Choosing the right characters in your website’s URLs might seem trivial, but it can significantly impact your site’s visibility and user experience. One common question that arises is whether to use hyphens or underscores to separate words in URLs. The difference, while appearing minor, can influence how search engines interpret and display your content.
Understanding the implications of your URL structure is crucial for optimizing your website for search engines and ensuring that users can easily navigate your site. In this article, we’ll delve into why using hyphens instead of underscores in URLs is important, how it affects SEO, and what steps you can take to implement best practices. Keep reading to make informed decisions about your site’s URL structure and enhance your online presence.
What is the Importance of Using Hyphens Instead of Underscores in URLs
URLs serve as the addresses for your web pages, guiding both users and search engines to your content. When constructing URLs, the way you separate words can affect how search engines parse and index your pages. Using hyphens (e.g., “my-page”) instead of underscores (e.g., “my_page”) is generally recommended because search engines interpret hyphens as word separators.
Search engines like Google treat hyphens as spaces between words, effectively recognizing each word in the URL as separate. This means if your URL is “example.com/seo-tips”, Google reads it as “seo tips”. Conversely, underscores are not interpreted as separators; “example.com/seo_tips” would be read as “seotips”, which could diminish the clarity of your URL in the eyes of search engines.
For example, if someone searches for “SEO tips”, a URL containing hyphens is more likely to be considered relevant and appear in search results than one with underscores. By using hyphens, you’re ensuring that your URLs are easily readable and optimally indexed by search engines, enhancing the discoverability of your content.
Detailed Steps to Use Hyphens Instead of Underscores in URLs
In our recent experience resolving the challenges of URL optimization for a Toronto-based company, we found that incorrect URL structures were hampering their search rankings and overall online visibility. The company’s use of underscores in their URLs was causing search engines to misinterpret their content, leading to lower rankings and reduced traffic. By systematically addressing this issue, we helped improve their SEO performance significantly.
Step 1: Audit Your Current URLs
Begin by conducting a thorough audit of your website’s current URL structure. Identify all URLs that use underscores. This can be done using tools like Screaming Frog or by exporting your site’s URLs from your content management system (CMS). An audit will give you a clear picture of the scope of the changes needed.
Step 2: Plan Your URL Structure Updates
After identifying the URLs that need to be updated, create a plan for how you’ll implement the changes. Ensure that each underscore in your URLs is replaced with a hyphen. This should be done carefully to avoid any errors that could lead to broken links or other technical issues.
Step 3: Implement 301 Redirects
Once you’ve updated your URLs, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs (with underscores) to the new URLs (with hyphens). This tells search engines that the page has moved permanently and transfers most of the SEO value from the old URL to the new one. Properly implemented redirects are crucial to maintain your site’s search rankings and prevent 404 errors.
Step 4: Update Internal Links
Review your site’s internal linking structure to ensure all links point to the new URLs. This includes navigation menus, footer links, and any in-text links within your content. Updating internal links helps search engines crawl your site more effectively and provides a seamless user experience.
Step 5: Resubmit Your Sitemap
After making changes to your URLs and internal links, generate a new sitemap and submit it to search engines like Google via Google Search Console. This will prompt search engines to crawl your updated URLs more quickly, helping to update their indexes with your new URL structure.
Tools to Help Implement Hyphens in URLs
Some of the tools we use to optimize URL structures and ensure best practices are followed include:
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is an essential tool for monitoring your site’s presence in Google search results. It allows you to submit sitemaps, monitor index coverage, and identify any issues caused by URL changes. Using Search Console, you can see how Google interacts with your updated URLs and address any crawl errors promptly.
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a website crawler that helps you identify URLs with underscores, check for broken links, and ensure that your redirects are correctly implemented. This tool simplifies the process of auditing your site and verifying that all URLs adhere to SEO best practices.
Yoast SEO Plugin
If you’re using WordPress, the Yoast SEO Plugin can assist you in managing your URL structures. It offers features to customize permalinks and automatically generate sitemaps, making it easier to implement hyphens in your URLs and maintain an optimized site.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Updating URLs
Neglecting to Implement Redirects
One common mistake is failing to set up proper 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones. Without redirects, users and search engines accessing the old URLs will encounter 404 errors, which can harm your site’s SEO and user experience.
This error typically occurs when site owners update URLs in their CMS but do not configure the server to redirect old URLs to the new ones. Search engines may view the old pages as missing and remove them from search results, causing a loss in rankings and traffic.
To avoid this, always implement 301 redirects for any URL changes. This signals to search engines that the page has moved permanently and helps preserve your SEO rankings. Tools like .htaccess (for Apache servers) or server configuration files can be used to set up these redirects.
Implementing redirects ensures that any inbound links to your old URLs continue to pass on their SEO value, and users will seamlessly reach the intended content without errors.
Forgetting to Update Internal Links
Another mistake is overlooking the need to update internal links after changing URLs. Internal links pointing to old URLs can lead to broken links within your site, frustrating users and hindering search engine crawling.
This happens when the URL changes are made, but the internal links in your site’s navigation, content, or footers still reference the outdated URLs. As a result, users clicking these links will encounter errors, and search engines may struggle to navigate your site effectively.
To prevent this issue, review and update all internal links to reflect the new URLs with hyphens. This ensures a smooth user experience and allows search engines to crawl your site efficiently. Using a website crawler tool can help identify any lingering old links.
Maintaining accurate internal links helps preserve the integrity of your site’s navigation and overall SEO health.
Changing URLs Without Considering SEO Impacts
Some site owners might change URLs without fully considering the SEO implications, such as removing keywords or altering the structure drastically. This can lead to a loss of rankings and organic traffic.
This mistake arises when there’s a lack of understanding of how URLs contribute to SEO. Keywords in URLs can enhance relevance and click-through rates. Drastic changes without proper planning can disconnect the page from its established search performance.
To mitigate this, plan URL changes carefully. Retain important keywords and maintain a logical structure. Analyze the potential SEO impact before making changes, and consider consulting with an SEO professional if needed.
Thoughtful URL changes can improve SEO, but hasty modifications may harm your site’s visibility.
Conclusion
Optimizing your website’s URLs by using hyphens instead of underscores is a simple yet effective way to enhance your site’s SEO and user experience. Hyphens improve readability for both users and search engines, helping your content rank higher and reach a wider audience.
By auditing your current URLs, implementing necessary changes with proper redirects, and utilizing the right tools, you can ensure your site follows best practices. Remember to avoid common pitfalls like neglecting redirects or internal links, which can undermine your efforts. Taking these steps will position your website for better performance and visibility in search results.
How We Can Help You Optimize Your URLs
At ENoptimize, we bring over 10 years of experience in SEO optimization, assisting businesses in Toronto and across Ontario to enhance their online presence. Our expertise includes optimizing URL structures, and ensuring that your website is both search engine-friendly and user-friendly.
We offer comprehensive services to audit your current URLs, implement best practices, and utilize industry-leading tools to improve your site’s performance. Our team stays up-to-date with the latest SEO trends to provide you with effective strategies tailored to your business needs.
If you’re looking to improve your site’s visibility and maximize your SEO efforts, let us help you implement optimal URL structures and more. Learn how our search engine optimization solutions can drive growth for your business.