What is a URL?

A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the unique address of a resource on the internet. It consists of the protocol, the domain name and the path and is standardised in RFC 3986. In everyday language it usually means the web address with which a page is opened in a browser.

URL definition

The term URL is an abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator. In everyday language it usually means a web address, with which a page can be opened in a browser, for example. It is also possible to address servers through other protocols by means of a URL - the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), for instance, or Server Message Block (SMB), which is widespread on Windows. The abbreviation URI, for Uniform Resource Identifier, is often used synonymously.

Strictly speaking a URL is one variant of URIs. The other variant is the URN (Uniform Resource Name). A URL always says where a resource can be found; a URN only says what it is called.

The structure of a URL

A URL has to be built according to a fixed scheme. That is necessary so it can be opened from any device on the internet - the operating system in use or the browser make no difference. The scheme was standardised by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Its publication RFC 3986 describes the structure, the allowed characters and further details. An example address could look like this:

https://www.ebesucher.com/marketing-glossary/what-is-a-url

Special characters and endings play a particular role in a URL:

1. the colon separates the components scheme (https here) and scheme-specific part (all other elements of the address)
2. the double slash indicates that the following part belongs to the protocol in front of it
3. the single slash separates components such as the directory or subfolders in the path
4. the file extension: through its path, a URL can always point at a file that cannot be displayed directly in the browser. Examples of such files: .zip, .pdf or .mp3.

Not all components have to be present every time. If a directory names no subfolder and no start page, the stored index page is opened automatically. Further elements can be present as well. After the domain name, a different port can be given separated by a colon. Without that, the standard port of the protocol is used automatically.

The domain name is read backwards. The ending ".com" describes the top-level domain, which means the administrator of all addresses with that ending. The address in front of it is registered with that administrator and is also called the second-level domain. The character sequence www designates the user area on the server and is the third-level domain. Every component after the first single slash can be named by the administrator of the website.

Domain names have to be unique inside one top-level domain. The administrator of the domain assigns it to an IP address and publishes it inside the Domain Name System (DNS). This is comparable to a postal address, which also consists of several parts. Places are assigned postcodes that have to be unique, which corresponds to the top-level domain. When a new house is built in a town, the owner is assigned a street name and a house number - that would be the domain name. Whether and how they label their letterbox is finally up to the resident. That part would correspond to everything after the first single slash of the URL.

What is a network protocol?

The way a server is accessed is technically defined in detail. That is what network protocols are for. Well-known examples are the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and its encrypted variant Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). These two protocols are used almost exclusively on the internet for opening web pages. Alongside them there are numerous further protocols. For receiving e-mail, Post Office Protocol (POP) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) are common.

The protocols are responsible for communication with the server. They lay down the form in which requests have to be made - the formatting of addresses for the resources wanted, for example, and the encoding of the content. The type of transfer is defined as well, and so is the handling of errors. The error message Error 404 - Not found is, for instance, the HTTP protocol's message about a page that could not be found.

Allowed URL parameters

First of all, not all characters may be used in a URL. As mentioned, there are reserved special characters such as the slash. The letters A–Z in upper and lower case can be used, and so can the digits 0–9. Of the special characters, the hyphen (-) and the underscore (_) may be used. Beyond that, further parameters can be appended to a URL separated by a question mark.

These are usually key-value pairs, such as queries or submitted content from form fields. Further reserved characters are needed here. The ampersand (&) or the semicolon (;) separate several parameters. The equals sign (=) assigns a value to a key. If reserved characters have to be transmitted in that context, they have to be sent percent-encoded. The sequence %3A, for example, stands for the colon and %20 for the space.

SEO-friendly URL structure

Now that the question "what is a URL?" has been answered, the next one is how to build an optimal one. Important to know: it is not only the content of a page that decides its search engine optimization. Google also evaluates the structure of a URL. Simplicity and readability are the essential criteria here. What should be avoided is cryptic or dynamic content with session IDs baked into it. The following tips should be observed for an SEO-friendly structure.

Speaking URLs

It is always better when the URL already allows a conclusion about the content. That is more user-friendly. The address http://cooking-blog.com/recipes/cherry-cake is easy to remember and intuitive to type into a browser. It also avoids annoying users who want to handle an address manually. Speaking URLs address the intended target audience directly.

The opposite of a speaking URL would be this example: https://examplesitexyz.com/?productid=1234. That URL tells the visitor nothing about what lies behind the link. Besides letters it contains many special characters and digits. The URL could load a dangerous file, and it is nearly impossible for the visitor to remember the address.

Speaking URLs also get linked more often. Webmasters tend to avoid placing cryptic links on their pages. With a speaking URL the probability of a website receiving valuable backlinks rises.

