Improve the SEO positioning of your website by optimizing your URLs

What is SEO positioning?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a set of techniques that help a website appear among the first results of search engines such as Google or Bing.

It offers the possibility of achieving greater visibility of the website, getting more users to access it and obtaining more visits that can lead to an increase in sales.

But, is it only possible to improve positioning through content? The answer is no, since you can also achieve it by optimizing your URLs.

What is an URL?

URL is the acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. It refers to a unique and specific address with which you can identify and differentiate any file that is available on the web, such as a page, an image or a video, among many other options. It is used to easily locate and access these files through a browser or application that uses the Internet.

What are the benefits of optimizing a URL?

Now that you know what a URL is, it's time to learn how optimizing them can help your SME's website:

1. Make it easier to read: the shorter and simpler a URL is, the easier it will be to read. For example: companyname.com. This is a section that search engines value highly when it comes to positioning a content above the others.

2. Increase traffic to your web page: if your content is positioned among the first results of a search engine, you will be able to get more users to your web page and achieve more visits.

3. Facilitates sharing: a URL that is optimized and easy to remember, can help users to share it with their contacts, for example, in their social networks and thus achieve greater dissemination.

4. Improves user experience: the ease of navigation for a user within a web page when recognizing or reading a URL is another factor that search engines evaluate when positioning some content over others.

Step by step to optimize a URL

Take note of these tips to optimize your URLs, improve their positioning in search engines and get the most out of them:

1. Add keywords: including the most relevant words on the content of your web page is essential for search engines to reward an article when it comes to positioning it. To do this, find out what are the most important terms the content deals with and try to include them in the URL.

2. Use hyphens to separate words: search engines prefer hyphens to separate words, so try to use them when editing your URL. Avoid separating words with spaces or underscores, as search engines do not value them in the same way as normal hyphens.

3. Opt for a short URL: although we have already mentioned it before, the shorter the URL, the easier it will be for the user to read and share it. Longer URLs tend to generate rejection among users.

4. Avoid irrelevant terms: this means that you should try not to use unnecessary codes or numbers in the URLs that accompany the rest of the terms you are going to use, as this can make it difficult for the user to read and reduce the chances that the search engines will value it positively.

5. Use lowercase letters: some browsers may have problems reading capital letters, making it difficult to recognize words. Avoid using accents or any other character that may make it difficult for the search engine to read.

6. Create a coherent structure: when editing a URL, make sure that it makes sense and is coherent with the rest of the URLs on your website. For example, if a content is within a section, make sure that all the contents of that section respect a similar structure.

Optimizing URLs will help users to better understand where they are and they will be able to navigate more easily through the web page, improving their experience. Also, remember that it is essential to avoid having two identical or very similar URLs to avoid confusing both users and search engines.

In order to complete all these steps, remember that you can do it from your CMS or content manager. There, you will be able to edit the URLs of your web page following the instructions of the platform. What are you waiting for? Start making the most of your web page!