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How to review your site’s URLs and links against Google’s guidance

Check a sample of your web addresses and links against what Google documents, and write down the structural choices Google leaves to you, such as subdomain or folder.

By Dean Cruddace · 60 minutes to do · Updated · Last reviewed

What Google says about URLs and links

Site structure is the set of choices behind how your website is organised: what each web address (URL) looks like, which pages link to which, and whether a section sits on a subdomain (blog.example.com) or in a folder (example.com/blog/).

Google documents some of this precisely, such as the rules for a crawlable URL and for links it can follow. On other parts it says plainly that the choice is yours. This guide helps you review a sample of your own site against the documented parts, and record your decisions on the rest.

Why site structure is a strategy decision

Google says that if URLs do not meet its requirements for a crawlable structure, it will likely crawl the site inefficiently, in the extreme with very high crawl rates or not at all. It also says it uses links to find new pages and as a signal of relevance. See Google's URL structure guidance and its link best practices. Google also advises against dropping everything to reorganise a site, because its systems will likely understand your pages as they are now. Treat this as a review, not a rebuild.

What you need to review your site's URLs and links against Google's guidance

  • A list of your site's main sections and about 20 sample page addresses from across them
  • A web browser, to view a page's source code
  • Access to Google Search Console, if you have it, to use URL Inspection
  • A simple document or spreadsheet to record what you find

Review your site's URLs and links against Google's guidance, step by step

  1. 1

    Build your sample list

    Write down your site's main sections, then copy the full address of about 20 pages spread across them, including a few key pages and a few deeper ones. Add any addresses that contain a ? or a #.

    You will know it worked when You have a list of full addresses, each tagged with its section.

  2. 2

    Check the requirements for a crawlable URL

    Google's page lists three requirements. Page content should not depend on a URL fragment (the part after #, such as example.com/#/potatoes); Google says it generally does not support fragments, and developers using JavaScript should use the History API instead. Where addresses have parameters, they should use an equals sign between name and value and an ampersand between pairs, as in ?category=dresses&sort=low-to-high. Reserved characters should follow the URL standard. See URL structure best practices.

    You will know it worked when Each sample address is marked as passing, or as needing a developer to fix a named problem.

  3. 3

    Check how readable the addresses are

    Google recommends readable words rather than long ID numbers, words in your audience's language, hyphens rather than underscores between words, and as few parameters as you can. It also says URLs are case sensitive: /APPLE and /apple are different URLs to Google, so if your server treats them the same, convert everything to one case.

    You will know it worked when Your list notes, for each address, which of these it breaks, if any. Note the pattern, not just single pages.

  4. 4

    Check that your links are crawlable

    On a few pages, right-click, choose View page source, search (Ctrl+F) for href and look at your navigation and in-text links. Google can generally crawl a link only if it is an <a> element with an href attribute. Elements that act as links only through script events are not reliably extracted. See link best practices.

    You will know it worked when Your main menu and in-text links appear in the source as <a href="..."> with a real address.

  5. 5

    Read your anchor text out of context

    Anchor text is the visible words of a link. Google says good anchor text is descriptive, reasonably concise and relevant to both pages, and lists "click here" and "read more" as too generic. Its tip: read only the anchor text, out of context, and see whether it makes sense alone. For an image link, Google uses the image's alt text.

    You will know it worked when Any link that tells you nothing on its own is on a list to reword.

  6. 6

    Confirm every page you care about is linked

    Google says every page you care about should have a link from at least one other page on your site. For each important page on your list, find a page that links to it.

    You will know it worked when Each important page has at least one link pointing to it, and you have named it. Pages with none are flagged.

  7. 7

    Record the choices Google leaves to you

    Google's guide says that for subdomains versus subdirectories you should do whatever makes sense for the business, and that keywords in the domain or URL path alone have hardly any effect on ranking beyond appearing in breadcrumbs. Write down your own hostname and folder choices with a one-line business reason for each.

    You will know it worked when You have a short written record of each structure decision and why it was made.

Common mistakes when you review your site's URLs and links against Google's guidance

  • Reorganising a whole site because of this review. Google says it will likely understand your pages as they are now.
  • Expecting keywords in the URL to lift rankings. Google says keywords in the domain or path alone have hardly any effect beyond breadcrumbs.
  • Using a fragment (after #) to change what a page shows. Google generally does not support fragments.
  • Building links from elements without an href, such as script-only buttons, which Google cannot reliably extract.

Terms used when you review your site's URLs and links against Google's guidance

URL
The web address of a page, such as https://example.com/pets/cats.
Anchor text
The visible words of a link, which tell people and Google something about the page it points to.
URL parameter
An extra piece after a question mark in an address, such as ?sort=price, often used for filtering or tracking.
Subdirectory and subdomain
A folder on your main domain (example.com/blog/) versus a separate name before it (blog.example.com).
Breadcrumb
The trail of words from a page's address that Google can show in a search result.

Go deeper

StrategySite structure is a strategy decision: what Google documents about URLs and linksGoogle documents the mechanics of URLs, links and hostnames in some detail, and says openly that several structural choices are the business's to make. This article…Read the in-depth article → Shape the siteHow information architecture, topic and entity strategy and internal linking strategy shape how a site is crawled, understood and used.See the service guide → ArchitectureHow site structure, internal links, faceted navigation and crawl budget affect what Google finds, crawls and indexes, from Google’s own guidance.See the service guide → Next in the pathHow to check a content plan against Google’s helpful content questionsUse the questions Google publishes about people-first content to test each planned page before you commission it, and write down the reason…Open the guide →
URLs that grew without a plan?

Describe how the site is organised today and what you would like to change. Site structure is a strategy decision, and a focused audit is a common way to begin.

Talk to an SEO specialistSEO strategy: shape the site →