What You Need to Know About Creating the Perfect Website URL

There are many factors to consider when creating a website. From design to content, every aspect plays a crucial role in attracting and retaining visitors. However, one element that often goes overlooked is the website URL. In this article, we'll explore the importance of a website URL, Strikingly's URL customization options, and the role of SEO in URL optimization.

What is a Website URL?

Basically, a website URL is an address that helps you find and access a particular website on the vast world wide web. It's like the digital street address of a website, allowing you to locate it among the billions of sites out there.

A website URL usually starts with a prefix called "http://" or "https://." The "http://" stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, while the "s" in "https://" indicates a more secure version called Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It's essential to pay attention to the "s" part when dealing with sensitive information, like banking or shopping websites.

Image taken from Strikingly, featuring a user’s website

Next comes the actual domain name, the unique name that identifies a website. It's what you type into the address bar of your browser to visit a specific site. For example, "www.openai.com" or "www.google.com" are domain names. Fun fact: "www" stands for World Wide Web, but you often don't need to type it explicitly these days.

After the domain name, you might see some additional parts in the URL, such as a path or specific page names. These parts help you navigate to different sections of a website. For instance, you could have "www.example.com/about" to go to the "About" page of the "example.com" website.

Importance of a Website URL

A website URL is the web address or link directing users to your webpage or landing page. It serves as the online identity for your brand, and can impact how easily people can find you online. A well-crafted URL can make it easier for potential customers to locate your site and improve your search engine rankings.

Strikingly's URL Customization Options

Strikingly offers users a range of options to customize their website URLs. From choosing a domain name to personalizing your URL slug, Strikingly makes it easy for users to create a unique and memorable web address.

The Role of SEO in URL Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential in optimizing your website for search engines like Google and Bing. When it comes to URLs, using relevant keywords and keeping them consistent can help improve your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

In this article, we'll explore the anatomy of a perfect URL, best practices for optimizing URLs on Strikingly sites, technical considerations for advanced users, and how to measure the effectiveness of your URLs using Google Analytics.

Now that we've covered why website URLs are important let's dive into what makes a perfect one!

Anatomy of a perfect URL

When it comes to website optimization, URLs play a crucial role in enhancing your online presence. A website URL is an address that links to your webpage, and it's essential to ensure it's optimized for search engines and user experience. This section will discuss the anatomy of a perfect URL and how you can optimize it for maximum results.

Image taken from Strikingly, featuring a user’s website

1. Keep it short and sweet

The length of your website link matters when it comes to SEO optimization. Long URLs confuse users and search engines, making them less effective at driving traffic to your landing page. Aim for short URLs that are easy to remember and type to keep things simple.

2. Use relevant keywords

Keywords are an essential part of SEO optimization and play a role in URL optimization. Including relevant keywords in your website link can help search engines understand the page, making it easier for them to rank your site higher in search results.

3. Avoid special characters

Using special characters such as question marks or exclamation points in your URL can confuse both users and search engines. Instead, stick with letters, numbers, and hyphens.

4. Use hyphens instead of underscores

When creating URLs, use hyphens instead of underscores between words. Search engines treat hyphens as word separators, while underscores are considered part of the word itself. Using hyphens makes your URL more readable for both users and search engines.

Optimizing your website's URL is an essential aspect of SEO that should not be overlooked. Keeping it short and sweet while including relevant keywords will help drive traffic to your landing page. Avoiding special characters will ensure its readability by humans and machines alike!

Customizing your Strikingly URL

When it comes to customizing your Strikingly website, one of the most important steps is choosing a domain name that accurately reflects your brand or business. Your domain name is essentially your website's address, and it's what users will type into their browser to access your site.

Image taken from Strikingly

It's critical to choose a domain name that is memorable, easy to spell, and relevant to your business or niche. Avoid using special characters or numbers in your domain name, as this can make it more difficult for users to remember and type correctly.

Once you've chosen a domain name, you can personalize the URL slug for each page on your website. The URL slug is the part of the URL that comes after the domain name and identifies each specific page on your site.

When creating a URL slug, be sure to use relevant keywords that accurately describe the content on that page. This helps with SEO optimization and makes it easier for users to understand what they can expect when clicking on the link.

If you've recently changed your website's URL structure or moved from a different platform, it's important to redirect any old URLs to their corresponding new pages on Strikingly. This ensures that any links pointing to those old pages will still work correctly and won't result in 404 errors.

Be sure to update your website's URL in search engines like Google so that they can properly index and rank your pages based on their new URLs.

By customizing and optimizing your Strikingly website's URLs, you'll improve its search engine visibility and provide a better user experience for visitors looking for specific content on specific pages of your site.

Best practices for URL optimization

As we've discussed, a website's URL is crucial to its success in search engine rankings. Here are some best practices to keep in mind when optimizing your URLs.

1. Include primary keywords

When crafting your URL, be sure to include your primary keywords. This will help search engines understand your webpage and improve its chances of ranking higher in search results.

For example, if you have a landing page for a new product launch, including the product name and relevant keywords in the URL can help it rank higher when people search for that product online.

