How Do You Fix Link URLs that Are Too Long?
Links are important. They’re crucial to advertising online, plus they play into search engine optimization, site traffic and conversions – all of which are major SEO goals.
In many cases, however, the default URL is too long and complicated for your readers’ comfort. In this case, by shortening what would otherwise be lengthy and unappealing web domains, you may make your marketing campaigns more visually appealing, memorable, and successful.
This article will discuss how to fix URL links that are too long in three simple steps. Let’s get started.
Why Should You Compress a Long URL?
To put it simply, short URLs are tidier, more compact variants of regular links. This is an example of a shortened link:
- Long URL: www.yoursite.com/?/post/2021/12/08/$5982-!#_ref;di(@%
- Shortened URL: www.yoursite.com/post
Simplifying lengthy URLs has several advantages. First of all, it allows visitors to preview content before clicking on the link, which improves credibility. Compared to a string of unrelated letters and numbers, the links created in this way are more aesthetically attractive and easier to remember.
Additionally short URLs are considerably more convenient to distribute in digital communication, including things like emails, social media, mobile messaging, and landing pages. In social media messages which often have character constraints (e.g., Twitter), these compact links are much more convenient, as they allow you to devote the bulk of your word count to information that is more likely to interest and persuade your readers to click.
Why URL Length is Important
Overly lengthy URLs are bad for users and search engines alike. If you include keywords in the URL, the ratio of those keywords inside the whole URL content will be so low that any benefit they may have provided will be nullified.
Search engines, internet browsers and many other sites automatically shorten lengthy URLs. Visitors prefer human-readable URLs because they are easier to read, remember and enter. Conversely, a long URL can be a problem for users. Longer URLs may also cause fewer people to click on search engine results pages.
How to Fix Long URLs
You can shorten lengthy URLs by doing any of the following:
- If you are using dynamic URLs with URL parameters, you can transform them into static URLs that are readable by humans by employing server-side URL rewrites.
- When you can, try to keep the number of parameters in the URL to a minimum. If you use URL rewrites, you should think about truncating them at a maximum length.
- If you are going to rewrite those programmatically using page data such as the page title, be aware lengthy page titles will result in URLs that are quite lengthy. Consider shortening titles.
The Bottom Line
Changing the URLs of numerous already-existing pages on your site can be difficult and even dangerous if not done properly. Incorrectly updating your site could cause pages to be de-indexed or ranked lower in search results.
This means you should carefully evaluate whether or not the benefits of making these adjustments are worthwhile for your website.
If you decide it is worth it to to change many or even all of the URLs on your site, here are some things to keep in mind:
- For each page that is being changed, make a 301 redirect of those points from the old URL to the new one.
- Make sure that you update all your internal links to the new URLs.
- Before implementing the update on the live server, make sure you’ve given it a thorough test.
- Revise and publish a new version of your XML sitemap.
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