Should I change my URLs to have keywords within them?

[Patelsharp]

Should I change my URLs to have keywords within them.

[Garima Sharma]

Yes, can insert keywords in your URLs. But you just need to take care about the branded keywords otherwise you could be penalized by Google exact match update.

[Mohit Rana]

Changing URLs to include keywords can have both benefits and drawbacks, so it's important to consider several factors before making a decision: Benefits:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Including relevant keywords in your URLs can improve your website's search engine rankings for those keywords. Search engines like Google often consider keywords in the URL as a relevancy signal.
2. User Understanding: Descriptive URLs can provide users with a clear idea of what the page is about before they even click on it. This can improve user experience and potentially increase click-through rates.
3. Link Sharing: Descriptive URLs are more likely to be shared on social media platforms or other websites, as users can easily understand the content of the page just by looking at the URL.

Drawbacks:

1. Existing Backlinks: If your website already has a significant number of backlinks pointing to the current URLs, changing them can disrupt those links. You may lose some of the SEO value ***ociated with those backlinks.
2. Technical Considerations: Changing URLs requires redirects to ensure that existing links continue to work properly. Implementing redirects incorrectly can lead to technical issues and negatively impact SEO.
3. Complexity and Maintenance: If your website has a large number of pages, changing URLs can be a complex and time-consuming process. Additionally, maintaining redirects and ensuring that all internal links are updated can be challenging.

Considerations:

1. Keyword Relevance: Ensure that the keywords you choose for your URLs are relevant to the content of the page. Keyword stuffing or using irrelevant keywords can harm your SEO efforts.
2. Long-term Strategy: Consider your long-term SEO strategy and whether including keywords in URLs aligns with your overall goals. Sometimes, other SEO tactics may be more effective in improving rankings.
3. Testing: Before making wholesale changes to your URLs, consider testing the impact on a small subset of pages to gauge the effects on SEO and user experience.