In the end, a website is like a living creature. Perhaps like a tree or shrub growing in a well-tended garden. It needs pruning and care, and how you do it depends on what you want to get as a result.
Example with the FreshAngle.eu website
On this website, I hope to have several points of interest.
- A language website to learn a few exotic languages
- A coding website which shares basic information on coding and developing websites
- A website where people can learn about proper SEO practices
As a result, it’ll have three main categories that would result into three main URL slugs. From there, each article will strive to be unique, focused on a single point, and not really dependent on news or time. So no need for the year/month/day structure you see in the initial page slug above.
- language category – /speak/ (no, that’s not phonetics, it’s the backslash in the URL)
- coding and web development – /webdev/
- editorial and, consequently, SEO good practices – /seo/
See? Short, concise yet accurate.
Guidelines for the ideal url slug pattern
Make it simple and easy to understand. Just the urls themselves should be enough to explain what the website is about.
Only include date elements (year, month, day) in the URL if it is really relevant.
- A news website might do that to show publishing date and help define journalistic integrity. Indeed, an article could show a URL slug that includes the publishing date but the meta-data associated to the page shows modifications at a later date – this should only be possible if a clear mention of any edits is appended at the end of the article.
- An informational or educational website isn’t so time-relevant. What is best there is to structure information in a smart and self-explanatory manner.
- Also, project yourself into the future: if you must dive into details about a given topic, how would your page structure evolve? Take a few examples and think it through.
For example, in our Language section described above, we might include tips about French, English and other languages. It would make sense to have sub-categories for these that would also be reflected in the URL:
http://www.freshangle.eu/speak/french/actual-name-of-the-page.htmlHowever, within that language, there might be lots of different types of subdivisions: grammar, vocabulary, trivia, pronunciation… it would be impractical to make any subcategories that dive any deeper than the “language” subcategory. It’ll simply be clearer to have a “basic-french-grammar-summary.html” page, with links to other pages that would remain at the same level within the “/french/” sub-category directly.