URL format test
From SiteRay wiki
| SiteRay Test | |
|---|---|
| First appeared: | Sitescore 1.0 |
| Applies to: | All versions |
| Type: | Individual test |
| Scored: | Always |
What does it do?
Checks the format of URLs (web addresses) is appropriate.
Why is it important?
Good URLs are easier to memorise and exchange between people. For example:
Good URLs
www.example.com www.example.com/news
Bad URLs
www.example.com/?p=home www.example.com/1/2/content.jsp?cid=23uolk23nlj38;o9sme;93-21-10%21%
In particular, good URLs are easier to email, memorise, advertise and guess. Shorter, clean URLs also tend to score higher in search engines than dirty URLs.
Example results
How is it measured?
Sitescore tests URLs for a number of key criteria:
- Is the URL 'dirty'? Dirty URLs include a question mark, typically followed by a series of parameters. They are sometimes required, but should be the exception, not the norm (some old Content Management Systems use them for every page).
- Length is over 78 characters. These URLs can’t be emailed as plain text without breaking onto two lines, which usually prevents them from being successfully clicked upon.
- Length is over 30 characters. This incurs a extremely small penalty. Search engines have shown clear preference to ranking short URLs more highly.
- Whether an ID parameter is used. E.g.
anyid=1234. These are frequently ignored by search engines explicitly.
Technical explanation
The final score is calculated as follows:
score = 10-(proportionBad*4)-(proportionDirty*2)-(proportionHard*2)-(proportionUseExtension*1.5)
Each proportion ranges from 0 to 1. Scores are limited to a minimum of 1.
Common problems
Some test websites may have longer URLs than expected in the final website (e.g. they may be part of a subdirectory or temporary domain name). There is no workaround for this, other than to assume this score will increase when the website goes live.
How to improve this score
Wherever possible, use sensible, clear URLs which will mean something to the user. See also the URL chopping test). In some cases, it may be possible to use a technique known as URL rewriting to fix older systems which use dirty URLs. Alternatively, a rewrite of existing code, or a change or upgrade of Content Management System may be required. Note that the excuse "our Content Management System requires this" is now considered very weak – virtually all established CMS's have extensive support for clean, human readable URLs.
How to use this test effectively
This test will typically report a score which is difficult to change, unless the underlying technology or design of the website is changed. It is therefore best to use on new websites, to ensure that the platform is appropriate and that this is being considered.
