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SEO-friendly URL checker and structure analyzer
SEO-friendly URL checker: test a URL's separators, parameters, length, depth and opaque IDs against Google's URL guidance. Free, runs in your browser.
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged or stored.
Key takeaways
- Google recommends hyphens instead of underscores to separate words in a URL, and this tool checks for that directly.
- Google's URL structure documentation states no specific character limit, so this tool's length check is a general heuristic, not an official Google rule.
- A URL segment that looks like a long opaque id or hex string is flagged as a heuristic guess, never a certainty.
- Trimming query parameters that do not change a page's content is guidance Google actually documents, not folklore.
- Every check runs in the browser with the native URL constructor, so nothing typed into the tool is ever sent anywhere.
What it takes
- A full URL, including scheme, to analyze
How to use it
- 1Paste a full URLInclude the scheme, such as https://. A relative path without a scheme fails to parse, and the tool shows that as an error rather than guessing.
- 2Read the HTTPS and length checksHTTPS is a documented Google signal. Length has no published Google limit, and is shown as a general diagnostic only.
- 3Check the word separatorGoogle's documentation recommends hyphens over underscores, because a hyphen is treated as a word boundary and an underscore joins words together.
- 4Check query parametersGoogle recommends trimming parameters that do not change the page's content, such as tracking or session parameters.
- 5Read the opaque id and readability checksThese two are this tool's own pattern guesses, labelled Heuristic, for whether a path segment looks like a long id string rather than a real word.
Paste one full URL and this checker parses it with the browser’s own URL constructor, then runs a fixed set of checks against the parts. Each result carries a label: “Google documented” when it restates Google’s guidance, “Heuristic” when it is this tool’s own rule of thumb.
What the analyzer checks
| Check | Label | Warns when |
|---|---|---|
| HTTPS | Google documented | the scheme is not https |
| Total length | Heuristic | never, it is a count only |
| Path depth | Heuristic | more than 4 path segments |
| Word separator | Google documented | underscores, or a mix of hyphens and underscores |
| Query parameters | Google documented | more than 1 parameter |
| Opaque id segments | Heuristic | a segment looks like an ID |
| Path readability | Heuristic | under 60% of segments look like words |
The Google-documented checks come from two pages. The URL structure guide recommends readable words over long ID numbers, hyphens over underscores, and trimming parameters that do not change the content. The canonicalization guide says Google prefers HTTPS pages over equivalent HTTP pages as canonical.
The URL structure guide gives no character limit and no maximum directory depth. Those numbers are often repeated as fact, so this tool keeps both as heuristics.
How to read the results
Each result shows its value in the success color when good, the warning color for a warning, or muted grey when neutral. Below the value is a note saying where the check comes from.
- A warning on a Google documented check points at something Google’s guidance addresses. Fix it before the URL goes live, or redirect the old form after.
- A warning on a Heuristic check is a prompt to look. The opaque id check flags a segment of 16 or more letters and digits that is all hex, all digits or has no vowels. That catches a database key, but it can also catch a real product code.
- An error line under the field means the text is not a valid absolute URL. Add the scheme, such as
https://.
Worked example
The tool loads with this URL:
https://www.example.com/shop/mens_running-shoes/product/8f14e45fceea167a5a36dedd4bea2543/index.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&sessionid=93a8e2| Check | Result |
|---|---|
| HTTPS | Yes |
| Total length | 154 characters |
| Path depth | 5 segments, warning |
| Word separator | Mixed (both used), warning |
| Query parameters | 3: utm_source, utm_medium, sessionid, warning |
| Opaque id segments | 1: 8f14e45fceea167a5a36dedd4bea2543, warning |
| Path readability | Reads as encoded or opaque, warning |
Only 2 of the 5 segments, shop and product, count as word-shaped. The underscore, the hex ID
and the .php extension fail the pattern. A cleaner version of the same page is
https://www.example.com/shop/mens-running-shoes, which passes every check.
Common mistakes it catches
- Underscores between words. Google recommends hyphens, and gives
format_datestyle joining as the reason underscores are less suited. - Tracking and session parameters. Google names session IDs and referral parameters among the causes of too many URLs, and suggests cookies instead of session IDs.
- Database IDs as slugs. Google’s own contrast is
/wiki/Aviationagainst a longtopic=42style ID string. - A page still served over http. Google prefers the HTTPS version as canonical.
Related tools and reading
Sources
- 1.URL structure best practices - Google Search CentralPrimary
- 2.What is URL canonicalization - Google Search Central
Common questions
What makes a URL SEO friendly, according to Google?
Google's URL structure guide recommends readable words rather than long ID numbers, hyphens rather than underscores between words, trimming parameters that do not change the content, and avoiding session IDs in URLs. It also says not to use fragments to change page content.
Is there a maximum URL length for SEO?
Google's URL structure documentation gives no character limit. This tool reports the length as a plain count, marked Heuristic, with no pass or fail attached.
How many folders deep should a URL be?
Google publishes no maximum depth. This tool marks more than four path segments as a warning, but that cutoff is its own heuristic, labelled as such, not a Google rule.
Why are underscores flagged?
Google recommends hyphens to separate words and notes that underscores are used to join words into one concept, as in programming names like format_date. The tool warns on underscores alone and on a mix of both.
Does the tool lowercase or rewrite my URL?
No. It reports on the URL as typed. Case matters to Google, which treats /APPLE and /apple as distinct URLs, so pick one casing and redirect the other if your server serves both.
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