---
title: "How are the words in a URL separated ?"  
description: "How are the words in a URL separated ?"  
author: "Shrikant Mishra"  
published: 2020-12-07  
updated: 2025-02-04  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/156262/how-are-the-words-in-a-url-separated  
category: "search engine optimization"  
tags: ["on page optimization", "seo", "url redirection", "google index tool", "search engine optimization"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# How are the words in a URL separated ?

How are the words in a [URL](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/436/url-redirection) separated ?

## Replies

### Reply by Khushi Singh

The standard practice of word separation in URL structures involves hyphens ("-") or underscores ("_") yet the use of hyphens remains optimal for readability together with search engine optimization (SEO). Humans and search engines depend on the proper URL structure to deliver a quality user experience and achieve good search engine rankings.

**Hyphens (-)** prove to be the most accepted and ordinary method of dividing words within URL addresses. The URL structure normally appears as shown here: `www.example.com/this-is-a-url.`

**Hyphens** enhance both user understandability of addresses and their compatibility with search engine algorithms. Google interprets hyphens exactly like spaces thus separating the words individually. REST API makes URLs easier to index for search engines since each distinct keyword becomes identifiable through the URL separation mechanism for enhancing search ranking performance.

The use of **underscores** for URLs which were previously popular for such cases has proven less beneficial to SEO than hyphens. In URLs like:\
`www.example.com/this_is_a_url,`\
The search engine platform Google interprets underscores in URLs to function as word connection units instead of word breaking separators. Located within a website's URL string "this_is_a_url" Google treats the entire sequence as a single word rather than broken word elements. Uniform Resource Locators with underscores become difficult for search engines to analyze keywords which may cause negative effects on search engine positions.

The URL structure may utilize **periods** or **slashes** apart from hyphens to divide different URL elements yet those separators do not function as individual word dividers. URL structure depends on these separators although their function differs from the role played by hyphens or underscores.

Hyphens represent the recommended method for word separation in URLs since they provide optimized readability and Search Engine Optimization results. When possible it is recommended to refrain from using underscores since they affect SEO performance.


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Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/156262/how-are-the-words-in-a-url-separated

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