2. Keep URLs consistent

Consistency is key when it comes to URLs. Make sure that all of the pages on your website follow a similar format and structure. This makes navigating and understanding your website easier for both users and search engines.

Inconsistent or confusing URLs can lead to lower click-through rates and lost traffic, so take the time to ensure that all of your URLs are clear and easy to read.

3. Use lower case letters

Using lowercase letters in your URLs is easier on the eyes and helps with consistency across different platforms and devices.

Some servers are case-sensitive, meaning that using capital letters can cause issues with broken links or error messages. By sticking with lowercase letters, you can avoid these problems altogether.

4. Avoid creating duplicate URLs

Duplicate content is a big no-no in SEO, and this includes duplicate URLs. Multiple versions of the same page with slightly different URLs can confuse users and search engines.

To avoid this issue, make sure that each page on your website has a unique URL that accurately reflects its content. If you do need to create similar pages (such as different versions of a landing page), use canonical tags or redirects to consolidate them into one main URL.

By following these best practices for URL optimization, you can help ensure that your website is easily discoverable and user-friendly.

Technical considerations

When optimizing your website URL, there are technical considerations you must consider. These are essential factors that can affect your website's search engine ranking and overall user experience.

1. Use canonical URLs

Canonical URLs are important for avoiding duplicate content issues on your website. This is especially crucial if you have multiple pages with similar content or if you use tracking parameters in your URLs. By using canonical URLs, you can tell search engines which version of the page is the original and should be indexed.

2. Avoid URL parameters

URL parameters are additional information added to a URL after a question mark, such as “?utm_source=google.” While these parameters can be useful for tracking purposes, they can also cause duplicate content issues and make your URLs longer and more difficult to read. It's best to avoid using them whenever possible.

3. Consider HTTPS encryption

HTTPS encryption is becoming increasingly important for website security and user trust. Websites with HTTPS encryption have a secure connection between the server and browser, which helps protect sensitive information from hackers or data breaches. Additionally, Google has stated that HTTPS is a ranking factor in their search algorithm.

4. Prioritize mobile-friendly URLs

With more people accessing websites on their mobile devices, it's important to prioritize mobile-friendly URLs. This means ensuring that your website is responsive and easily accessible on smaller screens. You can also consider using AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) technology to create faster-loading pages for mobile users.

By considering these technical considerations, you can ensure that your website URL is optimized for search engines and users alike. Remember to regularly track your website analytics and adjust accordingly based on the data analysis.

Overall, optimizing your website URL may seem like a small detail, but it can have a big impact on the success of your online presence - whether it's a webpage URL or landing page link!

Measuring URL effectiveness

As a website owner, it's important to track the effectiveness of your website URL to ensure that you're getting the most out of your online presence. By measuring URL effectiveness, you can identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize your website for search engines and users.

1. Using Google Analytics to track URLs

One of the best tools for measuring URL effectiveness is Google Analytics. With this platform, you can track how many visitors are coming to your website, which pages they visit, and how long they stay on each page.

To track the effectiveness of your website URL in Google Analytics, simply navigate to the Behavior tab and select Site Content followed by All Pages. From here, you'll see which pages on your website are getting the most traffic and which ones may need some optimization.

2. Analyzing URL click-through rates

Another way to measure the effectiveness of your website link is by analyzing click-through rates (CTR). CTR measures how many people clicked on a particular webpage URL compared to how many times it was shown in search engine results.

By analyzing CTR data, you can determine which landing page URLs are performing well and which ones may need some optimization. For example, if a particular webpage URL has a low CTR despite appearing high in search engine results, it may be time to re-evaluate its meta description or title tag.

3. Incorporating URL data into SEO strategy

Measuring URL effectiveness isn't just about tracking metrics - it's also about using that data to inform your SEO strategy. By identifying which landing page URLs are performing well and which ones aren't, you can make informed decisions about where to focus your optimization efforts.

For example, if you notice that certain primary keywords are driving a lot of traffic to one particular webpage URL but not another, you may want to consider incorporating those keywords into the meta tags and content of the underperforming page.

4. Adjusting URLs as needed based on data analysis

It's important to be willing to adjust your website URL strategy based on your data analysis. If you notice that certain landing page URLs aren't performing well despite your best efforts, it may be time to consider a different approach.

For example, if you've been using a certain URL slug for a landing page but notice that it's not ranking well in search engine results, you may want to try a different keyword-rich slug instead.

Overall, measuring URL effectiveness is an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring and adjustment. By using tools like Google Analytics and analyzing CTR data, you can make informed decisions about how to optimize your website URLs for maximum impact.

Image taken from Strikingly

Get Your Best Website URL with Strikingly

We encourage you to follow the best practices we've discussed in this article when customizing and optimizing your website URL. Strikingly offers excellent customization options that make it easy for you to personalize your URL slug, choose a domain name, and redirect old URLs.

We highly recommend optimizing your website URL for maximum visibility on search engines. With Strikingly's user-friendly platform and our tips on best practices for URL optimization, you're well on your way to achieving online success!

What are you waiting for? Start customizing and optimizing that website link today!