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URL Rules

URL Rules

Rules for validating URL structure and SEO.

url-length

Checks URL path length.

Thresholds

  • Good: <75 characters
  • Warning: 75-100 characters
  • Poor: >100 characters

Checks

  • URL path length
  • Nesting depth (>4 levels)

Examples

Info:

/blog/2024/january/15/my-really-long-and-detailed-blog-post-title-about-something <!-- Info: URL path is long (70 chars). Aim for <75. -->

Warning:

/products/electronics/computers/laptops/gaming/high-performance/model-xyz-2024 <!-- Warning: URL nested too deeply (7 levels). Aim for ≤4. -->

Pass:

/blog/react-hooks-guide /products/laptop-xyz

Configuration

rules: { 'url-length': { severity: 'info', }, }

url-structure

Validates URL formatting conventions.

Checks

  • Uses hyphens not underscores
  • Lowercase letters
  • No excessive query parameters (>3)
  • No special characters
  • No spaces or double slashes

Examples

Warning (underscores):

/blog/my_blog_post <!-- Warning: Use hyphens instead of underscores -->

Warning (uppercase):

/Blog/My-Post <!-- Warning: URLs should be lowercase -->

Warning (special chars):

/blog/my-post!-amazing <!-- Warning: URL contains special characters -->

Info (many params):

/search?q=term&sort=date&filter=new&page=1&limit=10 <!-- Info: URL has many query parameters (5) -->

Pass:

/blog/my-blog-post /products/widget-pro /guides/getting-started

Configuration

rules: { 'url-structure': { severity: 'warning', }, }

url-keywords

Checks URL contains relevant keywords.

Checks

  • URL contains words from title
  • Avoids generic patterns (page-1, post-123)
  • No UUIDs in URL

Examples

Info:

<title>React Hooks Complete Guide</title> URL: /posts/12345 <!-- Info: URL doesn't contain title keywords --> <!-- Consider: /posts/react-hooks-guide -->

Info:

URL: /product/a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890 <!-- Info: URL contains UUID. Consider human-readable slug. -->

Pass:

<title>React Hooks Guide</title> URL: /guides/react-hooks

Configuration

rules: { 'url-keywords': { severity: 'info', }, }

url-trailing-slash

Ensures consistent trailing slash usage.

Checks

  • URL matches canonical trailing slash
  • Consistency across site

Examples

Info:

URL: /about/ <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/about"> <!-- Info: Trailing slash mismatch between URL and canonical -->

Pass:

URL: /about <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/about"> URL: /about/ <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/about/">

Configuration

rules: { 'url-trailing-slash': { severity: 'info', }, }

URL Best Practices

Do

  • Use hyphens: /my-page
  • Keep short: /blog/react-guide
  • Include keywords: /guides/react-hooks
  • Use lowercase: /about-us
  • Be descriptive: /products/widget-pro

Don't

  • Use underscores: /my_page
  • Use IDs only: /posts/12345
  • Use UUIDs: /p/a1b2c3d4-...
  • Use uppercase: /About-Us
  • Use special chars: /my-post!

URL Structure Examples

Good

/ # Home /about # About page /blog # Blog index /blog/react-hooks-guide # Blog post /products # Products index /products/widget-pro # Product page /docs/getting-started # Documentation

Bad

/page.php?id=123 # Query string ID /blog/2024/01/15/post # Date in URL (unless needed) /p/a1b2c3d4 # UUID /Blog/My_Post # Mixed case, underscores /products?cat=1&sub=2&p=3 # Many parameters

Redirect Handling

When changing URLs:

  1. 301 Redirect old URL to new
  2. Update internal links to use new URL
  3. Update sitemap
  4. Update canonical tags
# nginx location /old-page { return 301 /new-page; }