Google: URLs Provide Minimal Additional Signals For Search Engines

The topic of URLs for SEO and ranking is one that has been around since search engines first existed and 25+ years later, it is still a popular topic. Google has said time and time again that keywords in URLs don't offer a significant ranking boost for SEO and ranking purposes and Google said it again in 2025.

John Mueller of Google said on Bluesky, I also wouldn't expect that to change anything visibly. Taking a step back, the URL alone brings minimal additional "signal" for search engines."

John said what does matter, which is "the content + everything else bring a lot of strong signals," he wrote. "Even changing from ?id=12345 to /cheese wouldn't be a big/noticable thing on its own," he added.

Here is the full response:

I also wouldn't expect that to change anything visibly. Taking a step back, the URL alone brings minimal additional "signal" for search engines. The content + everything else bring a lot of strong signals. Even changing from ?id=12345 to /cheese wouldn't be a big/noticable thing on its own.

URL structure is fantastic for your own metrics & tracking, it makes things so much easier to group. It's also great if you want to separate something out from the rest of your site (eg ugc. yoursite. com). The user-facing part is also strong.

User-facing, they probably (how do phones show it nowadays?) mostly see the domain name + get a glimpse of the often-hilarious length when sharing URLs on social / chat. I doubt users would even consciously notice anything in the path, for example.

Now, this is far from the first time John has said this, here are some of our stories over the years (some go as far back as 2006):

• Keywords in File Names & URLs Do Help
• Google: Keywords In URLs A Very Small Ranking Factor
• Google: Keywords In URLs Have Minimal Impact Once Content Is Indexed
• Google: Words In A URL A Very Light Weight Factor But Less After Indexing
• Google Again: Do Not Worry About Words Or Keywords In URLs
• Google: Keywords In URLs Are An Overrated SEO Factor
• Google: Some SEOs Over Focus On URL Structure
• Google Really Wants You To Avoid Changing URLs Just For SEO Reasons
• Google: Avoid Change URLs Unless You Really Have To
• Google: Word Location In URLs Does Not Matter For SEO
• Google: Don't Change URLs When Replacing Old Content With New Content
• Google: Don't Change Your URLs For SEO Purposes

Forum discussion at Bluesky.