URL structure and SEO

supermex · Oct 3, 2017

Let's assume we have a Url with a keyword of multiple words, for example "this is my keyword".

Does it make a difference in SEO between
1 mydomain.com/this-is-my-keyword
and
2 mydomain.com/this_is_my_keyword

I always use 2, because I think it looks better. But many websites use "-" instead of "_".
What's your opinion about this incredibly important topic?

Nargil · Oct 3, 2017

First of all, Penguin does not like that kind of KW stuffing.

Keep it simple.

mydomain.com/my-keyword

And use the dash, not the under...stuff, however it's called.

supermex · Oct 3, 2017

Nargil said:
First of all, Penguin does not like that kind of KW stuffing.

Keep it simple.

mydomain.com/my-keyword

And use the dash, not the under...stuff, however it's called.

I already used the _ everywhere on my site, do you think that's bad for SEO?

Nargil · Oct 3, 2017

supermex said:
I already used the _ everywhere on my site, do you think that's bad for SEO?

I don't think it matters honestly.

waterworks · Nov 17, 2017

It does matter.

Use dashes, per google's own recommendation.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/76329?hl=en

supermex · Nov 17, 2017

waterworks said:
It does matter.

Use dashes, per google's own recommendation.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/76329?hl=en

I build my whole site with "_" in the URLs, do you think it's worth it changing/ redirecting about 70-80 URLs?

waterworks · Nov 17, 2017

Depends. Are you ranking on any of the URLs yet?

If you're already ranking well on them, probably should not change them.
If you're not ranking, or very low rankings, then might be worth changing.

If you do change, be sure to use 301 redirects.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/93633?hl=en

80085 · Nov 17, 2017

supermex said:
Let's assume we have a Url with a keyword of multiple words, for example "this is my keyword".

Does it make a difference in SEO between
1 mydomain.com/this-is-my-keyword
and
2 mydomain.com/this_is_my_keyword

I always use 2, because I think it looks better. But many websites use "-" instead of "_".
What's your opinion about this incredibly important topic?

I recommend always using option 1, it is more SEO friendly and it is kind of the gold standard per se for separating keywords in urls. But I wouldn't change hundreds of them, I would just change your practice to start doing it correctly. it shouldn't really be harmful, but it's not how most websites do it and it's not how people type in urls either.

mbreezy · Nov 18, 2017

Always use dashes.

The shorter, the better IMO.

Don't try to stuff longtail keywords, use the core keyword. For long tail, create content silos; ie, example.com/core-keyword/long-tail/

URLs still matter, but they're not quite as powerful as they once were. So don't get too hung up on kw stuffing them and try to focus on the URLs making sense for your site structure and users.

Owanceaser · Nov 19, 2017

Use dashes in all URL structure.

If you already use means now change that and redirect the all pages to new URL.

KanishkaSEO · Nov 19, 2017

Don't use underscore.

Deleted member 657006 · Nov 19, 2017

this - is correct.

this_is_childish_pratice

this-is-allowed-but-two-long-seen-as-keyword-stuffing.

hope you understand .....

airtman · Nov 19, 2017

Understood

kickthat · Nov 19, 2017

Apparently google doesn’t see underscores as separators so they could treat the_keyword as thekeyword.

Dashes are separators so the-keyword is treated correctly as the keyword.

I’ve always thought that while dashes are preferred, this is probably a relatively minor thing. After recent google updates I think it may be more important.

A site I work with that has mega authority is losing out to a competitor on some phrases. Links in, we win. On-site seems fine - more content and better quality content, not over optimised. The one thing that is different, and the same across all pages where we are losing ground, is underscores used in url.

We easily rank top for thekeyword, but not for the keyword.

I’m testing changing the url structure and 301 redirecting, starting with some lower performing, lower volume keywords to monitor the impact before carrying this out on the big ones.

cocoholo · Nov 23, 2017

there are tons of things you need to worry about. 'dash' is a recommendation in the earlier days to help user memorize the URLs. but who would you think does that these days? zero. i can't even memorize my own cellphone number.

people use bookmarks and google to find stuff. if you've started with underscore, then use underscore the entire site. wikipedia uses underscores you know and they are like, super #1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_Theatre,_London
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ_Superstar

Monsterer · Nov 23, 2017

Try to avoid underscore in the URL structure.
As per URL structure rules underscore is not good for URLs.

MatthewGraham · Nov 23, 2017

IIRC dashes are "technically" better practice. But in reality they're treated identically or at least almost identically in URL structure.

darulez · Nov 23, 2017

recently seoroundtable found out that by using + as delimiter in url structure you gain a 0.001% improvement in #

marrrko · Nov 23, 2017

Nargil said:
First of all, Penguin does not like that kind of KW stuffing.

Keep it simple.

mydomain.com/my-keyword

And use the dash, not the under...stuff, however it's called.

Exactly, so called "medium tail keywords".
Everything else is considering as a duplicate content.

Furious Man · Nov 24, 2017

Dashes would be preferable. Don't use underscore that's not favourable

URL structure and SEO

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