What are the best practices for URL structure in legal websites?
What are the Best Practices for URL Structure in Legal Websites?
In an increasingly competitive digital landscape, the structure of your law firm’s website URLs plays a significant role in both user experience and search engine optimisation (SEO). A clean, well-organised URL not only communicates relevance and trust to users but also ensures greater crawlability and indexing by search engines. Tailoring your URL structure according to legal industry standards acts as a foundation for your digital strategy, supporting both visibility and credibility.
Use Descriptive and Concise URLs
Each URL on your legal website should clearly describe the content of the page. This helps potential clients understand the purpose of the page before they click on the link. Avoid using long or vague URL strings that include unnecessary parameters or numbers. For instance, a URL such as /services/solicitors-family-law-divorce is much more effective than /page?id=432 or /article123.
Where possible, include keywords relevant to the legal service being offered. For example, if the page covers conveyancing services, make sure “conveyancing” appears in the URL. Keyword inclusion should be natural and not forced, supporting both SEO and user trust.
Maintain a Logical Hierarchy
Structure your URLs to reflect the logical layout of your website. This is particularly important for law firms that offer multiple services and practice areas. A legal website might follow a structure such as:
- /services/family-law/
- /services/criminal-defence/
- /services/employment-law/unfair-dismissal
This hierarchy allows search engines to understand the relationship between different pages while also helping users navigate your site more effectively. Avoid flattening your URL structure too much, as it may dilute topical authority signals.
Use Hyphens to Separate Words
Search engines interpret hyphens as word dividers, which improves the readability of URLs. Choose hyphens over underscores or no separators at all. For example, use /immigration-lawyer-london instead of /immigrationlawyer_london or /immigrationlawyerlondon. This minor technical detail can make a significant difference in how search engines interpret your URL and its relevance to a search query.
Avoid Stop Words and Unnecessary Fillers
Words such as “and”, “the”, “of”, and other common fillers do not add value to your URLs from an SEO perspective. Focus on including only the essential terms that highlight the content’s main topic. For instance, /commercial-property-leases is more effective than /the-best-commercial-property-leases.
Ensure URLs Are Lowercase
Using all lowercase letters in URLs avoids potential duplication issues and ensures consistency. Some web servers treat URLs with different cases as unique, which can lead to crawl errors or the same content being indexed more than once under different URLs. Standardise your practise by always using lowercase spelling in URLs.
Keep URLs Static
Static URLs—ones that do not change and do not contain session IDs or tracking tokens—are generally more SEO-friendly. They tend to attract more inbound links as they appear cleaner and are easier to share. Dynamic URLs, often containing symbols such as ?, =, or &, are harder for both users and search engines to interpret. If your website uses a content management system (CMS), make sure it generates clean URLs automatically or allows you to edit them manually.
Limit the Depth of URL Paths
While having a hierarchical structure is important, avoid overcomplicating your URL paths. Deep paths with too many subdirectories can hinder crawl efficiency and make URLs less accessible. Ideally, try to ensure important pages are no more than three levels deep. For example, /services/business-law/company-formation is preferable to /home/our-services/legal/business/company/startup/formation.
Implement Redirects When Necessary
If you update or change existing URLs, always implement appropriate 301 redirects from the old URL to the new one. This preserves any earned SEO value and ensures a seamless user experience. Failing to redirect old URLs can lead to broken links, lost traffic, and negatively impacted rankings.
Avoid Keyword Stuffing
It might be tempting to cram URLs with multiple legal terms to try and rank for all of them. However, this approach often results in URLs that appear spammy and deter users. Instead, focus on creating clear, natural-sounding URLs that include only the most relevant keyword for that individual page.
Use HTTPS
Security is paramount, particularly for legal businesses that handle sensitive client information. Make sure your website uses HTTPS and ensure that all URLs reflect this in the link structure. Google considers HTTPS a ranking signal, and users are more likely to trust and engage with secure websites.
Conclusion
A well-structured URL should be clear, concise, and relevant. For legal websites, where accuracy and professionalism are essential, your URL structure should reflect that same level of care. By adhering to these best practices, law firms can support stronger SEO performance, encourage user trust, and facilitate smoother navigation across their digital platforms. In doing so, your legal practice is better positioned to attract and retain clients in a competitive online environment.