Master SEO vocabulary with all essential terms and meanings here.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

Last updated: Aug 25, 2023

https://cmlabs.co/en-us/seo-terms/url

Link copied!

Definition

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator which serves as a reference to web resources managed by a computer network which refers to a web page. URL is a type of URI ( Uniform Resource Identifier ). To be accessible by a web browser, the URL must be shorter than 2.083 characters. An example of a URL is https://www.example.com/index.html.

URL Function

Now you now the definition of URL, so here are the function of URL:

As a mentioned file which stored in web pages
Recognizing various forms of files
For document addressing on web pages
Make the users easier to remember web pages accessed

URL Structure

There are several structures of URL namely:

Protocol

Protocol in the URL determines how data is transferred between host and client. HTTP and HTTPS are the two most common protocols which you will find on the most URLs. Here is the example https://example.com

Domain Name

A domain name is a string or sentence used by Domain Name System (DNS) to describe a specific area. The domain name comes before Top Level Domain (TLD), such as google.com where the bold sentence is the Domain Name.

Sub domain

Sub Domain represents the part of the Top-level domain. In this way, subdomains are usually used to divide the domain into smaller segments for communication purposes, content type, internationalization (language translation), or for other reasons, such as blog.example.com where the bold word is a sub-domain.

Top Level Domain

Top Level Domain is a domain that has the highest hierarchy in Domain Name System (DNS). There are two Top Level Domain categories, namely Country-Specific Top-level Domain, General Top-level Domain, and Restricted Top Level Domain. Top-Level Domain will help the users to identify a website whether in the form of an organization, educational institution, country of the region, business, or government-owned, such as www.example.sch.id where bold words are the examples of Top-level Domain.

Path / File

Path refers to the location on the page, file, or content on a website. Paths come after the hostname and are separated by a “/” (slash). Path/file also consists of any file extension, such as image (.jpg or .png, etc.), document (.pdf or .docx), such as https://www.example.com/media/image.jpg where the bold word is the path.

Parameter

Parameter can be found in the last URL part, but it depends on the implementation. The URL parameter is represented in the key/value pair, starting with ‘?’ and separated by a ‘&’ sign. A parameter is usually used for tracking and finding specific information to be used on websites and applications.

An example of a URL with parameter:

https://www.example.com/search?user=123&color=red

HTML Anchor

HTML Anchor is used on web pages to implement bookmark and internal page navigation. Besides, it can be used to provide a link to a specific location on a page.

Types of URL

There are two types of URL, namely:

Absolute URL

An absolute URL is a URL that contains all of the information needed to find a resource

Example: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn

Relative URL

A relative URL is a URL that starts with “ / “(slash) without typing the URL address completely and only typing the path on the web page.

Example: /category/page.html

The Importance of URLs in SEO

1. Improved Users' Experience

A well-created URL makes the users and search engines easier to understand the website page. Even if the title tag is hidden, a URL can be read easily by the users will give a better experience.

2. Ranking

URL is a minor factor that influences the ranking while it is used by search engines in determining specific pages related to user requests. However, using URLs that go along with the keyword can increase the searches on the website.

3. Link

Well-written URLs have a function as their own anchor text when copied and pasted as a link on forums, blogs, or social media.

Tips for using URL in SEO

• Keep the URL as simple, relevant, convincing, and accurate as possible. So, it makes the users and search engines easier to understand.
• The URL must be definitive and brief.
• Use the hyphens to separate words.
• Use lowercase in the URL writing.
• Avoid the use of parameters in the URLs to avoid duplicate content.