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URL structure best practices for Google

Google supports URLs as defined by RFC 3986. Characters defined by the standard as reserved must be percent encoded. Unreserved ASCII characters may be left in the non-encoded form. Additionally, characters in the non-ASCII range should be UTF-8 encoded.

When possible, use readable words rather than long ID numbers in your URLs.

Recommended: Simple, descriptive words in the URL:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation

Recommended: Localized words in the URL, if applicable.

https://example.com/lebensmittel/pfefferminz

Recommended: Use UTF-8 encoding as necessary. For example, the following example uses UTF-8 encoding for Arabic characters in the URL:

https://example.com/%D9%86%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B9/%D8%A8%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9

The following example uses UTF-8 encoding for Chinese characters in the URL:

https://example.com/%E6%9D%82%E8%B4%A7/%E8%96%84%E8%8D%B7

The following example uses UTF-8 encoding for the umlaut in the URL:

https://example.com/gem%C3%BCse

The following example uses UTF-8 encoding for emojis in the URL:

https://example.com/%F0%9F%A6%99%E2%9C%A8

Not recommended: Using non-ASCII characters in the URL:

https://example.com/نعناع

https://example.com/杂货/薄荷

https://example.com/gemüse

https://example.com/🦙✨

Not recommended: Unreadable, long ID numbers in the URL:

https://example.com/index.php?id_sezione=360&sid=3a5ebc944f41daa6f849f730f1

Don't use fragments to change the content of a page, as Google generally doesn't support URL fragments. If you're using JavaScript to change content, use the History API instead.

Not recommended: URL fragments:

https://example.com/#/potatoes

If your site is multi-regional, consider using a URL structure that makes it easy to geotarget your site. For more examples of how you can structure your URLs, refer to using locale-specific URLs.

Recommended: Country-specific domain:

https://example.de

Recommended: Country-specific subdirectory with gTLD:

https://example.com/de/

Consider using hyphens to separate words in your URLs, as it helps users and search engines identify concepts in the URL more easily. We recommend that you use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) in your URLs.

Recommended: Hyphens (-):

https://example.com/summer-clothing/filter?color-profile=dark-grey

Not recommended: Underscores (_):

https://example.com/summer_clothing/filter?color_profile=dark_grey

Not recommended: Words in the URL joined together:

https://example.com/greendress

When specifying URL parameters, use the following common encoding: an equal sign (=) to separate key-value pairs and add additional parameters with an ampersand (&). To list multiple values for the same key within a key-value pair, you can use any character that doesn't conflict with IETF STD 66, such as a comma (,).

Recommended: Using an equal sign (=) to separate key-value pairs and an ampersand (&) to add additional parameters:

https://example.com/category?category=dresses&sort=low-to-high&sid=789

Recommended: Using a comma (,) to list multiple values for the same key, an equal sign (=) to separate key-value pairs, and an ampersand (&) to add additional parameters:

https://example.com/category?category=dresses&color=purple,pink,salmon&sort=low-to-high&sid=789

Not recommended: Using a colon : to separate key-value pairs and brackets [ ] to add additional parameters

https://example.com/category?[category:dresses][sort:price-low-to-high][sid:789]

Not recommended: Using a single comma , to separate key-value pairs and double commas ,, to add additional parameters

https://example.com/category?category,dresses,,sort,lowtohigh,,sid,789

Common issues related to URLs

Overly complex URLs, especially those containing multiple parameters, can cause problems for crawlers by creating unnecessarily high numbers of URLs that point to identical or similar content on your site. As a result, Googlebot may consume much more bandwidth than necessary, or may be unable to completely index all the content on your site.

Unnecessarily high numbers of URLs can be caused by a number of issues. These include:

Additive filtering of a set of items. Many sites provide different views of the same set of items or search results, often allowing the user to filter this set using defined criteria (for example: show me hotels on the beach). When filters can be combined in an additive manner (for example: hotels on the beach and with a fitness center), the number of URLs (views of data) in the sites explodes. Creating a large number of slightly different lists of hotels is redundant, because Googlebot needs to see only a small number of lists from which it can reach the page for each hotel. For example:
- Hotel properties at "value rates":
```
https://example.com/hotel-search-results.jsp?Ne=292&N=461
```
- Hotel properties at "value rates" on the beach:
```
https://example.com/hotel-search-results.jsp?Ne=292&N=461+4294967240
```
- Hotel properties at "value rates" on the beach and with a fitness center:
```
https://example.com/hotel-search-results.jsp?Ne=292&N=461+4294967240+4294967270
```
Dynamic generation of documents. This can result in small changes because of counters, timestamps, or advertisements.
Problematic parameters in the URL. Session IDs, for example, can create massive amounts of duplication and a greater number of URLs.
Sorting parameters. Some large shopping sites provide multiple ways to sort the same items, resulting in a much greater number of URLs. For example:
```
https://example.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=tpb&search_sort=relevance&search_category=25
```

Irrelevant parameters in the URL, such as referral parameters. For example:

https://example.com/search/noheaders?click=6EE2BF1AF6A3D705D5561B7C3564D9C2&clickPage=OPD+Product+Page&cat=79

https://example.com/discuss/showthread.php?referrerid=249406&threadid=535913

https://example.com/products/products.asp?N=200063&Ne=500955&ref=foo%2Cbar&Cn=Accessories.

Calendar issues. A dynamically generated calendar might generate links to future and previous dates with no restrictions on start or end dates. For example:
```
https://example.com/calendar.php?d=13&m=8&y=2011
```

Broken relative links. Broken relative links can often cause infinite spaces. Frequently, this problem arises because of repeated path elements. For example:

https://example.com/index.shtml/discuss/category/school/061121/html/interview/category/health/070223/html/category/business/070302/html/category/community/070413/html/FAQ.htm

Resolve problems related to URLs

To avoid potential problems with URL structure, we recommend the following:

Create a simple URL structure. Consider organizing your content so that URLs are constructed logically and in a manner that is most intelligible to humans.
Consider using a robots.txt file to block Googlebot's access to problematic URLs. Typically, consider blocking dynamic URLs, such as URLs that generate search results, or URLs that can create infinite spaces, such as calendars. Using regular expressions in your robots.txt file can allow you to easily block large numbers of URLs.
Wherever possible, avoid the use of session IDs in URLs. Consider using cookies instead.
If upper and lower case text in a URL is treated the same by the web server, convert all text to the same case so it is easier for Google to determine that URLs reference the same page.
Whenever possible, shorten URLs by trimming unnecessary parameters.
If your site has an infinite calendar, add a nofollow attribute to links to dynamically created future calendar pages.
Check your site for broken relative links.