Why are URLs so Important?

If your website is like a house, then its URL is like the address of that house. It helps your visitors locate your website by defining where it resides online, similar to how your house address identifies where you live in a community. URLs also assist Google in determining the content of your website's pages.

There are five parts to a URL, and they're all crucial for improving your site's user experience (UX) and search engine optimization (SEO). Let's take a closer look at each component of a URL to assist you have a better grasp of them.

When a web server visits a page on your website, the scheme tells it which protocol to use. The most prevalent system nowadays is HTTPS, which stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It instructs your online browser to encrypt any information you enter into the website, such as passwords or credit card numbers, so that thieves are unable to access it. This security procedure safeguards your website's users, and applying it will improve your site's Google ranking. As a result, every technical SEO advice should include SSL as a must-do item. Other schemes you may encounter include mailto:/, which opens your computer's default email service provider to assist you in drafting an email to the email address you entered in the URL, and ftp:/, which is a standard protocol for transferring computer files between a client and server on a computer network.

Subdomains are like distinct rooms in a house if your website is like a house. In a URL, a subdomain specifies which page of your website the browser should display. Subdomains such as "blog" or "offers" will, for example, direct visitors to your website's blog or offers pages. Subdomains also categorize your website's key content categories, indicating to Google and your visitors that your site has more information than just a homepage. Your website's second-level domain (SLD) is its name. It lets folks realize they're on the website of a certain company. Visitors to “nhl.com,” for example, are immediately aware that they are on the website of the National Hockey League. The top-level domain (TLD) identifies the sort of entity your company is on the internet.

For example, because the top-level domain “.com” is designed for commercial enterprises in the United States, many American corporations register with it. Similarly, because the top-level domain “.edu” is designated for academic institutions in the United States, many American colleges and universities register with it. A subdirectory, also known as a subfolder, assists users and web spiders in determining which area of a webpage they are seeing. If you own an online store that offers clothes, shoes, and toys, for example, one of your website's URLs may be "https://shop.yourstore.com/shoes." The subdomain "shop" and the subfolder "hats" should be noted. That implies the “Shoes” page, which is a subdirectory of the “Shop” page, would be served via this URL.

Other subfolders of this page might include clothes and toys. Even though URLs may appear to be insignificant, they are critical to the user experience and search engine optimization of your website.