URL Structure
Let us find what is URL structure and why does it matter?
What is URL structure?
The URL structure has all the elements like Protocol, the domain name and the path to a sub-folder structure, and the location of the webpage. The structure usually consists of a protocol identifier and the resource name. The Protocol in the URL structure shows how the information of the browser is to be retrieved. The URL structure identifies the file structure.
The browser gets all the required information about that page through the protocols, either HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) or HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure).
In the website, the subdomain is the part of the domain that comes even before the primary “root” domain. You can easily create multiple subdomains according to your needs, but they are crucially different websites so you don’t want to have a lot of subdomains unless you need them to avoid confusion for the users, which could result in business consequences. The main reason for which subdomains are created is to organize content on your website. The domain name of a website is the unique address where a website is located. A few examples of top-level domain (TLD) are com, org, net…
The path indicates the exact location of a page, a post, or a file. URL structures can usually be different, not all websites use the same URL structure. The URL structure of a website depends completely on the unique needs of the website. Depending on the requirements, structures of URLs will vary, but irrespective of what structure is chosen, basic practices for better results remain constant.
URL Structure also plays a vital role in Site Structure
Why does URL structure matter?
URLs are responsible for the proper organization of your website’s content. They connect your content with the users. URL structure primarily matters for these main two reasons:
User Experience
Great UX is a vital factor. Improving the user experience of the website by using a logical URL structure with page hierarchies is regarded as one of the best practices. Organized content makes every website easier to navigate for humans and thus attracts attention. In addition to structuring URLs with a logical organization also consider using URLs that are simple, easily understandable, and include keywords. The content on a web page that describes everything a user wants to know about the website is SEO-friendly. Simple URLs give the users the best user experience. Optimizing URLs with keywords that distinctly put through info provides a better understanding of what the page content is about.
PageRank
URL structures tell Google what different pages of a website offer and how they are interrelated. Internal linking helps PageRank substantially. Optimizing the URLs of your website for people who are visiting and searching for it improves PR (Page Ranking). Moreover, it also makes life easier for search engine bots to crawl and index your website. Proper crawling and indexing of the website help to provide the relevant content searchers have requested. URLs are one of the major ranking factors in Google. Optimized URL structures help in promoting Google PageRank (PR). PR is a process used by Google to measure the value of a web page with special relevance to a search query.