Some people think that websites with keyword-rich URLs will rank higher than websites with more generic ones. According to Google ranking factors 2022, here.
Over time, Google search ranking variables may rise and fall in importance. Furthermore, a factor that was very important to Google in the past might not be very important now!
An illustration of such a ranking element is the URL of a website.
You could come across contradictory information regarding the current significance of a website’s URL given that the influence it has on search rankings has altered over time.
Let’s examine the assertions that URL is a ranking factor before reviewing the available data. Keep reading this blog provided by the SEO company – Maps of Arabia.
The Claim: Google Ranking Factors 2022 Include URLs!
According to rumors, a website’s URL influences Google search rankings and can be improved in a manner akin to that of a title tag.
More particular, the assertions imply that the judicious use of keywords in a URL might improve a website’s position in search results for queries that contain those phrases.
Is it advantageous to have a URL that includes the term “air fryer recipes” somewhere in the URL (for instance, example.com/air-fryer-recipes) in order to rank for a query like that?
Some people think that websites with keyword-rich URLs will rank higher than websites with more generic ones. Is there any basis for this assertion?
Learn more about What are permalinks and how should they be structured for maximum SEO value?
The Proof: URLs As A Ranking Factor on Google
URLs do not affect Google ranking factors 2022 as much as claims suggest, according to data provided by Google.
In retrospect, it appears that the impact of URLs as a ranking component has diminished over time. John Mueller from Google stated that a URL’s keywords are a ranking factor in 2016.
He did, however, say that the signal was “extremely small.”
“That has very little, in my opinion, to do with ranking, therefore I wouldn’t really try to impose it. And it’s not something where I’d even recommend making the effort to redesign your website just to add keywords to the URL.
In 2017, Mueller brought up the subject once more, stating that “Keywords in URLs are overrated for Google SEO.”
Mueller advises selecting URLs for users as opposed to search engines.
In 2018, he offers the same advice, stating that website owners shouldn’t be concerned about including keywords in a URL because of their importance in Google ranking factors 2022.
To be clear, this does not imply that URLs have no impact on rankings. It implies that there are a lot more crucial aspects to take into account than just URL optimization.
Other quotes from Mueller, like this one from 2021, where he claims that words in a URL are a “very, very lightweight ranking criteria,” make this point abundantly evident.
We use a URL’s words as a very, very minor consideration. And from what I can remember, this is mainly something we would consider when we don’t yet have access to the content.
Therefore, if this is the first time we have ever encountered this URL and we are unsure of how to categorize its contents, we may use the words in the URL to our advantage in order to improve our ranking.
However, once we have crawled and indexed the stuff there, we will have far more data. And with that, it really makes no difference whether the URL is in English, German, or any other language.
The URL loses significance after the content is indexed, as Mueller claims.
Use of URLs as Ranking Elements
URLs are a modest search ranking criteria, according to Google ranking factors 2022.
The keywords in a URL are used by Google to determine the topic of a new site when it crawls for the first time.
That can have a minor impact on the website’s initial ranks.
Additionally, some SEO experts believe it may be applied to group pages (i.e., with pages under folders being grouped together as they would with breadcrumbs).
After the site’s content has been extensively crawled and indexed, the URL’s SEO impact is barely noticeable.