Keep a simple URL structure - Google Developers

Consider using hyphens in your URLs. It helps users and search engines identify concepts in the URL easier. Recommended — keywords in the URL separated with a ... Google SearchCentral Documentation SEOfundamentals Introduction GetyourwebsiteonGoogle HowGoogleSearchWorks SEOstarterguide Guidelinesforsiteowners DoyouneedanSEO? Maintainingyoursite'sSEO Developer'sguidetoSEO Crawlingandindexing Sitemaps robots.txt Metatags Crawlermanagement Removals CanonicalURLs Sitemoves Redirects JavaScriptSEO Internationalandmultilingualsites Searchappearance Titlelinks Snippets Images Videos Structureddata Businessdetails Favicons Publicationdates AllSearchappearancetopics Userexperience Pageexperience Navigationstructures Paginationandincrementalpageloading HTTPS Mobile-friendliness Interstitialsanddialogs Support Blog What'snew Allupdates Documentationupdates Rankingupdates NewYouTubevideos Recentpodcastepisodes Events Casestudies Language English BahasaIndonesia Deutsch Español Español–AméricaLatina Français Italiano Polski Português–Brasil TiếngViệt Türkçe Русский العربيّة हिंदी ภาษาไทย 中文–简体 中文–繁體 日本語 한국어 Signin Documentation GotoSearchConsole Google SearchCentral Documentation More Support Blog What'snew More Events Casestudies Introduction GetyourwebsiteonGoogle SEOStarterGuide HowGoogleSearchworks DoyouneedanSEO? Maintainingyoursite'sSEO Developer'sguidetoSearch Guidelines OverviewofguidelinesWebmasterguidelines Generalguidelines KeepasimpleURLstructureQualifyyouroutboundlinkstoGoogleInterstitialsanddialogsTagsiteforchild-directedtreatmentBrowsercompatibilityAvoidcreatingduplicatecontentUsevalidpagemetadataMakeyourlinkscrawlableMakesureGooglebotisnotblockedBestpracticesforwebsitetestingwithGoogleSearch Content-specificguidelines Imagesandvideo GoogleImagesbestpracticesVideobestpracticesRichmediafilebestpracticesSafeSearchandyourwebsiteBestpracticesforbloggersWebhostingservicesKeepredactedinformationoutofSearchAMPonGoogleSearchguidelines BestpracticesforecommerceinSearch OverviewWherecontentcanappearShareproductdataIncludestructureddataLaunchanewwebsiteWritehighqualityproductreviewsDesignaURLstructureEcommercesitestructurePagination,incrementalpageloading,andSearchEstablishyourbusinessdetails COVID-19resourcesandtips ForallsitesForeducationsitesForhealthandgovernmentsites Qualityguidelines AutomaticallygeneratedcontentSneakyredirectsLinkschemesThincontentPaidlinksCloakingHiddentextandlinksDoorwaypagesScrapedcontentAffiliateprogramsIrrelevantkeywordsCreatingpageswithmaliciousbehaviorAutomatedqueriesUser-generatedspamWaystopreventcommentspamReportspam,paidlinks,ormalware Controlcrawlingandindexing Overview Sitemaps LearnaboutsitemapsBuildandsubmitasitemapSplitupyourlargesitemaps Sitemapextensions VideositemapsandalternativesImagesitemapsGoogleNewssitemaps robots.txt Introductiontorobots.txtCreateandsubmitarobots.txtfileUpdateyourrobots.txtfileHowGoogleinterpretstherobots.txtspecificationRobotsFAQs Metatags MetatagsthatGoogleunderstandsBlocksearchindexingwithnoindexRobotsmetatag,data-nosnippet,andX-Robots-Tagspecifications Crawlermanagement