URL Structure for SEO

URLs are a minor ranking factor. Spend 5 minutes on them, not 5 hours. Google reads them, users see them in search results, but obsessing over perfect URLs won't move the needle.

Readable URLs Win

Compare these two URLs:

✅ /blog/nuxt-prerendering-guide
❌ /blog/p?id=847&cat=2&ref=internal

The first tells both humans and bots what the page is about. The second is gibberish. Make URLs readable.

Hyphens Not Underscores

Google treats hyphens as word separators. Underscores are ignored.

✅ /performance-optimization
❌ /performance_optimization

Nuxt's file-based routing handles this automatically if you name files with hyphens.

URL Length

Shorter URLs are slightly better for:

• User sharing (easier to copy/paste)
• Search result display (don't get truncated)
• Technical crawling (minimal impact)

But don't sacrifice clarity. /blog/seo-guide beats /seo if it's actually a blog post.

✅ /guides/seo-basics
✅ /blog/improving-core-web-vitals
❌ /g/sb
❌ /blog/a-comprehensive-guide-to-improving-your-core-web-vitals-and-page-speed-metrics

Keywords in URLs

Including keywords helps a tiny bit. Keyword stuffing makes you look spammy.

✅ /nuxt/prerendering
❌ /nuxt-prerendering-static-site-generation-ssg-prerender-routes

If your page title is "Nuxt Prerendering Guide", use /nuxt-prerendering-guide. Done. Don't optimize further.

URL Parameters and Query Strings

Query parameters (?page=2&sort=date) create duplicate content issues:

/blog
/blog?page=2
/blog?sort=date
/blog?page=2&sort=date

Google sees four different URLs for the same content. Pick one canonical URL and stick with it.

Nuxt file-based routing avoids this by default - dynamic segments use clean paths:

pages/
  blog/
    [slug].vue        → /blog/my-post
    page-[page].vue   → /blog/page-2

If you must use query parameters (filters, search), add canonical tags or use noindex.

Dynamic Routes in Nuxt

Dynamic routes work fine for SEO. Google crawls them like any other page.

pages/
  blog/
    [slug].vue        → /blog/seo-guide, /blog/web-vitals
  products/
    [category]/
      [id].vue        → /products/electronics/123

Don't use dynamic routes for:

• Session IDs (/page?session=abc123)
• Tracking parameters (/page?utm_source=twitter)
• Temporary tokens

These create infinite crawl loops. Use robots.txt or noindex to block them.

Nuxt Route Best Practices

Your file structure defines your URLs. Make it semantic:

✅ Good structure:
pages/
  blog/
    index.vue              → /blog
    [slug].vue             → /blog/post-name
  docs/
    [category]/
      [page].vue           → /docs/guides/installation

❌ Confusing structure:
pages/
  p/
    [id].vue               → /p/123
  c/
    [cat]/
      i.vue                → /c/electronics/i

Use definePageMeta() to customize URLs if needed:

<script setup lang="ts">
definePageMeta({
  path: '/custom-path'
})
</script>

URL Changes and Redirects

Changed a URL? Set up a 301 redirect. Google transfers ranking signals to the new URL.

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  routeRules: {
    '/old-blog-post': { redirect: '/blog/new-post' },
    '/old-category/**': { redirect: '/new-category/**' }
  }
})

Don't skip redirects. Broken links lose traffic and rankings.

What NOT to Do

❌ Don't stuff keywords in every URL segment ❌ Don't use uppercase letters (inconsistent, case-sensitive) ❌ Don't add dates unless content is time-sensitive (/2024/01/post) ❌ Don't expose internal IDs (/products/db-id-847392) ❌ Don't create parameter variations of the same page ❌ Don't change URLs without redirects

Related

• Sitemap Generation
• Canonical URLs
• Redirects and Status Codes