What is the URL? What are the necessary parts of the URL?

The internet is a platform where everyone can easily create a website and upload any content he/she wants. Considering the number of people using the Internet, it is not difficult to imagine the chaos that may arise on the internet. Therefore, websites must have a URL just like every person has a name, surname, and ID number.

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator simply termed a web address.

Why do you need a URL?

The URL is essential to make the website unique and as a result, users can easily find the site. One of the most popular examples is Facebook. Facebook’s URL format is  https://www.facebook.com.

What are the parts of the URLs?

As you can see in the example above, the URL is made up of separate parts. These are:

  • Protocols that clarify types of the website; (Http or https)

  • Website’s domain name; (facebook.com)

  • Name of the pages included in the site; (facebok.com/page-title)

Why do you need a URL?

Transparency:

A well-designed URL explains what the content of the page is for both users and search engines.

Higher rankings:

URL is one of the most important things that search engines pay attention to while ranking sites. URL also helps to increase the site's SEO and rank higher via keywords.

Links:

The URL can be shared as a link on a forum, blog, social networks or other platforms.

Researches have revealed that the URLs that typed wrong when shared on the abovementioned platforms got less clicked. Correctly typed URLs, on the contrary, got more clicks.

 

SEO-friendly URL structure

The URL should be as simple, clear and appealing as possible. This will enable users to find your website, as well as to rank on search results via search engine algorithms. Remember that the URL may contain codes and symbols, but the most correct form of URL is the one that people understand.

You can use a dash (-) between words to make it more readable. It is not advisable to use spaces or any other symbols between words. In addition, using lowercase letters is helpful to SEO.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization". As a result of this optimization, your website will rank high in search engines and help your potential customers to find you more easily. Before we go into details about SEO, let's talk about the history of the search engines and how they work:

First Search Engine: Archie

In the 1990s, Archie was developed, which was much more different and less functional than current search engines. At first, it was only possible to search for files. There was no difference in searching for files on your computer. Because Archie couldn't see the content of the websites.

In 1994, Altavista developed, which was a more advanced version of Archie. Altavista was the first search engine that can search in different languages. But with the development and progress of other search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, it’s been left behind and shortly after its acquisition by Overture company, it was wholly bought by Yahoo!. 

For many, “Yahoo!” did not use the data it possessed properly and could not gain the required popularity. Google, with its ideal email service, has become one of the largest companies in the world, leaving behind Yahoo! as a result of its poor search engine optimization.

A brief history of Google 

Google is designed by two Stanford University students. No one was expected that this project would be so popular. Even when the two students tried to sell the system, their efforts were in vain.

Google gained its first success with the PageRank (PR) algorithm. This algorithm acts as a "meter" that regulates Google's ranking of search results with a 1–10 rating. It means that if your webpage’s rating is 1 in this algorithm, your site is rated as “bad”, rating between 8-10 means all is alright with your website.

PageRank evaluates both the content of your site and the “backlinks” that come from you, as well as the “backlinks” that refer to your site. Although the factors that affect ranking on search results today are about 200, years ago, just three of these requirements prevented your site from being at the first on the search page.

What is the working principle of Google?

Add a new article on your site or refresh your site.

  1. Google’s smart boots (crawlers) visit your site.

  2. Google’s smart bots "crawl" on your site, mainly following links. Unless you have a valid link, the "crawling" will not end with good impressions.

  3. Your site needs to have a sitemap that determines the order and location of the links

  4. If you’ve included information that prevents Google bots from accessing the robot.txt file, bots will not visit your site.

  5. If links to your site are “No Follow” links then bots will not follow them.

       2. The visited page is analyzed to be in compliance with Google’s standards.

       3. If the page does not comply with the rules, the necessary penalty will be cut.

       4. If all is ok, the page is going to be validated and indexed a few seconds after the bots visit the page.

The user searches on Google, then:

  1. Google provides a number of suggestions based on past searches and similar keywords.

  2. The domain and page rating also impacts the search results.

  3. Not everyone has the same search results. Google shows you results according to every word you search.

How is the site adapted to SEO?

There are 3 core principles in SEO that if you don’t follow it might take a long time to get the desired result.

  1. Search bots:

  2. It is useful to ensure that the programming part of your site meets the latest standards.

  3. The site's download speed should be a maximum of 3 seconds. Google bots don't like to visit sites with high download speeds.

  4. You must not use robot.txt or any other encryption method that prevents Google bots from accessing the site.

  5. Do not use inline Javascript and inline CSS codes.

  6. Having a mobile version of your site is a great advantage.

  7.  Site optimization and site optimization:

If you follow the abovementioned rules, you will see a noticeable difference. But it does not end there.

Quality content.

The fact that your site's content is copied, scant, or meaningless is not a good sign. All pages should be unique and useful.

Search volume.

It is in your best interest to gather the most sought after articles, products, and other contents rather than those that are not searched by anyone.

Title and meta description.

The more attractive they are, the better.

  1. Get rid of malicious and unnecessary backlinks.

If you don't want to be blocked by search engines then don't use unnecessary links.

3. User experience: 

Many disregard the user experience, and their efforts fail as a result of just following the aforementioned rules. It is important to remember that the websites enabling users easily to navigate within the site, enjoy the content, spend time on the site, and many more factors affect the site rankings in search engines.


 

What is the URL? What are the necessary parts of the URL?