# URL Design Guide URL structure by site type — with examples of what good and bad looks like in practice. --- ## Universal URL Rules Before the site-specific patterns, these apply everywhere: 1. **Lowercase always** — `/Blog/SEO-Tips` and `/blog/seo-tips` are different URLs. Always lowercase. 2. **Hyphens, not underscores** — Google treats hyphens as word separators. Underscores join words. `/seo-tips` not `/seo_tips`. 3. **No special characters** — No `%`, `&`, `#`, `?` in the path itself. 4. **No trailing slash inconsistency** — Pick a convention (`/page` or `/page/`) and enforce it sitewide with redirects. 5. **No dates in URLs unless required** — `/blog/2024/03/seo-tips` ages poorly. `/blog/seo-tips` is evergreen. 6. **Stop words are usually fine** — `/how-to-write-cold-emails` is readable and fine. Don't obsessively remove "how", "to", "a", "the" unless the URL is very long. 7. **Keep them short** — Under 75 characters is a good target. Shorter is usually better. --- ## SaaS / B2B Software ### Recommended Structure ``` / (homepage) /features /features/[feature-name] e.g. /features/email-automation /pricing /solutions/[use-case] e.g. /solutions/sales-teams /solutions/[industry] e.g. /solutions/healthcare /integrations /integrations/[tool-name] e.g. /integrations/salesforce /blog /blog/[post-slug] e.g. /blog/cold-email-templates /customers /customers/[customer-name] e.g. /customers/acme-corp /about /changelog /docs (or subdomain: docs.example.com) /docs/[topic]/[subtopic] ``` ### What Works and What Doesn't | ✅ Do | ❌ Don't | |-------|----------| | `/pricing` | `/pricing-plans` (redundant) | | `/features/email-automation` | `/product/features/email-automation/detail` (too deep) | | `/blog/cold-email-guide` | `/blog/articles/cold-email/complete-guide-to-cold-email` (too long) | | `/solutions/sales-teams` | `/solutions-for-sales-teams` (ugly) | | `/integrations/hubspot` | `/connect-with/hubspot-integration` | ### SaaS-Specific Notes - `/features/` pages should actually be rankable landing pages, not just nav items. - `/solutions/` by use case captures bottom-funnel searches ("sales team email tool"). - `/integrations/[tool]` pages are high-intent SEO goldmines — build a real page for each. - Blog posts should live at `/blog/[slug]` — not `/resources/`, not `/learn/`, not `/content/`. Pick one. - Changelog belongs at `/changelog` — some companies put it at `/releases` or `/updates`. Fine, just pick one. --- ## Blog / Content Site ### Recommended Structure ``` / (homepage) /[category] e.g. /seo, /email-marketing, /content /[category]/[post-slug] e.g. /seo/technical-seo-audit-checklist /guides (optional hub for long-form guides) /guides/[guide-slug] e.g. /guides/cold-email-complete-guide /tools (optional if you have free tools) /tools/[tool-name] /author/[author-slug] /tag/[tag-name] (often better to noindex tags) ``` ### What Works and What Doesn't | ✅ Do | ❌ Don't | |-------|----------| | `/seo/keyword-research-guide` | `/seo/keyword-research/a-complete-guide-to-keyword-research-for-beginners-in-2024` | | `/guides/cold-email` | `/blog/2024/03/15/cold-email-guide` | | `/author/reza-rezvani` | `/author?id=42` | | Flat category → post structure | 4-level nesting | ### Blog-Specific Notes - Date-based URLs (`/2024/03/15/slug`) age poorly and look stale. Avoid. - Tag pages create duplicate/thin content at scale. Either noindex them or give them real content. - If you have <500 posts, flat `/post-slug` is fine. If you have >500, category buckets help organization. - Author pages are worth building as real pages — they help E-E-A-T signals. --- ## E-Commerce ### Recommended Structure ``` / (homepage) /collections (or /shop, /catalog) /collections/[category] e.g. /collections/mens-shoes /collections/[category]/[subcategory] e.g. /collections/mens-shoes/running /products/[product-slug] e.g. /products/air-max-270-black /brands/[brand-name] /sale /new-arrivals /blog /blog/[post-slug] ``` ### What Works and What