamless user experience.

3: Generate descriptive URLs automatically

To streamline the process of creating descriptive URLs, leverage rules based on page titles and menu hierarchy to automatically generate URL strings that accurately reflect the content they represent.

By aligning URL structures with page titles and site navigation, you can create a logical and intuitive URL hierarchy that enhances both user experience and search engine crawlability.

The Drupal CMS does this automatically for you with the Pathauto module.

4: Catch 404 errors effectively.

404 errors, also known as "page not found" errors, occur when users attempt to access a page that does not exist or has been moved.

To mitigate the impact of 404 errors on SEO performance and user satisfaction, implement strategies to catch and handle these errors effectively. Consider implementing custom 404 error pages that provide helpful information and navigation options for users. Additionally, leverage tools and techniques to identify close matches for missing URLs or automatically redirect users to relevant search pages to help them find the content they're looking for.

Try our marketing workshops for FREE

The first FREE introductory workshop will cover the business identity section of the brand development training programme.

This 45 minute call will cover the following areas:

Splitting your marketing activities into customer acquisition and customer nurturing marketing strategies
Add clarity to your objectives by asserting a well defined USP
Generate a business identity by presenting value and results combined with your passion to deliver

The complete workshop programme includes Business Identity, Marketing Analysis, Content Marketing, Website Strategy, Business Analytics and Messaging Strategy. These workshops can be arranged as 45 minute telephone / Zoom calls to be held once a week (a time and day that fits). Those companies who wish to take this further can arrange one-2-one training or join an existing workshop group held on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

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