The URL structure of your OXID eShop is of crucial importance for the usability and SEO of your website. A well thought-out URL structure can help your pages to be found better and indexed better by search engines. In this post, we will go into the most important aspects of URL optimisation for an OXID eShop and give you tips on how to create the perfect URL structure for your shop.
Why is the URL structure important?
The URL structure of your OXID eShop not only gives users an insight into the structure and hierarchy of your website, but also plays an important role in search engine optimisation. Search engines like Google crawl and index the URLs of your website to find out which pages are relevant and how they should be displayed in the search results. A clear and concise URL structure can help your pages be better understood by search engines and thus rank higher in search results.
Another important function of the URL structure is usability. A clear and easy to understand URL structure can help users find what they are looking for faster and improve navigation on your website.
Tips for creating an optimal URL structure
Use keywords in URLs
An important aspect of URL optimisation is the use of relevant keywords in URLs. By using keywords in the URLs, you can signal to search engines what topics are covered on your site. For example, if you run an online shop for sportswear and have a page with running shoes, you should use "running shoes" in the URL.
An example of a URL with keywords:
www.mein-shop.de/laufschuhe/asics-gel-kayano-25
Do not use unflattering words or parameters in the URLs.
It is important that the URLs of your OXID eShop are as short and concise as possible. Therefore, avoid unnecessary words or parameters in the URLs that offer no added value for the user or the search engines. An example of unnecessary words in URLs would be "and", "or" or "the", which can be removed in most cases without losing the meaning of the URL.
An example of a URL with unnecessary words:
www.mein-shop.de/laufschuhe-für-damen-und-herren/asics-gel-kayano-25
An example of an optimised URL without unnecessary words:
www.mein-shop.de/laufschuhe/asics-gel-kayano-25
Use logical and hierarchical URLs
Another important rule for creating URLs is to use logical and hierarchical URLs. This means that the URLs of your OXID eShop should have a clear hierarchy and follow a logical pattern. For example, the URL for a category of products should be in a subdirectory of the main category URL, while the URL of a single product should be in a subdirectory of the product category URL.
An example of a logical and hierarchical URL structure:
www.mein-shop.de/sportbekleidung/laufschuhe/asics-gel-kayano-25
Do not use special characters or umlauts in URLs
Search engines have difficulty interpreting special characters and umlauts in URLs. For this reason, it is important that you do not use special characters or umlauts in the URLs of your OXID eShop. Instead, you should replace the characters with their ASCII equivalents so that the URLs can be better processed by search engines.
An example of a URL with special characters:
www.mein-shop.de/sportbekleidung/laufschuhe/asics-gel-käyano-25
An example of an optimised URL without special characters:
www.mein-shop.de/sportbekleidung/laufschuhe/asics-gel-kayano-25
Summary
In this post, we discussed some important tips for creating an optimal URL structure for your OXID eShop. A well-designed URL structure can help your pages be better understood by search engines and thus rank higher in search results. Some of the most important aspects of URL optimisation for OXID eShops are:
Use keywords in URLs to indicate to search engines what topics are covered on your page. Avoid unnecessary words or parameters in the URLs to keep the URLs as short and concise as possible. Create logical and hierarchical URLs to show the structure and hierarchy of your website. Do not use special characters or umlauts in the URLs, as search engines have difficulty interpreting them.
By following these tips, you can optimise the URL structure of your OXID eShop and thus improve the usability and SEO of your website.