A good SEO URL is short, readable, contains your main keyword, uses hyphens to separate words, and is all lowercase. This article explains what a good URL should look like, with examples comparing good versus bad URLs, what to avoid, and whether non-English (like Thai) URLs work, so you can set URLs that both people and Google understand easily.
Setting up a page URL and not sure which style is good for SEO?
URLs are something many people overlook, even though they are the first thing both people and Google see about a page. A good URL helps users understand what a page is about before they click, and helps Google understand the content more easily.
At Yangdee Group, we pay attention to URLs from the site structure planning stage, because fixing them later has a cost. This article explains what a good URL should look like, with real examples, and answers a question website owners often ask: do non-English URLs work?
What Is a Good SEO URL?
A good SEO URL is short, clearly meaningful, and tells you what the page is about just by reading it, with the page’s main keyword inside. The goal is to make both users and Google understand the page content immediately from the URL alone.
The simple principle is that a good URL should let you guess what you will find on that page. If a URL is full of numbers or codes you cannot read, there is room to improve it.
Google recommends using simple, descriptive words, preferably in your audience’s language. Setting good URLs is therefore part of technical SEO work that affects both rankings and user experience.
What Should a Good URL Look Like?
A good URL should be short, contain a keyword, use hyphens to separate words, and be all lowercase. These traits help both people and Google read it easily. Here are the five principles we use.
Short and Concise
The ideal URL length is under about 60 characters, and research found that URLs longer than 115 characters tend to rank lower. Cut unnecessary connecting words to keep the focus on the main keyword.
Include the Main Keyword
Put the page’s keyword in the URL, especially near the start, because Google uses URLs to gauge a page’s relevance. Finding the right keyword starts with doing keyword research first, but do not repeat keywords until it looks spammy.
Use Hyphens, Not Underscores
Google treats hyphens as word separators, so each word can be indexed individually, while underscores are treated as word joiners. So always use hyphens.
Use Lowercase
Use all lowercase to avoid duplicate content issues and 404s caused by differences between uppercase and lowercase.
Be Clearly Descriptive
A URL should tell you what the page is about, not be a code or numbers you cannot read.
Good vs Bad URL Examples
To make it clearer, here is a comparison.
| Bad | Good |
|---|---|
| website.com/post?id=12345 | website.com/what-is-seo |
| website.com/2024/03/14/article-final-v2 | website.com/keyword-research |
| website.com/Category/Sub_Page_Name | website.com/blog/seo-audit |
| website.com/p/x9f2k3j8 | website.com/white-hat-backlinks |
You can see that good URLs let you know immediately what the page is about, while bad ones are full of numbers, dates, or underscores that both people and Google find hard to understand.
Do Non-English URLs Work for SEO?
Non-English URLs, such as Thai, work and are good for SEO when your audience speaks that language, because Google supports non-ASCII characters via UTF-8 encoding and recommends using words in your audience’s language. A Thai URL helps Thai users instantly read and understand what a page is about.
The benefit is that local users see a URL in their own language, find it easy to understand, and feel familiar, which helps with clicks and trust.
One small caution is that when sharing a non-English URL on some platforms, the system may convert it into a long encoded string that does not look clean. But in terms of function and indexing, Google understands it fine. For local businesses targeting their home market, a local-language URL is a good choice.
What to Avoid When Setting URLs
Beyond knowing what is good, knowing what to avoid matters just as much. Here is what to avoid.
Do not put dates in URLs, because they make content look old and force a URL change when you update. Do not use ID numbers or codes that cannot be read. And do not use special characters or odd symbols that make the URL hard to read.
Another point is do not nest folders too deep, making the structure long. And the most important one: do not change a URL without setting up a redirect, because it creates a 404 page that hurts both users and SEO.
Can You Change Old URLs Without Losing SEO?
Yes, but you must always set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one, to pass authority and prevent old links from becoming 404 pages. Changing URLs without redirects is why many sites lose rankings unnecessarily.
But the best principle is do not change URLs frequently. Every change partly resets the value Google has accumulated, so set good URLs from the start and keep them.
If you truly need to change, such as restructuring your site, plan redirects for every URL systematically, and update internal links that point to old URLs too, so the transition is smooth and does not lose SEO, to keep your business growing steadily.
Conclusion
A good SEO URL is short, meaningful, has a keyword, uses hyphens, and is lowercase. Three things to remember: set URLs so people understand them immediately, local-language URLs work well for local audiences, and never change a URL without a 301 redirect.
A good URL is a small detail that affects both rankings and long-term credibility. If you want to set up your site structure and URLs right from the start, our team is ready to help the data-driven way. Explore Yangdee’s full SEO services and start planning your business growth with us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do long URLs hurt SEO?
They can. Research found that very long URLs tend to rank lower, and top-ranking URLs average around 66 characters. The best approach is to keep URLs short and concise, focus on the main keyword, and cut unnecessary connecting words.
Can I use numbers in a URL?
Yes, if the numbers are meaningful, such as a year or product version. But avoid ID numbers or codes that cannot be read, and avoid putting full dates in article URLs, because they make content look old and force a URL change when you update.
Which is better, a local-language URL or an English URL?
It depends on your audience. If your customers speak the local language, a local-language URL is easier and more familiar to read. Google supports both via UTF-8. But if you also target international markets, an English URL may fit better on the English version of a page.
Will changing a slug lose my rankings?
It may have a temporary impact if done right, but if you do not set up a 301 redirect, rankings and traffic will definitely be lost, because the old URL becomes a 404. Every time you change a slug, always set a redirect from old to new, and only change when truly necessary.
How many words should a URL have?
We recommend around 3 to 5 meaningful words, or about 25 to 30 characters for the slug. Using few but on-point words keeps the URL focused on the main keyword and signals topic clearly, both to users and search engines.