AskGoogletorecrawlyourURLsReducetheGooglebotcrawlrateVerifyingGooglebotandotherGooglecrawlersLargesiteowner'sguidetomanagingyourcrawlbudgetHowHTTPstatuscodes,andnetworkandDNSerrorsaffectGoogleSearch Googlecrawlers OverviewGooglebotGoogleReadAlouduseragentAPIs-GoogleuseragentFeedfetcherDuplexonthewebuseragent Removals ControlwhatyousharewithGoogleRemoveapagehostedonyoursitefromGoogleRemoveimageshostedonyoursitefromsearchresultsCanonicalURLs Sitemovesandchanges RedirectsandGoogleSearch Sitemoves Whatisasitemove?MoveasitewithoutURLchangesMoveasitewithURLchangesTemporarilypauseordisableawebsite Internationalandmultilingualsites OverviewManagingmulti-regionalandmultilingualsitesTellGoogleaboutlocalizedversionsofyourpageHowGooglecrawlslocale-adaptivepages JavaScriptcontent UnderstandtheJavaScriptSEObasicsFixsearch-relatedJavaScriptproblemsFixlazy-loadedcontentImplementdynamicrendering ChangeyourSearchappearance OverviewofSearchappearancetopicsControlyourtitlelinksControlyoursnippetsEnableSearchresultfeaturesforyoursiteFeaturedsnippetsandyourwebsiteSitelinksProvideapublicationdatetoGoogleSearchDefineafavicontoshowinsearchresultsTranslatedresultsEnablingyouradnetworktoworkwithtranslation-relatedGoogleSearchfeatures Usingstructureddata UnderstandhowstructureddataworksTrythestructureddatacodelabExplorethesearchgalleryStructureddatageneralguidelinesGeneratestructureddatawithJavaScript Featureguides ArticleBookBreadcrumbCarouselCourseCOVID-19announcementsDatasetEducationQ&AEmployerAggregateRatingEstimatedsalaryEventFactCheckFAQHomeActivitiesHow-toImageLicenseJobPostingLearningVideoLocalBusinessLogoMathsolversMoviePracticeproblemsProductQ&ARecipeReviewsnippetSitelinkssearchboxSoftwareAppSpeakableSubscriptionandpaywalledcontentVideoEnrichedsearchresultsFlexibleSamplinggeneralguidanceEnableTopPlacesListOptoutofdisplayinlocalsearchresultsandotherGooglepropertiesUseImageRightsMetadatainGoogleImages Debugwithsearchoperators Overviewsite:searchoperatorcache:searchoperatorGoogleImagessearchoperators WebStories EnableWebStoriesonGoogleBestpracticesforcreatingWebStoriesWebStorycontentpolicy EarlyAdoptersProgram PackagetrackingMobilerecharge Optimizeyourpageexperience UnderstandingpageexperienceGetstartedwithsignedexchangesonGoogleSearch Mobile Overviewofmobiletopics Mobile-friendliness GetstartedMobile-firstindexingbestpractices Chooseaconfiguration OverviewResponsiveWebDesignDynamicServingSeparateURLsTabletsandfeaturephonesAvoidcommonmistakeswhendesigningformobileCustomizeyourwebsitesoftwaretobemobile-friendlyResourcesfordevelopingmobile-friendlypagesMobileFAQsAnnouncemobilebillingchargesclearlyMobileviewingonfeaturephonesWebLight:FasterandlighterpagesfromSearchAdnetworksupportforWebLightpagesinGoogleSearchGoogleDiscoverandyourwebsite Security OverviewofsecuritytopicsSecureyoursitewithHTTPSWhatishackingorhackedcontent?MalwareandunwantedsoftwarePreventingmalwareinfectionSocialengineering(phishinganddeceptivesites)GoogleSafeBrowsingRepeatOffendersPolicy AMP UnderstandhowAMPlooksinsearchresultsEnhanceAMPcontentValidateAMPcontentRemoveAMPcontent Monitoryoursiteperformance GetstartedwithSearchConsoleUsingreportsinSearchConsole SEOfundamentals Introduction GetyourwebsiteonGoogle HowGoogleSearchWorks SEOstarterguide Guidelinesforsiteowners DoyouneedanSEO? Maintainingyoursite'sSEO