Doesn't | ✅ Do | ❌ Don't | |-------|----------| | `/products/air-max-270-black` | `/products?id=89472&color=black&size=10` | | `/collections/mens-shoes` | `/products/shoes/men/athletic/running/all-styles` | | Canonical on variant pages | Let `?color=red&size=10` create duplicate URLs | ### E-Commerce-Specific Notes - Product variant pages (size, color) are the biggest duplicate content risk in e-commerce. Use canonical tags pointing to the base product URL, or use URL parameters and configure them in GSC. - Filter and sort pages (`?sort=price-asc&brand=nike`) should either be canonicalized or blocked. - Collection/category pages need real content to rank — not just a product grid. - Discontinued products: don't just delete them. 301 to closest alternative or return 410 with a helpful message. --- ## Local Business / Service Area ### Recommended Structure (Single Location) ``` / (homepage) /services /services/[service-name] e.g. /services/plumbing-repair /about /contact /blog /blog/[post-slug] /areas-served (optional hub for service area pages) /areas-served/[city-name] e.g. /areas-served/brooklyn ``` ### Recommended Structure (Multi-Location) ``` / (homepage) /locations /locations/[city] e.g. /locations/new-york /locations/[city]/[service] e.g. /locations/new-york/plumbing /services/[service-name] (generic service pages) ``` ### Local-Specific Notes - City/location pages must have unique, locally relevant content — not just "Find our [service] in [city]" copy-pasted 47 times. - `/areas-served/brooklyn` should have real information about serving Brooklyn, not a thin page. - Multi-location sites: `/locations/[city]` works better than subdomain per city for smaller operations. Subdomains make sense for truly independent franchises. --- ## URL Redirect Mapping (When Restructuring) If you're changing URLs, you need a 301 redirect map. Every old URL → new URL. No exceptions. **Redirect mapping process:** 1. Export all indexed URLs from Google Search Console (Crawl → Coverage → All) 2. Export all inbound links to your site (use Ahrefs, Semrush, or GSC) 3. Map old → new for every URL that has inbound links or search traffic 4. Implement 301 redirects server-side (not JS redirects, not meta refresh) 5. Monitor in GSC for 404 errors after migration 6. Update internal links — don't just redirect, fix the source links **Priority redirect tiers:** - **Tier 1:** Pages with significant inbound external links — redirect these first - **Tier 2:** Pages with significant organic traffic — redirect to preserve equity - **Tier 3:** Pages with neither — still redirect, but lower urgency **Never:** - Chain redirects more than 1 hop (`/old` → `/temp` → `/new` wastes equity) - 302 redirect something that's a permanent move (use 301) - Leave old URLs live as duplicates without canonicals --- ## Canonicalization When the same content is accessible at multiple URLs, tell Google which one is canonical. ```html ``` Common scenarios requiring canonicals: - `http://` vs `https://` — canonical should always be `https://` - `www` vs non-www — pick one, canonical + 301 the other - Trailing slash vs no trailing slash — `/page` and `/page/` are different URLs to Google - Filtered/sorted product pages — canonical to base product/collection URL - Paginated pages — canonical the first page (or use `rel=next`/`rel=prev`) - Printer-friendly versions — canonical to main page - Syndicated content — canonical to original source --- ## HTTP Status Code Reference | Code | Meaning | Use | |------|---------|-----| | 200 | OK | Normal page | | 301 | Moved Permanently | URL changed permanently — passes equity | | 302 | Found (Temporary) | Temporary redirect — does NOT pass equity | | 404 | Not Found | Page doesn't exist — configure a helpful 404 page | | 410 | Gone | Page intentionally removed — Google deindexes faster than 404 | | 503 | Service Unavailable | Maintenance mode — tell Google to come back later | Use 301, not 302, for all permanent URL changes.