URL Re-writing
Why to rewrite URL´s?
To call the attention of the reader of a Search Engine Result Page (or SERP), you need to have the keywords typed in their requested bold the maximum of times on the text which summarizes your web page.
For whom should I change my URL's? :
| Google User | Google Robot |
|
Help him to identify that the site correspond to their request. Increase the reader probability to click on your link. |
Helps Google Robot to identify the content of your page. Google classifies your page in function of the number of time a reader clicks on your link. If the user clicks more on your link than on the one above you, Google will improve your ranking. |
This logic can also apply for the Meta Tags Title and the Meta Tags Description.
What is the best URL length?
In order to have a good lenght for your URL, it is good not to have more than 3-5 words in your URL. According to Google’s Matt Cutts, if your URL have more than 5 words “[Google] algorithms will typically weight those words less and not give you as much credit.”
A recent study from Marketing Sherpa, 2008 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, shows that short URL’s tend to be clicked twice than the the longer ones on Google SERP (for an equal position rank).
How to separate words in URLs?
It has been proved that dashes (-) between words are better than underscores (_). Even if Google has no preference, you will notice that if you use an underscore between two words, Google will consider it as being only one word.
E.g: if you use:
- word1_word2: Google will only return that page if the user searches for word1_word2- word1-word2: your page can return for the searches word1, word2, or “word1 word2”.
How to rewrite URLs on Joomla or Typo3?
Most of the contents management systems have extensions you can add to enable you to rewrite your URLs.
Here are some links where you can access extensions of the most used open source CMS: Joomla, Typo3
How to re-write URLs on a site hosted on Apache Web Server?
If your website is hosted on an Apache Web Server, you can use .htaccess, the Apache directory level configuration files, to create SEO friendly URLs.
For more detailed information about .htaccess files, please follow the tutorial on Apache official website.
Here is a basic summary to create SEO friendly URLs for dynamic pages.
If you have a dynamic page called /product.php containing a numeric variable called ID : /product.php?id=25 , .htaccess file would enable you to obtain a more SEO friendly URL structure with the format such as /product/25.
To obtain this result, use:
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/?product/([0-50]+)$ /product\.php?id=$1
To remove the extension from your filenames, you can use the code:
RewriteRule ^/?contact-us/([a-z--]+)$ /contact-us/$1\.php
An URL which have the structure http://www.website.com/contact-us/barcelona-office.php would return as http://www.website.com/contact-us/barcelona-office.