Use keywords in file or folder names

Summary: Make web addresses readable and help SEO - use keywords and write file and folder names well.

File and folder names form part of the web address (the URL) for web pages, documents, images and media files.

Using relevant keywords in URLs improves search results. Well-written file and folder names make web addresses easier to read, type and say.

How to: write file and folder names

• Use keywords
• Be concise — use 1 or 2 words for folder names; up to 5 or 6 for file names
• Remove stop words, like ‘and’ and 'the'
  
• Use a hyphen to separate words.

Use hyphens between words

Use of hyphens keep addresses readable. They’re better separators than underscores. Underscores disappear when links are underlined, so users can think there are spaces in the address. Spaces are illegal characters. If you use them accidentally, they are converted to %20.

Remove stop words

Some systems have rules to remove stop words: words that aren’t keywords, like ‘and’ and ‘the’.

And some let writers (or the web team) edit what they’ve generated. Again, I recommend adding this flexibility.

File and folders names are generated by your publishing system

Content management systems usually generate website file and folder names based on the main heading of the page.

File names for other content formats

When you save content created outside your publishing system, you save it with a file name. Documents, images and media files need short, meaningful file names.