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How To Create SEO Friendly URLS?
URL structures of websites differ from each other. One URL might be structured for an e-commerce site and another for a blog. In general, it is common to use different URL structures to satisfy the aims and needs of various websites. However, regardless of differences between websites, the URL structure should be SEO-friendly at the end of the day.So, below we will explain the SEO-friendly URL structure and show how to create SEO-friendly URLs for your website in detail. Yet, before moving on to that section, let’s check the structure of URLs and learn how they are constructed.WHAT IS A URL & URL STRUCTURE?A URL is an address, which directs a unique resource on the Internet. It consists of many parts named; protocol, domain name, and a path. Each part in a URL is important for SEO practices (such as; using HTTPS protocols, proper TLDs, appropriate subfolders, etc.), but one of the most significant parts of a URL is the slug part. Whenever you create a new page, you have to determine the slug. In this blog post, we will mainly focus on the slug part of URLs by showing some tips to make your URLs more SEO friendly.Let’s begin with the benefits of the SEO friendly URL structure and continue with some tips which help you to create more SEO Friendly URLs.WHAT IS THE SEO FRIENDLY URL STRUCTURE?Compared to unorganized URLs, SEO Friendly URLs are more understandable and easier to read for both users and search engines. It means that SEO Friendly URL structure focuses on meeting the needs of users and search engines in every aspect. Also, SEO Friendly URLs improve user experience by giving a clear idea about the content of the destination page and the site hierarchy. The biggest advantage of SEO Friendly URLs is offering an uncomplicated website structure for users by making content easy to find, read, and understand. Also, URLs are the first place that search engine spiders take into consideration when crawling web pages, as well. Therefore, optimized URLs help search engines deliver the most relevant results to users because they can easily detect pages that include descriptive keywords in their URLs. With the help of descriptive keywords usage in URLs, search engines can match the most relevant pages with the most suitable search queries.HOW TO CREATE STEP-BY-STEP SEO FRIENDLY URLS?1-) Customize URLs According To Your ContentSEO Friendly URLs should give information about the content of relevant pages. For this reason, do not use random numbers and characters in URLs. Instead, try to use content-related keywords to make your URLs more SEO Friendly. Additionally, always keep in mind that each page on your website has a specific purpose and target group. That’s why you should edit URLs to give an idea about your page.2-) Use Only Relevant KeywordsSEO Friendly URLs should contain 1-3 keywords that should also be in the title and meta description of the relevant page to emphasize the topic for both users and search engines. In addition to this, do not use unnecessary keywords to rank for different search queries because search engines can consider your page as spam. Use only the most relevant keywords which are related to the topic and target group of the page.3-) Don’t Use Long & Complicated URLsURL optimization aims to create readable and less confusing URL structures to enhance user experience. So, keep your URLs short and simple enough for both users and search engines to increase comprehensibility.4-) Remove Numbers & Special CharactersWhen you want to update or edit numbers of existing URLs (such as increasing the number of given tips in a post from 4 to 6 and indirectly in the URL) for pages, you have to redirect the old URLs to new ones to keep them up to date. Changing and redirecting the URLs are not a big deal, however, it’s still highly possible to forget the necessary updates each time. Thus, we recommend you remove numbers in URLs to prevent all kinds of problems that you encounter in the future.Special characters and symbols belong to the unsafe zone of SEO practices because they can cause broken linking problems. For example, square brackets ([]), backslashes (()), and percentage sign (%) are some of the unsafe characters that you should avoid using in URLs. Special characters (including commas, semicolons, etc.) make URLs harder to read for users and search engines, too. You can read more about the unsafe characters in URLs from here. Therefore, remove all special characters from your URLs to stay in the safe zone by making URLs more compatible with SEO practices.5-) Don’t Use Stop WordsStop words (such as “and", “or”, “to”, “an”, etc.) are generally ignored or filtered by search engines. They make URLs longer and more complicated to read, as well. For having more SEO-compatible URLs, remove those words to minimize redundancies in URLs because they look clear and better by deleting stop words.6-) Use Lowercase LettersTechnically speaking, URLs are case-sensitive after the domain name and uppercase letters may cause some problems, such as 404 pages or duplicate content. Thus, use lowercase letters in your SEO URLs to avoid unwanted issues with URLs.7-) Use Hyphens To Separate WordsBest SEO practices use hyphens between words instead of other special characters because hyphens are more likely to increase the readability of URLs. They are also more common to use in practice that enhances user experience. For this reason, use hyphens to make your URLs more SEO friendly.SEO Friendly URLs & MoreThese are some of the most important SEO best practices to consider while creating a customized URL structure for your page. Use these SEO URL tips to make your website more SEO friendly and attract the attention of users and search engines! If you have more questions about SEO friendly URLs or need any help related to SEO, do not hesitate to contact our team!References: https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-friendly-urls/ https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/urls https://blog.alexa.com/how-to-write-an-seo-friendly-url-using-the-best-keywords/ https://www.designpowers.com/blog/url-best-practices https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/What_is_a_URL https://moz.com/learn/seo/url https://perishablepress.com/stop-using-unsafe-characters-in-urls/
What is Google Ad Rank?
