how to fix this
Topic summary
A user encountered an SEO tool warning about non-SEO-friendly URLs on their webpage and asked for help fixing it.
The Issue:
- The warning appears to come from SEO Site Checkup, indicating URLs don’t follow best practices
- Screenshot shows the error message but specific problematic URLs weren’t provided
Recommended Solutions:
- Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) to separate words in URLs
- Keep URLs short and concise
- Include relevant target keywords in the URL slug
- Avoid URL parameters when possible
- Base keyword choices on proper keyword research
Key Technical Detail:
Google treats hyphens as word separators but doesn’t handle underscores the same way, making hyphenated URLs more search-engine friendly and easier for users to share or click.
Would be helpful to get an example URL you are inputting to the tes, and what tool you are using. But from experience, that looks like a test result from SEO Site Checkup (.com).
They provide a reasonable answer in the tooltip:
My answer:
- try to use URLs /written-like-this
- keep them short
- include target term* in the slug
- target term should be informed by through keyword research and strategy.
For ref - here’s what they say in that tooltip:
Check if your webpage URLs are SEO friendly. In order for links to be SEO friendly, they should contain keywords relevant to the page’s topic, and contain no spaces, underscores or other characters. You should avoid the use of parameters when possible, as they make URLs less inviting for users to click or share. Google’s suggestions for URL structure specify using hyphens or dashes (-) rather than underscores (_). Unlike underscores, Google treats hyphens as separators between words in a URL.
^ the Google answer provided is pretty good too.