URL structure and slugs
A clear URL structure shows users and search engines where a page sits and what it covers. Short, stable slugs ease maintenance and migrations.
Characteristics of good URLs
Short and readable, such as /en/services/seo/technical-seo
Lower case, words separated by hyphens
German umlauts transliterated, such as ä to ae and ß to ss
No filler words, dates or internal IDs
Consistently with or without a trailing slash
Structure and hierarchy
Directories mirror the site hierarchy. Deep nesting makes URLs long and breaks them with every restructure, so the structure stays flat. For shops, we decide deliberately whether product URLs include the category. Without it, the URL survives any re-sorting. Parameters serve filters and tracking, never standalone content.
Changing URLs safely
Every changed URL puts rankings and links at risk. URLs therefore change only for good reason, for example in a relaunch. Each old address then gets a 301 redirect without chains, and internal links are updated directly.
Approach
We review the existing URL structure for length, duplicates, parameters and chains. Slug rules sit in the CMS, so editors create clean URLs automatically. In Statamic, URLs follow the page structure, and your team manages redirects itself.