Do You Need Keywords In Your URL?

Writing by Nick Stamoulis Tweet

One thing I’ve noticed that webmasters and search engine optimization gurus can argue about for hours is whether or not keywords in the URL are necessary. I certainly don’t think they are necessary, but I do think they are important.

I’ve made the observation that websites that use the primary keyword in the URL do much better in Google rankings than websites that don’t. But I also recognize that there are a million roads that lead to Rome. One webmaster can use the keyword in the URL approach, write great title tags and perform excellent on-page SEO without doing much link building at all and grab top listings on all three major search engines. Another webmaster can create a branded URL without the primary keyword and build lots of inbound links and do just as well. But which is more important?

Personally, I believe if you rank well then it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as it is ethical. But I also believe in giving yourself every edge possible. So if you know that putting your keyword in the URL can give you the added edge, why wouldn’t you do it? I think you should.