To answer the question quickly and technically: yes, an overly long url is bad for SEO. Typical URL lengths should be as short as possible without losing the general idea of the page purpose and should be no more than 100 characters in length. For example, this is a really bad URL:
OK, I might have gone overboard with the bad example, but you get the idea. The URL should only be as long as needed to show the page's purpose. Google constantly changes the exact site title pixel widths and it also changes depending on the end user device. Typically there is a 600 desktop pixel-width limit on Google’s Snippets, Page Title, and Meta Descriptions (as of Feb 2022).
Who is Reading the URL?
While part of SEO is adapting to Googlebot, you’d think that a bot would love specificity. However, the main focus should be tailoring the site to best fit the person searching because, ultimately, people on the Search Engine Result Page are choosing to click on a site and we want ours to be the one they choose. We can be more user friendly and inviting than any of our competition. This means that a URL should be easily read by a human being.
What is URL Structure?
In the example at the top, there's a lot going on, so let’s break it down piece by piece.
“https://” is the site protocol (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure). Sometimes, you’ll see just http:// which is the older non-secure version.
“Www.” is sometimes left out for brevity and simplicity. It used to always be required, but is no longer. (DNS lookups work without the www.)
“Esseodigital.com” is the site domain. It’s always a good idea to pick a smart domain name that is either your recognized brand name or explains your site’s mission or purpose.
“/blog/” Each of the /blog/ or /'s mean a directory, or kind of like a folder if you want to compare it with Windows. This is where your site’s directory structure comes in. It should be tidy, simple, and organized. There seems to be some debate over the amount of these directory “/’s” not mattering, but take it from personal experience and advice from trusted sources; you’ll get better authority if you keep the directories to a sleek minimum. Directory structure is important, and we’ll touch on that in a future blog.
“/are-long-urls-bad-for-seo/” This is known as the URL ‘slug’. Choosing a proper slug is critical because changing it is generally not recommended. You’ll lose some of the authority the page has gained and changing it could create dead links and problems elsewhere. Avoid changing slugs when at all possible.
What’s a Good Example?
The URL can be as simple as the page title, but it doesn't always have to match the title word for word. Here are some examples:
esseodigital.com/blog/bad-urls
Bad example: Too short and vague.
esseodigital.com/blog/are-long-urls-bad
Good example: short, general idea of the blog topic discussing a question.
esseodigital.com/blog/are-long-urls-bad-for-seo
Good example: more specific, without adding too many characters.
Note: Since the beginning of the text is always displayed, you should frontload the general idea at the beginning, and get more specific at the end. That way, if the URL is truncated in a search result, the person looking at the URL gets the general gist of the page.
Best Practices For Good URL & SEO
You should use hyphens (-) to break up words, not underscores ( _ ).
Keep a URL as short as possible without losing the meaning or removing keywords that pinpoint specifics.
Keep overall length under 100 characters.
Pick a good slug and stick with it.
Simplify your directory structure. Discuss this with your site or SEO administrator.
If you’re searching for an experienced and knowledgeable SEO team, reach out to us at esseodigital.com/contact. We have worked with many clients and have decades of experience growing organic site traffic.