Google: Don't Change Your URLs For SEO Purposes

Dec 30, 2013 - 8:10 am 14 by

Google Balls logoGoogle's John Mueller responded to a question in the Google Webmaster Help forums about changing a site's URL structure completely.

The site has tons and tons of dynamic URLs that look like this:

  • /search?manufacturer=fairline
  • ?keywords=Fairline+Targa+38
  • ?dealer=4589-adex-yachting

You get the idea. The site owner wants to change them to /boats-for-sale/fairline for example.

Now, for the most part, I am always wary about changing a URL that ranks already. John from Google said:

I'd recommend *not* changing them, if you'd just change them for SEO reasons.

But in this case, /search? might make sense, and I may argue with John. But I don't have the analytics or data to make a full decision on this, but typically /search URLs might signal the wrong message to Google. Even though Google wants you to feed them dynamic URLs as dynamic URLs and not as static URLs. But in this case, a search URL is something Google likely wouldn't want to index.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 14, 2025

Jul 14, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google June 2025 Core Update Volatility Remains Heated Through Weekend

Jul 14, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Updates Merchant Return Policies & Loyalty Programs

Jul 14, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Local Service Ads Reviews Now Managed By Business Profiles

Jul 14, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google

Google AI Mode With Link Cards Only - A Bug?

Jul 14, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Google AI Overviews Now With Many Videos

Jul 14, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google Engineers Take Offense To Dilbert On Arrogance