The URL of your website is an important factor for on-page search engine optimization, almost as important as your title tag. Search engines pick out keyword phrases within your URL to help determine the search engine position of your web page. Creating a search engine friendly URL will help your SEO efforts and keep your pages relevant to the content of your page.

1. Uses Dashes, Not Underscores
There are many different ways a person can create a URL, some use capitalization for each of the words, others use underscores, the best use dashes. Although dashes and underscores are seen, to the search engine spider, as an equal space between the words of the URL, it is better to use dashes for readability and standardization which is why most major websites use dashes.

Dashes additionally help the user read the URL, dividing each word more clearly than underscores, making it easier for them to type into their search bar. Although dashes do not hold as much weight to other SEO properties, a clean web URL will help the build the overall user experience. A website with a great user experience will create repeat visitors, something search engines love.

2. Use a Descriptive URL
When creating your URL for the web page, use a URL that is very descriptive and contains the main keywords of your content. The easiest way to create a great URL is to use an optimized title tag as inspiration and a base for writing your URL. The URL should reflect the content of your page while correctly using keywords to help support it.

Great URL’s are ones the user is able to remember, much like a phone number. Although you could create a very long and descriptive URL, it’s best to try to make it into something an average web user could remember and type without having to search or bookmark the page. A web page that users are able to remember will help repeat visitors which in turn helps you rank high in search engine results as you become an authority on the subject.

3. Avoid Dynamic URLs
Websites that use a content management system or any other kind of database often use dynamic URL’s, these often look like a jumble of letters or numbers. The problem with using dynamic URL’s is search engine spiders have a hard time indexing the web page because these titles often change. A properly crafted static URL will have greater search engine optimization than one that is changed sporadically.

If your content management system is robust, there should be available options to turn your URL’s into SEO friendly URL’s. There are other ways to create search engine friendly URL’s using mod rewrites which take a bit of technical know-how, to avoid this, research a proper platform that can accommodate your URL needs.

Always remember to create your URL’s with the user in mind. It’s best to be consistent within the context of your page, from the title down to the tags, this will help reassure the user that the page is specific to what they are looking for. Creating keyword rich and descriptive URL’s is one more technique and trick you can use to help your on-page search engine optimization and gain better search engine ranking. In conclusion, avoid using underscores, keep your URL’s descriptive, and never use dynamically generated URL’s for your website.