How to Fix Underscore in URLs for SEO

How to Fix Underscore in URLs for SEO

Posted on by Prakash Tiwari

Fixing all technical SEO issues makes the website search engine friendly, as search engines crawl it more often. This is why it is essential to spend time on technical SEO. Most errors, like not fixing HTTP code errors, alt attributes, and missing descriptions, often impact SEO. Underscores in URLs can be a mistake when we develop a custom website. However, most CMSs use default URL slugs that contain only hyphens.

This article will help you find a solution to fix underscore in URLs. 

Let’s Understand the Problem

When creating URLs for your website, you must choose how to separate words like /how-to-fix-underscores-in-urls. Most developers use either hyphens or underscores. While both seem similar, they work differently for search engines, especially Google.

Google reads hyphens as word separators but underscores as word connectors. This means that if your URL contains underscores, Google reads the entire phrase as one long word, making it harder to understand. For example, if your URL is www.example.com/technical_seo, Google reads it as “technicalseo.” This makes it challenging for search engines to interpret the right keyword or intent of your page URL.

Why It Matters for SEO

When Google misreads your URL because of underscores, it can’t accurately gauge what your page is about. This can lead to indexing issues, irrelevant search queries, and crawl errors.

Search engines use URLs to determine how to rank your pages. A well-structured URL gives users and search engines concise intent, but URLs with underscores do the opposite. This is why URLs matter most to SEO. 

How to Fix the Underscore Issue

As explained above, search engines ignore underscore in URLs and treat them as single words. It is essential that you should remove underscores and replace them with hyphens. It will separate your phrases so that search engines can understand the intent of your page before pushing for indexing with the right search keywords. 

1. Manually Change URLs

You can manually change the URLs with the following tips:

  1. Identify URLs with underscores: Go through your website and find all URLs containing underscores. If you have a sitemap created, you can copy it directly.
  2. Edit the URL: Replace underscores with hyphens. For example, change www.example.com/best_practices_for_seo to www.example.com/best-practices-for-seo.
  3. Update Internal Links: Make sure you change any internal links pointing to the old URL. This ensures that your visitors won’t land on a 404 error page.
  4. Set Up 301 Redirects: Set up 301 redirects from the old URL to the new one. This informs search engines that the URL has changed permanently.

2. Use a CMS or Plugin

If your website runs on a CMS like WordPress, you can use plugins to handle this task. Some plugins help you change URLs and set up redirects automatically. 

  1. Install a URL Editor Plugin: Search for plugins that allow you to edit URLs easily. Popular options include “Rank Math SEO” or “Redirection” for WordPress.
  2. Find and Replace: Use the plugin to find URLs with underscores and replace them with hyphens.
  3. Set Up Redirects: Many plugins allow you to set up 301 redirects within the same interface. This makes the process smoother and ensures you don’t lose SEO value.

3. Automate the Process for Larger Sites

Changing URLs manually is more accessible than it is, but if the website has thousands of URLs, it will require a strategy to fix it. In such cases, you can automate the process using scripts or tools. Let’s know the process to fix this.

  1. Export Your URLs: Use tools like Screaming Frog or your CMS’s export feature to get a list of all your URLs.
  2. Write a Script: If you’re comfortable coding, write a script to replace underscores with hyphens in your URLs. You can use languages like Python or PHP to do this.
  3. Implement and Test: After running the script, test your URLs to ensure they work correctly. Don’t forget to set up 301 redirects to maintain your SEO.

Tips to Improve URLs

While fixing underscores is essential, there are other URL best practices you should follow:

  1. Keep URLs Short and Descriptive: Short URLs are easier to read and remember. Use only the most essential words to describe the content. You can keep the length below 75 characters. 
  2. Use Keywords: Including relevant keywords in your URL can improve your SEO. Make sure the keyword reflects the page’s content.
  3. Avoid Special Characters: Apart from hyphens, avoid using special characters like &, %, $, etc., as they can confuse search engines and users.
  4. Use Lowercase Letters: URLs are case-sensitive. Stick to lowercase letters to avoid confusion and broken links.

Conclusion

Fixing URL underscores is a simple yet crucial step for improving your technical SEO. Replacing underscores with hyphens helps search engines understand your content better, rank your page higher and generate more traffic. To avoid this issue, you should check tools like SEMrush and Aherefs to identify technical SEO errors.