The Google Ads search network has become a critical point in the growth strategies of all brands. Especially small-medium size brands use Google Ads in order to get new users and retain users who have interacted with the brand before.Google Ads Search Ads is a pay-per-click ad type. In other words, advertisers pay when the user clicks on the ad, but they do not pay when the user does not click on the ad. Contrary to thought, Google Ads search ads do not get position on the search results page based on bid-per-click only. There are many factors that affect the positions, impression and clicks of the ads. It is necessary to examine the factors that enable Google to make search ads more fair.What is Ad Rank?As in all auctions, in Google's auction system, the person who wants to buy the product or service has to make a bid, but the advertiser with the highest Google Ad Rank is shown at the top, not the highest bidder.When users search on the Google search results page, the probability o clicking on ads which is above is much lower than the probability of clicking on the ads in listings below. So Ad Rank is of great importance in order to get impressions and clicks effectively and quickly, and to advertise by using the budget much more effectively.How can we calculate Ad Rank?The Ad Rank formula which was announced by Google is Bid x Quality Score = Ad Rank. Ad relevance, estimated clickthrough rate, landing page experience, and ad format are elements of Quality Score.Although Google has not explained the Ad Rank formula with all its signals, some of the factors it explains and the factors affecting Ad Rank by looking at the past experiences of the advertisers can be grouped under 5 main factors. Bid of Keyword Ad Relevance Expected CTR Landing Page Experience Extensions and ad formats In the example taken from Google's Ad Auction document, there are 2 impression slots and 3 advertisers. The quality score of all 3 advertisers was determined as the maximum score of 10. In this case, two questions arise that need to be answered; Which advertiser will rank above? How much will each advertiser pay per click?The answer to the first question is that the higher bidder, who is willing to pay more for that impression, will get an impression. In other words, Alice who bids $5 will be ranked higher than Bob who bids $3 and will receive impressions. In the second question, the method that Google uses as an auction method is called Second Price Auction. The biggest difference from First Price Auction is that instead of buying directly with the bid given by the highest bidder, the second highest bidder can buy that click by paying as much as the lowest monetary value. Looking at the above example with the formula Bid x Quality Score = Ad Rank, Alice gets 50 points and Bob gets 30 points. With the quality score fixed, Alice must pay a total of $3.01 to beat Bob and get the first ranked click.Looking at the above example with the Ad Rank formula, Alice got 50 points and Bob got 30 points. In this case, the advertisement given by Alice will be in the top ranking. Bob's ad will rank lower. But it wouldn't be fair for Alice to pay $5 for that show even though there was such a big difference. It can be said that Google is trying to give justice with the Second Price Auction. The minimum bid for Alice to exceed Bob's 30 points, when she gives $3.01 x 10, passes with 31 points and is ranked. Thus, he gets impressions and clicks by paying $3.01 directly, not $5.What is Quality Score and How to affect Ad Rank?Quality score is the most important of the two variables of Ad Rank. The main factor that enables the advertiser to get more impressions and clicks with lower costs is the quality score.Quality Score is an evaluation score displayed by Google on a system of 1 to 10 in the Ads panel. With 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest, Google scores the quality score on a keyword basis, and the bid given to the keyword related to the quality score determines the Ad Rank. In order to see the quality score metric, the relevant metrics can be added by going to the Search Keywords section in the Google Ads panel like Exp. CTR, Landing Page Exp and Ad Relevance.The quality score consists of 3 main components which are as follows; Landing Page Experience Ad Relevance Expected CTR Maximizing performance on these metrics will support the overall increase in quality score and will result in higher Ad Rank with lower bids and at the same time getting clicks at a lower cost.What are the Factors Affecting Ad Rank?Factors that affect Ad Rank are ad relevance, landing page experience, estimated clickthrough rate, and bid-per-click.Ad RelevanceAd Relevance shows how relevant the search is with the ad that the user will see on the search results page as a result of searching for the relevant keyword on Google. So, if the user searches for "Red Shoes" and sees an ad with the title "Nike Air max", this indicates that the user has not seen a relevant ad and the Ad Relevance score of the advertised keyword will be low.Therefore, Google Ads Search structures should be designed in such a way as to ensure that the user encounters the most relevant ad they can see. Campaigns, ad groups, keywords and ads should be put in a structure so that an ad with the title "Red Shoes" and content is displayed in the search for "Red Shoes" and an ad with the title "Nike Air max" in the search for "Nike Air max".Expected CTRExpected CTR is a score that Google gives to the estimated click-through rate after many