Keep them short and readable
A good address tells you what the page is: example.com/services/drain-cleaning. Avoid long strings of numbers, session codes and dates unless needed. Use lowercase letters and hyphens between words, not underscores or spaces.
Make slugs describe the page content with a few words. Drop filler words if the address becomes unwieldy.
Reflect your site's structure
Group related pages under a parent folder. Services under /services/, articles under /guides/, and so on. This gives visitors clues about where they are and makes it easier to analyze data by section.
Do not nest more deeply than needed. Two or three levels is plenty for most small sites.
Keep one version of each page
The same page should not be reachable at several addresses. Choose between with or without www, and between trailing slash or none, and redirect the others to your choice. Use HTTPS everywhere. Parameters from tracking can create duplicates, so use canonical tags where needed.
Ask your developer to confirm that these redirects work.
Changing addresses safely
Avoid changing a URL that already works and has links. If you must change it, set a permanent redirect from the old address to the new page that matches it. Update internal links, the sitemap and any places you linked from, such as your profile.
After a redesign, test the old address list to confirm each redirects properly. Keep redirects in place for a long time, ideally permanently.
Avoid these mistakes
Do not put keywords in address after address just to stuff them, such as plumber-plumbing-plumbers. Do not change the address each time you edit a title. Do not leave test pages live with odd addresses. Do not use capital letters, which can cause duplicates on some servers.
Be careful with automatic systems that regenerate addresses when you change a title.
Some website builders limit what you can control. Check where you can edit the slug and whether the platform adds extra folders. Use the platform's redirect tool when you rename pages.
Keep a spreadsheet of important pages with their addresses so you can check them after updates.
A short audit you can do today
Export or list your page addresses. Mark any that are long, contain odd characters, appear in more than one form or sit in confusing folders. Test the home page with and without www, and with http, to see whether all versions land on one address. Check ten old links from other sites or your profile. Fix redirects first, then clean up naming only where a change is worth the risk. Keep a copy of the list so future changes are easy to review.
Document your naming rules in a single paragraph, such as lowercase, hyphens, no dates, two levels at most. Anyone who adds a page later can follow it, and the site stays consistent without constant supervision from you or your developer.
Common questions
Do keywords in the URL help rankings?
Slightly at most. Clear words help people understand the page and are a good habit, but they are not a strong ranking lever.
Should I include dates in blog URLs?
Usually not. Dates make older content look stale and complicate updates.
This guide is general information. Search engines change how they work and their guidelines; check Google's current documentation for your situation. Nobody can guarantee a ranking.