URL Structure Auditor
Paste one address per line. Each is checked for readability and duplicate risk, and the list as a whole is checked for mixed slash and www styles.
Worked examples
A messy address
https://example.co.uk/Blog/Our_Best_Shoes?id=7&ref=a&utm=b
Warning: capital letters. Warning: underscores. Warning: 3 parameters.
A tidy version would be https://example.co.uk/blog/best-shoes/.
About URL Structure Auditor
A good web address is short, readable and consistent. People trust links they can read, tidy addresses are easier to share and say aloud, and a clear structure helps search engines see how a site is organised. Messy addresses also create duplicates: the same page can exist under capitals and lower case, with and without a trailing slash, or with a long list of tracking parameters.
Paste your addresses, one per line, and each is checked for length, capital letters, underscores, spaces, double slashes, folder depth, file extensions, dates, filler words and repeated words. Query strings are flagged, and any that carry a session or token value are marked as a problem. Across the whole list the auditor also looks for a mix of trailing slashes and for both www and non-www versions. Each address gets a plain-language result.
How to use URL Structure Auditor
- Paste your page addresses, one per line. A site's sitemap is a good source.
- Look at the totals to see how many addresses have problems or warnings.
- Check the notes under Across the list for site-wide inconsistencies.
- Fix the worst addresses first, and add a redirect from any address you change.
Common uses
- Reviewing the address structure of a new site
- Spotting duplicates caused by capitals and slashes
- Cleaning up addresses full of tracking parameters
- Setting rules before a team starts publishing
Frequently asked questions
How long should a web address be?
As short as it can be while staying clear. The auditor warns when the path and query pass 75 characters and flags a problem past 115, because longer addresses are hard to read and often get cut off when shared.
Why avoid capital letters?
On many servers an address is case sensitive, so /Shoes and /shoes can be two different pages. Using lower case only avoids accidental duplicates.
Hyphens or underscores?
Hyphens. Search engines treat a hyphen as a space between words but may read an underscore as joining them, so red-shoes is clearer than red_shoes.
Should addresses end with a slash?
Either style works if you use it everywhere and redirect the other. The auditor warns when your list mixes the two.
Can I change existing addresses?
Only with care. Every changed address needs a permanent redirect from the old one, and your internal links should be updated. If a page is doing well, a small untidiness may not be worth the risk.