Naming files for SEO¶
The following guidelines for naming a file for optimal SEO:
- Use a dash
- Be short but descriptive
Dash or underscore¶
Google’s algorithm is a secret. Matt Cutts, who worked at Google, advocates using a dash. For more information, see the YouTube video - Underscores vs. dashes in URLs.
Examples of dash and underscore¶
Using underscore: jobs_dashboard_AmazonEC2.md
The underscore is not recognized as a word separator. The search engine sees “jobsdashboardAmazonEC2.md”.
Better using a dash as a separator: jobs-dashboard-AmazonEC2.md
Short but descriptive¶
The filename should be short, maybe four words in length, but also should describe the document.
Examples of short file names¶
Incorrect: jobs.md
This filename doesn’t tell Google or anyone about the file.
Incorrect: jobs-dashboard.md
Yes, this name does describe the file, but how does this name stand out with the multitude of other files named jobs-dashboard
on the Internet.
Incorrect: a-jobs-dashboard-for-an-AmazonEC2-instance.md
No reason to include words such as “for”,”the”,”a”,”it”,”to”, and so on, in the name.
Correct: jobs-dashboard-AmazonEC2.md
Descriptive and uses the dash separator.
Created: June 26, 2023