Google recently revised its official Search Central document to update its URL structure best practices page. Dated June 18, 2025, this refresh provides clearer, more detailed advice for web developers and SEO professionals to build URLs that crawl and index more effectively. The search giant announced that the aim of this “docs-only” update is to reorganize the document for “clearer flow and is easier to navigate, with added examples based on real-world URLs we’ve encountered.”
By improving crawl efficiency in SEO, these guidelines will ensure that search engine bots index your most important pages quickly, boosting visibility and ranking potential. Understanding and implementing these recommendations is crucial for businesses. As this requires technical knowledge and expertise, hiring expert support is a practical strategy. Affordable digital marketing services are now widely available, making it easier for small and mid-sized businesses to stay compliant, build their online presence, and compete effectively.
Why This Update Matters
The new guidelines provide actionable tips, real-world examples, and direct warnings for sites that fail to satisfy the URL requirements. While Google emphasized that there are no changes to search behavior with this update, the revised resource page will help web teams to better understand and follow URL principles. A well-structured URL that complies with the latest SEO URL guidelines can improve crawl efficiency, reduce duplicate content issues, and support better rankings.
How To Optimize URLs For Better SEO Performance In Google
Here are the key changes that site owners and SEO specialists must be aware of:
- Follow Established Standards
Google now requires that sites comply with the IETF STD 66 URL standard instead of the previous RFC 3988. This means certain characters reserved for URL syntax must be encoded using percent-encoding. For example, spaces or special symbols should not be included literally but encoded correctly. Websites that do not comply may experience crawling issues, including excessive crawl rates or even failures.
- Avoid URL Fragments for Content Changes
URL fragments should not be used to deliver content of any page, as Google Search does not reliably support this method. The recommended approach for developers using JavaScript to alter page content is to employ the History API instead.
- Use Clear Parameter Syntax
When including parameters, Google recommends separating key-value pairs with an equal sign (=) and multiple pairs with an ampersand (&). It is acceptable to list multiple values for the same key using any character that doesn’t conflict with IETF STD 66 such as commas (,). Google advises against using uncommon separators like colons (:) or brackets ([]), as these may cause parsing problems.
- Create Descriptive, Human-Readable URLs
Developers must ensure that URL content is constructed logically in descriptive language for humans to understand instead of long strings of numbers or IDs. For instance, a URL like https://example.com/wiki/Aviation is preferable to a complex URL full of random parameters.
- Correct Language and Character Encoding
Use the primary language and transliterated words from target audience’s native language such as, https://example.com/lebensmittel/pfefferminz. Apply UTF-8 encoding in your links’ href attributes and for any non-ASCII characters. For example, URLs containing Arabic or other non-Latin characters should be properly encoded to ensure accessibility and correct indexing.
- Use Hyphens to Separate Words
Google prefers hyphens (-) over underscores (_) to separate words within URLs. Additionally, URLs are case-sensitive. This means /APPLE and /apple are treated as different addresses, so consistent lowercase usage is recommended to avoid confusion. Additionally, shorten URLs if possible by removing unnecessary parameters.
- Consider Multi-Regional and Multi-Language Sites
If your site targets multiple countries or languages, use either country-specific domain such as .de or country subdirectories like /de/. This helps Google understand the intended audience and improves regional targeting.
- Avoid Common URL Problems
- Additive Filtering: Avoid URL parameters that generate excessive combinations leading to infinite URLs.
- Session IDs and Referral Parameters: These often create duplicate content and should be minimized or handled carefully.
- Dynamic Calendars: Automatically generated calendar URLs can create endless URL variations, which hurt crawl efficiency.
- Broken relative links: Use root-relative URLs in links instead of parent-relative links as it can create infinite spaces in case the server fails to return the correct HTTP status code for missing pages.
What This Means for Website Owners
Take time to audit your URL structure against these new guidelines to fix any crawling-related structure problems. Website owners and businesses can also seek the support of outsourcing digital marketing services to stay aligned with latest web practices. Following Google’s updated URL best practices will help ensure your site is easily crawlable and clearly understood by both users and search engines. This is especially important given the focus on content quality and user experience in recent algorithm updates. Websites that do not comply with the search platform’s requirements will face consequences such as high crawl rates. SEO-optimized sites will result in better indexing, fewer crawling issues, and improved search performance.
