John Mueller, a well-known figure at Google, recently commented that many SEOs tend to overemphasize the importance of URL structure in their optimization efforts. While URL structure can play a role in SEO, he pointed out that if the content on a webpage is not clear and relevant, altering the URL structure won’t resolve those issues. According to John, the context provided by the text on the page is far more important than any changes made to the URL itself.
On LinkedIn, John shared his thoughts:
“SEOs often place too much importance on URL structure (in my opinion). If the context of your page is unclear based on the content itself, changing the URL structure isn’t going to fix that.”
What Advice Did John Mueller Offer About URL Structure for SEO?
John offered two main pieces of advice when it comes to URL structure:
1. Avoid unnecessary changes to URLs: Altering your URL structure should not be done lightly. Changing URLs can temporarily affect SEO rankings because search engines need time to re-crawl and reprocess all pages that have been impacted. This process can take time, and during this period, it’s possible to experience fluctuations in rankings. Therefore, it’s best to establish a URL structure that will be durable and remain relevant over the long term, rather than making frequent adjustments.
2. Focus on user experience and performance tracking: The structure of your URLs should primarily serve the needs of users and help you track performance. While URL structure itself doesn’t have a direct SEO impact, it can be incredibly useful for organizing and grouping URLs in a way that makes it easier to analyze performance. For example, it can help track conversion rates or monitor how well your SEO efforts are performing through analytics. This can provide valuable insights into what’s working and where improvements can be made.
John also mentioned, “Google generally wouldn’t focus too much on URL structure. Just make it useful for you, easy to track, and helpful for users. Honestly, do users even look at URLs anymore? I think most don’t.”
When Does URL Structure Actually Matter?
There are specific scenarios where URL structure matters more, such as when handling sensitive content like adult material. John added on LinkedIn:
“An exception could be if part of your site is treated significantly differently, like a section with safe-search filtered content. Moving this content around could potentially confuse the safe-search system, making it harder for it to understand your site’s new structure. But, this is an edge case and not something most sites need to worry about.”
In general, Google has consistently recommended avoiding changes to URL structures solely for the sake of SEO.
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