Welcome to the lesson on URLs. While you may be familiar with these as an Internet user, you'll now have the opportunity to learn how to optimize URLs according to SEO best practices. Including the use of keywords, subdirectories, and parameters. We will look at when there are opportunities to change URLs, as well as when it is best to leave URLs as they are. Let's delve into what a URL means. >> A URL is basically an address that loads a particular site or document. URLs describe a page to both visitors and search engines. Like important metadata elements, the URL should be relevant and contain important keywords while remaining brief. Also, note how the keyword Winemaking in the URL has been bolded. The URL is cut off due to character limits, but ideally, it's a good idea to place important keywords as close to the beginning of your URL as possible. Keywords in the URL used to play a large role in SEO, but this has been over-optimized to a point where Google has changed the importance of URL keywords when determining where a site should rank. Keywords within the URL are still useful, they just do not play as large of a role as they used to. However, URLs should also be considered from an off-page SEO perspective. If people are linking to a particular page using the URL as the link, the URL can serve as its own anchor text, and keywords within that URL might help the page be seen as relevant for those keywords. For example, if we look at the full URL for the UC Davis program, this page might be seen more relevant for words like Study and Winemaking and Certificate, which all point to an overall theme for this page. When looking at this URL, you can see various forward slashes containing information. For example, areas of study and winemaking. These are subfolders, also known as subdirectories, which help to categorize documents on a site. When search engines display the URL, they will generally cut out the middle categories or subfolders to make the URL shorter and easier for viewers to read. You can see this in the example search result where I highlighted the area that Google removed. If important keywords are included within the subdirectories, part of the subdirectory name might be included in the search results. This will be boldened, which will help draw attention to the result. For example, if I search for how to make wine, I see that one of the top results links to a site called Dan Murphy's. If I look at that URL, I can see two of the subdirectories are included. Both of these have bolded keywords, with the keyword wine. When analyzing the URL, we can see that the entire subdirectory wine was included, because of the keyword used. And then part of subdirectory, more about wine was included. But only the keyword wine is listed, as this keyword is specific to our search query. Then you can see the entire last part of the URL, which would be displayed as normal, but has been cut off, slightly, due to length. However, the last part of the URL's bolded as well, which helps capture attention. While we are looking at this URL, I would also like to point out the long combination of letters and numbers at the end, which I have highlighted. These are called Parameters. And where possible, it's best to leave these out of your URLs. Parameters not only make your URL's excessively long, but oftentimes, the parameter can change based on a variety of factors. This particular parameter is a Session ID, which means it changes based on the user. If you were to Google how to make wine, and you found this site and clicked on the result, your URL would be slightly different than the one I have here. This can create problems with duplicate content, as a URL has changed but the content has remained the same. Unless we as SEOs have been brought in during the design stages of a website, which is unfortunately a rare occurrence, we have little to say in how URLs are displayed and what subdirectories are created. You can always change the URL after the fact, but remember, that page is likely already ranking under the existing URL. Changing it later would mean it would lose some of the history and authority it has built up. If a URL is changed, it is best to ensure it is redirected using a 301 or permanent redirect. Once that occurs, it would take time for Google to remove the old URL from the index and index the new one. Due to this, changing URLs for the sake of SEO is not always the best option. Recommendations to do so can be very situational. Oftentimes, it is better to optimize the page and other on-page elements to the best of your ability and leave the URL as it is. The decision to change existing URLs, whether during a re-design or for SEO purposes, is circumstantial and should be heavily considered before making a change just for SEO. However, this knowledge will come in handy when working with clients to create new pages or in cases where you are building your own site or working with a client to build theirs. Whenever you are creating a new page, follow the best practices we have discussed to create an optimal URL. Let's review some of the best practices for URLs. Don't change URLs for the sake of changing them. If you do have to change a URL, always redirect that to a new page using a permanent 301 redirect. It's always best to optimize the URL from the start. Incorporate keywords into the URL where possible. Incorporate keywords into subdirectories where possible. Keep URLs short and succinct. You should now have an understanding of what a URL is and be able to locate subdirectories within the URL. In addition, you should have an understanding of how to optimize a URL with SEO in mind and how to optimize URLs for a new site or a re-design. You should also be able to identify opportunities to change URLs as well as when to leave URLs as they are. That completes the video portion of this lesson.
