URL Structure of Book Blog || Best Practices for More Visitors

If I tell you your book blog post name, would you be able to tell me the URL from your memory?

If yes, then great. If not, maybe because you are not following the URL structure. In this article, I will tell you the basics of URL structure and best practices. For book bloggers just starting., please read this thoroughly, as it will help you to create the correct URL structure for book blogs.

Understanding the URL

The URL or Uniform Resource Locator is the address of the data on your website. It marks the location of the resource in the database.

Your book blog is made up of text, images, and code. All of them made up a page or blog post. The database is located on a drive (similar to a pen drive but bigger) at some locations (managed by your hosting company). When you enter the domain name into the browser, it sends the request to the server. The server returns the files found at the location (the domain name or URL)

All the files on your book blog have an address we know by the URL. If you like to see it, you can view the page source (by left-clicking on the mouse).

We do not need all the URLs. Only the one we need, we put on the display. All others stay hidden So the URLs we display must be cleaner and more readable.

Here is a sample of one URL from my blog.

HTTPS:// – It’s the protocol to establish communication over the computer network. Browsers use this to send requests and receive data from the servers. HTTP means the connection is not secure, and HTTPS means the connection is secure.

WWW – It is the subdomain. You can make more subdomains like store.bookaapi.com or books.bookaapi.com. But the www subdomain is universal.

Com – It is the Top Level Domain. There are many TLDs – .in, .org,. Co, .edu. .com is the standard.

Category: After the TLD, you have the permalink to the page and posts.

I use categories in my URLs, so you can see the /quotes/ in the quotes category posts. But many people do not use categories in URLs. So they directly post permalink after the TLD.

Check this quick video for visual representation.

URL Structure Best Practice for Book Blogging

Good URL structure means Google and other search engines and users can understand the page by looking at it.

For example:

URL 1: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/21560670

URL 2: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/185415-polls-for-our-souls

Try to find what these pages are about without opening them. You will find the second one is easy to guess.

The number of URLs is high on large websites. So they have to use numbers, characters, and dynamic selectors. But for our book blog, small and clean URLs would be great.

So follow the URL structure best practice to make everyone’s life easier.

#1 Organized Structure

An organized URL structure means that all the URLs should follow a theme. If there are two book reviews, they should follow the same URL guide.

URL 1: https://www.bookaapi.com/book-review/behind-closed-doors-review-b-a-paris/

URL 2: https://www.bookaapi.com/book-review/anatomy-of-a-scandal-by-sarah-vaughan-book-review/

URL 3: https://www.bookaapi.com/book-review/the-mistletoe-bride-by-kate-mosse-book-review/

URL 2 and URL 3 follow one template, while URL 1 is differently structured. It would be better if I followed my advice, but sometimes you are tired and overlook these things. But it has become an example now.

If you keep the URL structure consistent, you can use the template to find any URL on your blog without opening the blog to copy the URL.

#2 Short URL is Better

Shorter URLs are better than long strings of text.

URL 1: https://www.bookaapi.com/quotes/best-reminders-of-him-quotes-by-colleen-hoover-images-from-the-books/

URL 2: https://www.bookaapi.com/quotes/best-reminders-of-him-quotes-by-colleen-hoover/

As you can see, both the URLs clearly tell what the page is about. But the first URL is unnecessarily long.

There are no drawbacks to having a long URL. But a short URL is easy to remember and type if you need to share it with someone. And when your URLs are structured and consistent, you can map out the URL just by knowing the title.

#3 Add keywords in the URL

Adding keywords to the URLs makes them search-engine friendly. This is a small signal, but it tells what the page is about. And it is one of the first things the search engine crawls.

Keywords: Keywords are the words around which your blog post revolves.

URL 1: Book Review SEO: https://www.bookaapi.com/book-blogging/book-review-seo-for-book-blogging/

URL 2: Best Fariha Naqvi Poetry: https://www.bookaapi.com/poetry/best-fariha-naqvi-poetry/

URL 3: Nasir Kazmi Poetry: https://www.bookaapi.com/poetry/nasir-kazmi-poetry/

In URL 1, I have done keyword stuffing. It means unnecessarily adding keywords to the URL and pages. Avoid it.

#4 TLDs matters

Always try to have .com TLD. It is the most common and reputable TLD. Planning the book blog name is necessary because sometimes the .com TLDs are unavailable. In that case, you can take .io, .ai, and other expensive TLDs.

For an affordable option, go with country-level TLD. They are specific to the country. Like .in for India, and .uk for UK, and .us for US. Do not buy .xyz and other low-level TLDs. They are not useful.

#5 Avoid useless words & characters

• Avoid using ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’, ‘of’, ‘for’ and similar words in the URL. But sometimes the book title has them, so you can use them. But for general topics, try to avoid them.
• Avoid character at all costs. ?,[,+,} – all these characters make the URL chaotic and mess up the web crawling.
• Do not use numbers in URLs. Because you might update the number in the post, but the URL will keep showing the same number. 7 best books could become 9 best books, but changing the URL would mean abandoning the old URL, which is shared at many places.
• Using date in the URL is also not recommended. Because the URL will always show the actual date of publishing, even if you update the article daily.

Should I change my URL structure?

If you are not following the best practice and wondering whether you should change the URL now. Make it more systematic, easy to read, and keyword friendly. But don’t do it.

Changing the URL needs planning. You have to redirect each URL. The easy way is to let them be and follow the best practice moving forward.

Or leave your specific situation in detail in the comment, so I can offer provide advice.

Footnote

URL structure is important for book blogging if you plan to take it to the next level. Though the URL is not like writing a Game of Thrones book sequel.

Several best practice you have to follow only. Let me know if you encounter any problems with it.