Which url should i use? Thanks!
-
I have a question regarding how to use my url, we are a Swedish-based website which have the url, http://interimslösning.se/ (that contains the Swedish letter “ö”) so the url can also be written as http://xn--interimslsning-3pb.se/.
Which of the following url should I use for my backlinks, http://interimslösning.se/ or http://xn--interimslsning-3pb.se/ ? What is the difference between them regarding SEO? And is it good or bad to use letter like "ö" or other characters like that in your url?
I was thinking that maybe it is good to use the letter "ö" for local search optimization in sweden, but i don't know..
Thanks in advance!
Greetings,
Paul Linderoth -
That makes sense to me.
-
Hi Guys,
Thanks for great answers!
I guess after reading your answers that it is best that i change my url from http://interimslösning.se/ to for example http://interimslosning.se/ and then 301 redirect http://interimslösning.se/ to the new url without the letter "ö"?
Then I eliminate using the letter "ö" and I dont need to use a non user-friendly url like http://xn--interimslsning-3pb.se/
/Paul
-
Thanks for that point Russ, that is very relevant. I would then say find a better URL than either of them. I am not sure that a URL with seemingly random combinations of dashes is much better than the URL with the “ö”. It may make sense to get a new domain - unless the domain with all the dashes is well established. My impression from the post is that it was not.
-
This IS a question for Search Engine Optimization. Many web services out there will not properly handle UTF-8 characters and muck up the URL, causing it not to work at all and preventing users and Google from reaching your site via the link placed on another site. You might have already experienced this when trying to sign up with your email address while using the international characters codes. It is my recommendation that you link build with the version not including the “ö” and make sure your site has the correct canonical tag pointing to the version with the “ö”.
-
This is really not a question on search optimization as it is on usability. You need to consider how easy your URL will be for users to remember so if they need to type it in from memory or if they see it on an ad it is easy to remember.
Generally, the shorter the better - less for people to remember. The second URL with the double dash plus a single dash is not very user friendly. I would say the at the Swedish letter “ö” may be an issue for non Swedish customers who do not regularly use that letter, but if your audience does, then it should not be a problem and I would go with the http://interimslösning.se/
As far as localization, I have not seen anything on Google looking at the letters used in URL for location optimization. Normally they gather that from the domain name extension, what language you use on your site, the where the hosting server is located and most importantly, what you set as the website location in Google Search Console. The Search Console setting is the most important one for localization.
Most important, once you set your domain name, I would not use any other versions of it in anything that your publish. Set all pages on the alternate domain to 301 redirect to the proper page on the primary domain just incase the other domain leaks out somewhere.
Cheers!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Language Specific Characters in URLs for
Hi People, would really appreciate your advice as we are debating best practice and advice seems very subjective depending if we are talking to our dev or SEO team. We are developing a website aimed at the South American market with content entirely in Spanish. This is our first international site so our experience is limited. Should we be using Spanish characters (such as www.xyz.com/contáctanos) in URLs or should we use ASCII character replacements? What are the pros and cons for SEO and usability? Would really be great to get advice from the Moz community and make me look good at the same time as it was my suggestion 🙂 Nick
Technical SEO | | nickspiteri0 -
Which address do I use for citations
Hello, When I created my google places, I entered my address and when I got my google places activated I noticed that the address google places was displaying was a short abbreviation of my address. So my question is when it comes to creating citations for my listing do I grab the address google places generated for me in the listing or the long version of my address? I've just heard when it comes to creating citations, you need to make sure it is identical across the board. I hope this makes sense. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | fbbcseo0 -
Case sensitive url's
Hi, Really appreciate advice on this one in advance! We had a problem with case sensitive urls (eg: /web-jobs or /Web-jobs) We added a code to convert all urls into lowercase letters and added 301 redirection. We are now experiencing problems with duplicate page content. Each time a url contains caps letter it is converted and redirected to small letter url. I can convert all urls into lowercase letters (all places) but the problem now is google have already indexed urls so they may cause duplicate content issue. The solution: Remove 301 redirection added to convert url into small letter. Add canonical url which converts url into complete small letter, so google index content only from canonical url. But I am little confused about what will happen to already indexed pages with caps in url. Appreciate any advice you can give? Simon
Technical SEO | | simmo2350 -
Category URL Duplicate Content
I've recently been hired as the web developer for a company with an existing web site. Their web architecture includes category names in product urls, and of course we have many products in multiple categories thus generating duplicate content. According to the SEOMoz Site Crawl, we have roughly 1600 pages of duplicate content, I expect primarily from this issue. This is out of roughly 3600 pages crawled. My questions are: 1. Fixing this for the long term will obviously mean restructuring the URLs for the site. Is this worthwhile and what will the ramifications be of performing such a move? 2. How can I determine the level and extent of the effects of this duplicated content? 3. Is it possible the best course of action is to do nothing? The site has many, many other issues, and I'm not sure how highly to prioritize this problem. In addition, the IT man is highly doubtful this is causing an SEO issue, and I'm going to need to be able to back up any action I request. I do feel I will need to strongly justify any possible risks this level of site change could cause. Thanks in advance, and please let me know if any more information is needed.
Technical SEO | | MagnetsUSA0 -
I'm redesigning a website which will have a new URL format. What's the best way to redirect all the old URLs to the new ones? Is there an automated, fast way to do this?
For example, the new URL will be: https://oregonoptimalhealth.com/about_us.html while the old one's were like this: http://www.oregonoptimalhealth.com/home/ooh/smartlist_1/services.html I have redirect almost 100 old pages to the correct new page. What's the best and easiest way to do this?
Technical SEO | | PolarisMarketing0 -
Strange duplicate url
From your csv report I have this strange issue. This url: elettrodomestici.yeppon.it/climatizzatori/condizionatori-fissi/prodotti/condizionatori-fissi-comfee/ it's a duplicate of this elettrodomestici.yeppon.it/climatizzatori/condizionatori-fissi/prodotti/condizionatori-fissi-comfee/ but the only url that I can see in the website is this one. Why the "-" is transalted some times in "%2D" referrer obviously is elettrodomestici.yeppon.it/climatizzatori/condizionatori-fissi/prodotti/condizionatori-fissi-comfee/solo-disponibili/ I have many duplicate url...Can you help me? Thanks
Technical SEO | | yeppon0 -
Are URL's with trailing slash seen as two different URLs
Hello, http://www.example.com and http://ww.example.com/ Are these seen as two different URL's ? Just as with www or non www ? Or it doesn't make any difference ?
Technical SEO | | seoug_20050 -
Changing url structure
We are an ecommerce site established in 2005 and currently have some great rankings. We are about to move away from our existing platform, actinic and move on to Magento. This will change all our url's. What are the steps we should be asking our web developers to follow in order to minimize the consequences of moving? Thank you.
Technical SEO | | LadyApollo0