Developer'sguidetoSEO Crawlingandindexing Sitemaps robots.txt Metatags Crawlermanagement Removals CanonicalURLs Sitemoves Redirects JavaScriptSEO Internationalandmultilingualsites Searchappearance Titlelinks Snippets Images Videos Structureddata Businessdetails Favicons Publicationdates AllSearchappearancetopics Userexperience Pageexperience Navigationstructures Paginationandincrementalpageloading HTTPS Mobile-friendliness Interstitialsanddialogs Allupdates Documentationupdates Rankingupdates NewYouTubevideos Recentpodcastepisodes Home SearchCentral Documentation Sendfeedback KeepasimpleURLstructure Asite'sURLstructureshouldbeassimpleaspossible.Considerorganizingyourcontentso thatURLsareconstructedlogicallyandinamannerthatismostintelligibletohumans. Whenpossible,usereadablewordsratherthanlongIDnumbersinyourURLs. Recommended—simple,descriptivewordsintheURL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation Recommended—localizedwordsintheURL,ifapplicable: example.com/lebensmittel/pfefferminz UseUTF-8encodingasnecessary. Notrecommended—unreadable,longIDnumbersintheURL: https://www.example.com/index.php?id_sezione=360&sid=3a5ebc944f41daa6f849f730f1 Ifyoursiteismulti-regional,considerusingaURLstructurethatmakesiteasytogeotarget yoursite.FormoreexamplesofhowyoucanstructureyourURLs,referto usinglocale-specificURLs. Recommended—country-specificdomain: example.de Recommended—country-specificsubdirectorywithgTLD: example.com/de/ ConsiderusinghyphensinyourURLs.Ithelpsusersandsearchenginesidentifyconcepts intheURLeasier. Recommended—keywordsintheURLseparatedwith ahyphen: https://www.example.com/green-dress Notrecommended—keywordsintheURLjoinedtogether: https://www.example.com/greendress Werecommendthatyouusehyphens(-)insteadofunderscores(_)in yourURLs. Recommended—hyphens(-): https://www.example.com/summer-clothing/filter?color-profile=dark-grey Notrecommended—underscores(_): https://www.example.com/summer_clothing/filter?color_profile=dark_grey OverlycomplexURLs,especiallythosecontainingmultipleparameters,cancauseproblems forcrawlersbycreatingunnecessarilyhighnumbersofURLsthatpointtoidenticalorsimilar contentonyoursite.Asaresult,Googlebotmayconsumemuchmorebandwidththannecessary, ormaybeunabletocompletelyindexallthecontentonyoursite. Commoncausesofthisproblem UnnecessarilyhighnumbersofURLscanbecausedbyanumberofissues.Theseinclude: Additivefilteringofasetofitems.Manysitesprovidedifferentviewsof thesamesetofitemsorsearchresults,oftenallowingtheusertofilterthissetusing definedcriteria(forexample:showmehotelsonthebeach).Whenfilterscanbecombined inanadditivemanner(forexample:hotelsonthebeachandwithafitnesscenter),thenumber ofURLs(viewsofdata)inthesitesexplodes.Creatingalargenumberofslightlydifferent listsofhotelsisredundant,becauseGooglebotneedstoseeonlyasmallnumberoflistsfrom whichitcanreachthepageforeachhotel.Forexample: Hotelpropertiesat"valuerates": https://www.example.com/hotel-search-results.jsp?Ne=292&N=461 Hotelpropertiesat"valuerates"onthebeach: https://www.example.com/hotel-search-results.jsp?Ne=292&N=461+4294967240 Hotelpropertiesat"valuerates"onthebeachandwithafitnesscenter: https://www.example.com/hotel-search-results.jsp?Ne=292&N=461+4294967240+4294967270 Dynamicgenerationofdocuments.Thiscanresultinsmallchangesbecause ofcounters,timestamps,oradvertisements. ProblematicparametersintheURL.SessionIDs,forexample,cancreate massiveamountsofduplicationandagreaternumberofURLs. Sortingparameters.Somelargeshoppingsitesprovidemultiplewaysto sortthesameitems,resultinginamuchgreaternumberofURLs.Forexample: https://www.example.