A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a reference to an object or resource on the internet. Every post or page you create on your website can be found on (at least) one URL. For web pages it usually consists of a protocol identifier (eg. HTTPS), the domain name (eg. example.com) and a path (eg. /something/).
There are various ways to optimize your URLs for SEO and user friendliness. We regularly write about stuff related to URLs, like creating SEO-friendly URLs and slugs, changing WordPress permalinks, or how to implement canonical URLs on your site. Check out the posts on this page to learn all about best practices for URLs.
The canonical URL allows you to tell search engines that certain similar URLs are actually one and the same. Learn how to use rel=canonical!
Ever wondered how to create SEO friendly URLs? This post explains how to create that URL for what type of website. Find out more!
In this post, we'll explain what a slug is and how you should use it the best way possible. In WordPress, it's really easy to optimize!
The permalink is the full URL you see – and use – for any given post, page or other pieces of content on your site. It’s a permanent link, hence the name permalink. A permalink could include your domain name (www.yoast.com) plus what’s called a slug, the piece of the URL that comes after the »
Category: SEO basics
We often get questions from people asking about the influence of domain names on SEO. Is there any relation at all? Does it help to include keywords like product names in your domain name? Is the influence of domain names different per location? And what’s the use of using more than one domain name for a site? »
Category: Technical SEO
In the past we received a lot questions regarding optimizing your WordPress SEO URL / permalink structure. Questions ranging from whether you should have the category in your permalink structure to the length of your slugs. In this post, we’ll address some of these questions and attempt to give you a better understanding of your »
Category: WordPress
At Yoast, we sometimes receive the question how to remove www from your website’s URL – or add it. In this post, I’ll show you how you can enforce either a www or non-www URL by tweaking your .htaccess file (or nginx.conf if you’re running on an Nginx server). Does using one or the other »
Category: Technical SEO
After creating a redirect, it might happen you’d like to use the URL of that post or page again. Or perhaps you decide that you’d like to cancel that redirect after some time. Reasons for this could be that redirecting that post or page was a mistake, or the post or page contains valuable content again. In »
Categories: Technical SEO, WordPress
Relaunching a website can be an overwhelming project. You need a new design and perhaps new functionalities. What should you do with your existing content? And what about new content? The more changes you want, the more challenging it gets. In this process you might face the question if you should change or keep your URLs. »
Categories: Content SEO, Technical SEO
In the past we frequently recommend people change their permalink structure. In this post, we’ll explain why you should consider changing your permalink structure and how to go about it. Why change your WordPress permalink structure? A common thing we see in permalink structures are the usage of dates. For websites that post content that »
Category: WordPress
In SEO, we often talk about creating the right slug for a page. But what is this really? And why should you optimize it? In this post, we’ll explain all you need to know about it. When you google “what’s a slug”, you’ll find that the definition we’re looking for is “a part of a URL »
Categories: SEO basics, WordPress
For this edition of Ask Yoast, we received a question that belongs in the SEO basics category: what’s a slug? The answer is simple because it’s the piece of the URL that distinguishes a post. In this Ask Yoast, Joost explains what a slug is and what its SEO benefits are. This Ask Yoast is all about the »
Categories: SEO basics, WordPress
Reference numbers (or post IDs) might be easy for your CMS, but they aren’t for your users. Remembering a URL with a number in it is hard, so the chance people will remember it and link to it is smaller. If people can remember your URLs they can also find it and share it with their friends more »
Category: Technical SEO