reviews such as historical ad data, brand awareness, and the relevance of the ad and the site.Although it is not possible to increase the estimated click-through rate directly, it is expected that the estimated click-through rate will increase when you increase online and offline brand awareness and backlink strength.Bid of KeywordBid is the offer that you are willing to pay in order to get clicks on the keyword specific to the ad.It can increase indefinitely, starting from the minimum amounts determined by Google for each Keyword. So for 1 click, you can bid 0.10$ or 1000$, but the actual CPC value will depend on many factors such as ad rank, competition, and the ad rank of other advertisers.Landing Page ExperienceThe Landing Page Experience metric is also a frequently discussed metric in the SEO and SEM world. Google says that it measures this metric with 200 different signals, but today we will explain 3 main signals, both explained by the Google SEO team and determined by experience by Digital Marketing experts.1-) Ad Relevance with Landing PageSimply put, the ad that the user is looking for and the page he goes to must be relevant. As in the previous example, the first important metric to get a good Landing Page Experience score is that the user who clicks on an ad with the title "Red Shoes" as a result of a search for "Red Shoes" goes to a landing page where red shoes are sold or promoted. So how does Google Bot know that there are indeed Red Shoes products on that page?During the Google Ads Review ad, Google Bot goes to the site and first examines the Header, Title, Description and in-site links, which we call the Meta Tag. In this way, it makes a preliminary scan and makes sure that it sends the user to a site with "Red Shoe" products. Then, when the ad starts to get clicks from users and brings visitors, it continues to evaluate this relevance and revise its scoring with metrics such as session duration, bounce rate, conversion rate.2-) Mobile Friendly WebsiteEspecially with the increase in the use of smartphones, Google started to give more importance to the mobile performance of the sites rather than the desktop performance. Today, when the usage devices of an e-commerce site are examined, 80-85% of them are users who start a session with mobile devices.To briefly define Mobile Friendly sites, it is the general name given to the sites that are sized to fit the display on the user's mobile devices (tablet or smartphone) and that allow the user to navigate without the need to zoom or adjust the settings manually. Sites that are easy to read on mobile devices, navigate through the site, and find what the callers are looking for are mobile friendly sites. You can check whether a site is mobile friendly by using the Mobile-Friendly Test tool prepared by Google.3-) Landing Page SpeedLanding Page speed is one of the factors that are evaluated between 0-100 and should be evaluated in two separate ways as Mobile & Desktop. Depending on the device from which the search is made and the site opening speed on that device, the ad rank may change depending on the device. In other words, if the page that works very fast on Desktop works very slowly on mobile, it may rank higher in a desktop-based search, but may lag behind in mobile-based searches.You can use Google PageSpeed Insights, a free tool, and GTMetrix, which offers more advanced location-based results, to test this factor that affects both the ranking in organic results and Ad Rank.What Are Other Factors Affecting Ad Rank? User Search Term Users Location Search Time Device (mobile or desktop) In addition to all these, Google may choose not to show the ad if it considers that the ad will not be relevant to search, taking into account other ads and search results and other user signals appearing on the same page.How to Increase Ad Rank?Ad rank; It is a metric consisting of a quality score and a bid to keyword. In order to rank higher by keeping the bid stable, the quality score must be higher. In order to increase the quality score, three factors affecting it should be known in more detail.At the end of the table above are two different keywords with a quality score of 7 and 8. The reason for the 1-point difference in the quality score of these keywords should be examined. Above Average of expected click-through rate and ad relevance values for both keywords. However, in the landing page experience metric, a Keyword Average was evaluated, while the other keyword was Below Average. In other words, it shows us that the landing page of the ads where the 7-point keyword is shown is not good. What can be done to improve this quality score?It is possible to increase this score by sending the Landing Page to the most relevant link with the ad, optimizing the site opening speed, in short, by bringing the user to the experience they want as a result of the ad.If the problem was caused by Ad Relevance, it is suggested to increase the relevance by arranging the ad texts according to the targeted keywords, while if it is worth the estimated click-through rate, the level of brand awareness and relevance to the searched query should be increased throughout the site.It is very critical to establish effective campaign structures in order to make effective Google Ads Campaigns. With proper campaign structures, it is possible to generate more clicks and sales with paying less to one click.References Google Support – Ad Rank Practical Ecommerce – Google Ad Rank Impacts PPC Success Jellyfish – Google Ad Rank and How to Improve It