Watch the maximum URL length

Microsoft used to state a maximum URL length of 2,083 characters for Internet Explorer. Google also points out that a maximum length below 2,000 characters has advantages. That corresponds to roughly half a page of a word processor document. You should only use that up when there is a compelling reason for it.

A related special case concerns addresses in which the actual view sits behind a hash: for search engines those count as a single URL - more on that in the article on JavaScript SEO.

Keep in mind that search engines only crawl subfolders of a website down to a certain depth. At the very least, content intended for search engine optimization should therefore not be hidden in the depths of subfolders. Two to a maximum of five sublevels are recommended. It also makes sense to keep the labels short and concise. The whole URL should ideally not exceed around 100–150 characters.

Include SEO keywords in the URL

It makes sense to name keywords in the URL. At the same time the keyword should appear in the H1 heading of the page. The page then has advantages in its ranking on Google or other search engines. It increases the chance of the page being listed high up in search. On top of that, a URL containing the term someone searched for is more memorable for the user.

Avoid superfluous words and capital letters

There are many reasons to avoid unnecessary words in URLs. A URL should be factual and compact. With the necessary components it usually reaches a certain length anyway. Filler words and unnecessary information also look unprofessional. As a rule you should use only lowercase letters in a URL. That is not formally required, but web servers are frequently run on Linux operating systems, which distinguish between upper and lower case. In that case a single wrongly typed character makes the page unreachable.

HTTPS instead of HTTP for better rankings

Until a few years ago HTTP was the standard web protocol. Only banks and other important institutions used HTTPS. That has changed. These days, sensitive information such as passwords or user names should always be transmitted encrypted. Depending on personal judgement, even the content of pages someone has opened can belong to that protected data. For that reason a connection over the HTTPS protocol is always preferable. It also counts as established that using SSL certificates as part of HTTPS leads to a better classification in search engines.

Optimise readability: hyphen instead of underscore

For Google the difference is that a hyphen separates words while an underscore joins them. Words separated by a hyphen are indexed separately. Words with an underscore between them are seen as belonging together. Beyond that it makes no difference for search engine optimization which character is used.

Readability, however, is better served by hyphens. Underscores are easy to overlook in links, because links are often displayed underlined. Underscores are then hard to make out and can cause considerable frustration when a user tries in vain to type the address into their browser. As part of OnPage optimization, hyphens are therefore the recommendation.

Choosing the right top-level domain

There are country-specific top-level domains such as de, uk and at. Alongside them, generic top-level domains are available. The best known is com, originally intended for commercial providers. Further examples are org and net. In the early days of the internet the ending told you something about the intent of its owner. In the meantime there are no such restrictions any more.

Generally, country-specific top-level domains come across as more trustworthy and are accordingly classified better by search engines. Among generic top-level domains you should stick to the established ones where possible. Exotic endings can put users off when in doubt. A .click domain is less trustworthy than a .com domain.

Shortening a URL: what do I need a URL shortener for?

Long URLs can be shortened through a short-URL service or URL shortener. These are services that offer a shorter alternative URL for an address. That can be useful when links are passed on: they stay short and readable and waste no unnecessary characters. On social media platforms the number of usable characters per post is limited, so a short URL saves a lot of space there for important content - but it also removes the option of passing UTM parameters along visibly.

One disadvantage of shortened URLs, however, is that the user can no longer see immediately which domain they are opening, which can lead to distrust. For search engine optimization, make sure the service uses HTTP method 301 (permanent redirect). HTTP method 302 (temporary redirect) can have a negative effect on rankings.

Submitting a URL to Google

Google crawls and indexes the internet automatically at certain intervals with so-called crawlers. To make sure your own page is not overlooked, you can have it indexed actively. A Google account is required for that. Indexing your page through the Search Console is the recommended route, and it gets the page crawled faster.

The Google Search Console is also where the domain is monitored. Google supplies important data for SEO analysis there, such as the click rate from Google search and the number of visits. Should the website have errors, Google warns the webmaster by e-mail on request.

Booking advertising for a URL

New URLs in particular often take a long time to become known. Indexing is slow and Google ranks the page low at first because it is new. Anyone wanting to make a URL known without detours therefore usually has to book advertising first. On eBesucher you can book advertising for a URL, a website or a domain. Advertising credit can be purchased for that, and the campaign is created by the advertiser themselves through the portal for advertisers.

Advertising credit can be purchased in real time and the campaign can be created right away. There are three advertising formats: the surfbar, click campaigns and tasks. A separate campaign can be created for each format. With the surfbar and with clicks, the advertiser places a bid on a website visit. The highest bidder receives the visit; every other advertiser can win the next auction. The auction system runs fully automatically and makes it possible to deliver a great many visitors per day and URL on request.