URL Structure

Your website’s URL is its address.

Your website’s URL address:

• Shows where your website is online
• Helps visitors find your website easily
• Helps search engines like Google, know what your website pages are about

There are five URL sections for optimising your website’s SEO and user experience (UX).

This short guide will help you understand every sections of a URL.

Let’s go into each in detail.

What are the sections of a URL?

A URL has five different sections:

• Scheme
• Subdomain
• Top-level domain
• Second-level domain
• Subdirectory

Below is an the example URL we will use to explain the URL structure:

• https://blog.yourwebsite.co.uk/category

Now, let’s break down the URL structure: 

URL Structure

Scheme

Example:

• https://blog.yourwebsite.co.uk/category

The scheme is the first part of any URL.

The most used scheme is Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS).

HTTPS tells web browsers to encrypt information entered on the web page to protect against cybercriminals, like:

• Passwords
• Credit card information

Other benefits include:

• Protecting website visitors
• Makes your website more trusted
• Helps your website rank better on search engines like Google

That’s why having an SSL certificate is recommended on our technical SEO guide.

Subdomain

Example:

• https://blog.yourwebsite.co.uk/category

Subdomains are specific locations of your URL address.

So, a subdomain in your URL tells web browsers which web page of your website to load up.

For example, the “blog” subdomain takes users to your website’s blog page and the “offers” subdomain will take users to your website’s offers page.

Subdomains also help divide your website into different content categories.

Second-level Domain

Example:

• https://blog.yourwebsite.co.uk/category

Your second-level domain (SLD) is your website’s name.

SLD shows visitors the brand’s website that they are visiting.

For example, visitors know they are visiting Manchester United’s website by the “manutd.com” address.

Top-level Domain

Example:

• https://blog.yourwebsite.co.uk/category

A top-level domain (TLD) is the domain extension your business is registered to online.

For example, “.co.uk” is for commercial extensions in the UK, so British businesses register with “.co.uk” top-level domains.

Also “.ac.uk” are for academic institutions in the UK, so British colleges, universities and research institutions register with ”.ac.uk” top-level domains.

Subdirectory

Example:

• https://blog.yourwebsite.co.uk/category

Subdirectories or subfolders are used by web crawlers and visitors to know which part of your website they are on. 

For example, an online shop selling t-shirts, hats, and footwear, website’s URLs could be:

• “https://shop.yourwebsite.com/footwear”.

The subdomain is “shop” and the subdirectory is “footwear.”

So, the URL would show the “Footwear” page, in the “Shop” page subfolder.

And, t-shirts and hats would be in another subfolder page.

URL Structures are important

URL structures are important for your website’s SEO and user experience (UX), no matter how small or simple they might seem.

Now that you know about each section of the URL, learn more about technical SEO.