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Hyphen or Underscore in URLs: Which One to Use for Inner Pages in Your Website?

When it comes to creating URLs for your website's inner pages, one common question that often arises is whether to use a hyphen or an underscore to separate words in the URL. 

While it may seem like a minor detail, the choice between a hyphen or an underscore can have a significant impact on your website's SEO performance. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the differences between hyphens and underscores in URLs and which one you should use for your website's inner pages.

Hyphen or Underscore in URLs: Which One to Use for Inner Pages in Your Website?

Hyphens vs. Underscores in URLs

Hyphens (-) and underscores (_) are both commonly used to separate words in URLs. However, there are some key differences between the two that can impact your website's SEO performance.

Hyphens

Hyphens are more commonly used in URLs than underscores. Hyphens are recommended by Google as the preferred way to separate words in URLs. Hyphens are seen as more user-friendly since they are easier to read and separate words more clearly.

Underscores

Underscores are less commonly used in URLs than hyphens. Underscores can sometimes cause confusion for search engines, as they are also used to separate words in HTML code. Underscores can be more difficult to read, especially when they are used to separate multiple words. Which One to Use for Your Website's Inner Pages?

Preferred choice - HYPHENS!!

Based on the differences between hyphens and underscores in URLs, it's recommended to use hyphens to separate words in your website's inner page URLs. Here are some reasons why

SEO Performance

Since Google recommends using hyphens in URLs, using them can potentially improve your website's SEO performance and make it easier for search engines to understand what your page is about.

User-Friendly

Hyphens are easier to read and separate words more clearly, making them more user-friendly.

Consistency

Using hyphens consistently in your URLs can help to create a clean and organized structure for your website.

Choosing the right character to separate words in your website's inner page URLs is an important decision that can impact your website's SEO performance. While both hyphens and underscores can be used, hyphens are recommended by Google and are considered more user-friendly. By using hyphens consistently in your URLs, you can create a clean and organized structure for your website that is both SEO-friendly and user-friendly.

Also from the previous related post on Hyphens or Underscores


When it comes to search engine optimization, we all are aware that what to choose, as keywords and what not to choose.

There is a common belief that if you have to name the internal pages of your website, then you should take keywords for the same (business specific), by considering the following things,

  • Check the theme of the page and select the keyword reflecting the webpage,
  • The keyword selected should be the popular keyword and
  • By creating the category(ies) in the form of top navigation, left or right navigation along with the footer links, as important business related keywords.


The point to be noted here is, that keywords should be inserted but the important thing to be taken into consideration is that it should not make the webpage spammy.


What to choose, "a Hyphen or an Underscore" while naming the internal webpages for the site?

This is the very basic and important question which should be answered before naming the webpages for the website. The point as discussed above is to keep the keywords, as the internal webpage URL, in order to circulate the keyword.


Now comes the three situations and to choose which is the best as far as the SEO point of view is concerned,

  • Two Keywords (or 3 Keywords) - joining them without a space, or
  • Two Keywords (or 3 Keywords) - seperating them with an underscore, or
  • Two Keywords (or 3 Keywords) - seperating them with a hyphen


There is the following drawback if we consider the first point, I.e., joining two words without space, underscore or hyphen.


Before discussing the above point we should remember one thing in mind, that "as a user will I be typing that word without space? or will I be interested in such long search term query". Based on this the explanation to the joined keywords is, that 1 user in 100's or 1000's will come and try to put that type of search term, so unless and until the keyword chosen is extremely popular its not worth to use it.


Now we should see the Underscore and the Hyphen stuff. Both Undersocre and the Hyphen are an appropriate way to name your webpages using keywords. Both are used to segregate one word into meaningful words.


But we have one basic thing associated with underscores, and that an underscore may just merge with the line, whereas a hyphen can't. In laymen language a hyphen looks and makes the webpage more readable and easy for navigation to the visitors as compared to the underscore.


The bottom line is you can use hyphen for the inner webpages and also the underscores, but my preference goes with the hyphen, as I did Google search for some keyword by using a hyphen and an underscore. And I got two different search results,

  1. with Hyphen it was cool, in the sense that those two words were treated as different when I placed hyphen, and
  2. with Underscore it was different, and I got a message as to saying that am I looking for a different keyword.





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