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=tpb&search_sort=relevance&search_category=25 IrrelevantparametersintheURL,suchasreferralparameters.Forexample: https://www.example.com/search/noheaders?click=6EE2BF1AF6A3D705D5561B7C3564D9C2&clickPage=OPD+Product+Page&cat=79 https://www.example.com/discuss/showthread.php?referrerid=249406&threadid=535913 https://www.example.com/products/products.asp?N=200063&Ne=500955&ref=foo%2Cbar&Cn=Accessories. Calendarissues.Adynamicallygeneratedcalendarmightgeneratelinksto futureandpreviousdateswithnorestrictionsonstartorenddates.Forexample: https://www.example.com/calendar.php?d=13&m=8&y=2011 Brokenrelativelinks.Brokenrelativelinkscanoftencauseinfinite spaces.Frequently,thisproblemarisesbecauseofrepeatedpathelements.Forexample: https://www.example.com/index.shtml/discuss/category/school/061121/html/interview/category/health/070223/html/category/business/070302/html/category/community/070413/html/FAQ.htm Resolvethisproblem ToavoidpotentialproblemswithURLstructure,werecommendthefollowing: Considerusingarobots.txtfiletoblockGooglebot'saccesstoproblematicURLs. Typically,considerblockingdynamicURLs,suchasURLsthatgeneratesearch results,orURLsthatcancreateinfinitespaces,suchascalendars.Usingregular expressionsinyourrobots.txtfilecanallowyoutoeasilyblocklargenumbersofURLs. Whereverpossible,avoidtheuseofsessionIDsinURLs.Considerusingcookiesinstead. CheckourWebmaster Guidelinesforadditionalinformation. Wheneverpossible,shortenURLsbytrimmingunnecessaryparameters. Ifyoursitehasaninfinitecalendar,addanofollow attributetolinkstodynamicallycreatedfuturecalendarpages. Checkyoursiteforbrokenrelativelinks. Sendfeedback Exceptasotherwisenoted,thecontentofthispageislicensedundertheCreativeCommonsAttribution4.0License,andcodesamplesarelicensedundertheApache2.0License.Fordetails,seetheGoogleDevelopersSitePolicies.JavaisaregisteredtrademarkofOracleand/oritsaffiliates. Lastupdated2022-04-12UTC. [{ "type":"thumb-down", "id":"missingTheInformationINeed", "label":"MissingtheinformationIneed" },{ "type":"thumb-down", "id":"tooComplicatedTooManySteps", "label":"Toocomplicated/toomanysteps" },{ "type":"thumb-down", "id":"outOfDate", "label":"Outofdate" },{ "type":"thumb-down", "id":"samplesCodeIssue", "label":"Samples/codeissue" },{ "type":"thumb-down", "id":"otherDown", "label":"Other" }] [{ "type":"thumb-up", "id":"easyToUnderstand", "label":"Easytounderstand" },{ "type":"thumb-up", "id":"solvedMyProblem", "label":"Solvedmyproblem" },{ "type":"thumb-up", "id":"otherUp", "label":"Other" }] Needtotellusmore? Podcast ListentoourSearchOfftheRecordpodcast Blog SubscribetoourRSSfeed Twitter Follow@googlesearchconTwitter Askquestions Postinourhelpcommunity JoinSEOofficehours Helpdocumentation Getupdates Blog Twitter YouTube Resources DoyouneedanSEO? 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