Are friendly URLs good for SEO?

Details

Written by Luis Posselt

If you have done SEO on the past, you already know that there are two types of SEO. The first one is the On-Page SEO and the second one is the Off-Page SEO. For the moment, I won't be explaining you in deep all that about SEO because that deserves a whole training and because the time on this post is too short.

But if you want to learn more about SEO just visit this post: On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO. The keys to the Search Engine's Heaven.

So what in the world URLs has to do with SEO?

In basic terms, URLs are part of your On-Page SEO Factors that you should always optimize inside Joomla.

Now, something that I want you to have in mind is that having Friendly URLs means that you should always make a URL friendlier for your users not the Search Engines.

What I mean with this?

For instance, if I have to make friendlier URLs, I won’t be doing it for the Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, and Bing) but I will be doing it for my visitors, so they can understand and remember the URL a lot easier.

For instance check these URL examples;

Unfriendly URL - Example 1:

http://www.mysite.com/index.php/com_articlejoomla&id=3456/mod_seo&id=2355/tips456

Friendly URL - Example 2:

http://www.mysite.com/joomla-seo-tips

If you are an expert and have some On-Page SEO knowledge you will be saying, but why do we have to make Friendly URLs only for the users and not the search engines?

Well get this example in your mind.

Example URL #1 (Unfriendly URL):

http://www.mysite.com/index.php/com_articlejoomla&id=3456/mod_seo&id=2355/tips456

And then imagine Example URL #2 (Friendly URL):

http://www.mysite.com/joomla-seo-tips

Ask yourself, what URL you think will be easier for your users to remember?

Now having any specific URL (friendly or unfriendly) won't give you any huge advantage on the Search Engines Result Pages (that conclusion comes from my experience and many people can disagree, which is something good). But you should wonder, how I can conclude that? Well my friends this is because I can rank any page really well on the Search Engines Result Pages (SERP) regardless of how friendly the url is.

You can easily find this kind of examples everyday on Google. If you actually look at the URL Result Pages inside the Search Engines, you will see a lot of unfriendly URLs ranking on page number one in Google.

This easily tells me that any URL can rank well on page number one in Google regardless if it has a friendly URL or not.

Now I am not saying that I will make my URLs unfriendly because I am not. I just want to make my point that friendly URLs are not necessary better to rank higher on search engines.

So in conclusion, you should always optimize your URL for the User/Visitor first. I mean of course the combination of optimizing the URL for the Search Engine and the User is always good, but just have in mind that you can SEO optimize your Web Pages regardless of how Friendly you URLs are. Focus on your users first period.

More Interesting Joomla Blogs

Are friendly URLs good for SEO?

Written on 13/02/2012, 01:51 by Luis Posselt

If you have done SEO on the past, you already know that there are two types of SEO. The first...

Read More

82030

How to create a Joomla Login Page

Written on 11/06/2012, 01:56 by Luis Posselt

With this video blog, I will show you how to create a Joomla Login Page. This login page...

Read More

70410

How to update Joomla 2.5 Extensions

Written on 06/03/2012, 20:07 by Luis Posselt

The process of updating Extensions inside Joomla 2.5 has become easier and easier.  If...

Read More

91580

Top 5 Sites or Tools to check your Joomla..

Written on 30/03/2012, 22:07 by Luis Posselt

I have some quick questions for you. Have you ever checked the speed from your Joomla...

Read More

324330