Does changing/shortening a url hurt SEO?

[annegretwidmer]

Hi all,

I am in the process of making small optimization changes to my site. I noticed Moz identified quite a few URLs that could be shortened.

I intend to shorten these URLs and create 301 redirects to ensure website users land on the right page. My question is, will this change in URL damage rankings and engagement(assuming the URL remains content relevant)? I have read in some places that when creating URL redirects for a change in domain, people saw a dip in rankings and engagement. I, however, am not intending to change the main domain of the site, but rather the URL slug.

Any thoughts?

[dewowebco]

if you're wanting to track the impact of changing and redirection URLs and the impact on your site's rankings you can follow this process in Moz Pro:

طراحی سایت

• list itemEnter your original url into Keyword Explorer Keywords by Site
• list itemClick 'see all Ranking Keywords'
• list itemSelect the ranking keywords checkbox and click add to > campaign
• list itemYou can then track and changes in you rankings over time and identify
  طراحی سایت املاک
  the impact of any changes
  Here is a video on tracking Rankings Performance by URL in Moz Pro
  In the meantime you can "Ignore" those issue either by page or by Issue Type through the Moz Pro Site Crawl interface so they don't crop up every week. You can read more here on ignoring issues in Moz Pro.
  طراحی سایت وکلا
  I hope this helps!
  شرکت طراحی سایت

[jocameron]

Hi there @annegretwidmer

Thanks for asking this!
Changing and redirecting URLs will most likely affect your rankings and traffic. For this reason I wouldn't consider this a small optimization change. If the pages in question are revenue driving it may not be worth the change if it's just to reduce the URL length. I would only consider making changes if you identify major URL structure issues, and even then it could be worth addressing as part of a larger project, depending on the size and purpose of your site. Here are some resources:
https://moz.com/community/q/what-should-be-the-length-of-page-url-from-seo-perspective
https://moz.com/learn/seo/url
https://moz.com/blog/15-seo-best-practices-for-structuring-urls

If you're wanting to track the impact of changing and redirection URLs and the impact on your site's rankings you can follow this process in Moz Pro:

• Enter your original url into Keyword Explorer Keywords by Site
• Click 'see all Ranking Keywords'
• Select the ranking keywords checkbox and click add to > campaign
• You can then track and changes in you rankings over time and identify the impact of any changes
  Here is a video on tracking Rankings Performance by URL in Moz Pro

In the meantime you can "Ignore" those issue either by page or by Issue Type through the Moz Pro Site Crawl interface so they don't crop up every week. You can read more here on ignoring issues in Moz Pro.

I hope this helps!