An SEO URL checker for clean, consistent addresses
This SEO URL checker scores web addresses for the things that make a URL easy to read, share and crawl: length and folder depth, lower case, hyphens rather than underscores or spaces, query parameters, session IDs and tracking tags, file extensions, dates, ID numbers, non-ASCII characters and broken percent-encoding. Add a target keyword to see whether the slug mentions it.
Paste one URL or a few hundred — a sitemap extract, a crawl export or a list of planned pages. Each gets a score, its main issues and a suggested clean URL, and the whole list is checked for duplicates that differ only by case, a slash, www or a parameter. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to check the live status of up to 20 URLs.
How to check URLs for SEO
- Paste the addresses into URLs to check, one per line (full URLs, or paths such as
/blog/post/). - Optionally type a Target keyword and choose the Trailing slash style for suggestions.
- Read Across the list for duplicates and mixed styles, then the table: score, main issues and the suggested clean URL for each line.
- Press Details on a row to see every check for that URL, and copy its clean version.
- Optionally press Check status to fetch the status code and redirects of up to 20 URLs; then Download CSV or Copy suggestions.
SEO URL Checker features
Checks from Google’s guidance
Hyphens over underscores, lower case, readable words instead of IDs, UTF-8 percent-encoding, no session IDs, no fragment-driven content.
Clean URL suggestions
Accents folded (café → cafe), separators turned into hyphens, repeated words and date folders removed, session and tracking parameters dropped, index files and server extensions trimmed.
Duplicate detection
Groups lines that normalise to the same page: www or not, http or https, case, trailing slash, index.html, tracking or session parameters.
Scores you can explain
Problems count fully and warnings half; notes such as a date in the URL are shown but not scored.
Optional live status
Up to 20 URLs checked four at a time through this site’s server, with redirect chains.
Worked example
With the target keyword “bake bread” and trailing slashes on, the checker reports:
| URL | Main findings | Suggested |
|---|---|---|
| https://www.example.com/Blog/How_To_Bake%20Bread.php?PHPSESSID=abc123&utm_source=mail | Session ID (problem), capital letters, underscores, a space, tracking parameter; score 57 | https://www.example.com/blog/how-to-bake-bread/ |
| http://example.com/2019/03/12/best-running-shoes-shoes-shoes | http, date in the URL, “shoes” repeated, keyword missing | https://example.com/best-running-shoes/ |
| https://www.example.com/café/crème-brûlée/ | Non-ASCII characters — fine, but encode them in links | https://www.example.com/cafe/creme-brulee/ |
| https://www.example.com/blog/how-to-bake-bread | Clean; score 100 — but a duplicate of …/how-to-bake-bread/ and …/index.html | https://www.example.com/blog/how-to-bake-bread/ |
What Google says about URL structure
Google’s URL structure guidelines (last updated 10 December 2025) recommend readable words rather than long ID numbers, hyphens rather than underscores to separate words, and percent-encoding for non-ASCII characters — its own example writes gemüse as gem%C3%BCse. They note that Google treats /APPLE and /apple as distinct URLs, that fragments generally aren’t supported for changing content, and that session IDs, sorting parameters and endless filter combinations create needless crawl work: use cookies instead of session IDs.
Google publishes no URL length limit and doesn’t ask for a keyword in the address. The length warning here (over 115 characters) is about readability, and the hard limit of 2,048 characters comes from the sitemap protocol. A keyword in the slug is shown as a helpful signal for people, not a ranking requirement.
Before you change a live URL
- Changing an address loses the old one’s links unless you 301-redirect it; the .htaccess Redirect Generator writes the rules.
- Update internal links, the canonical tag and the sitemap to the new form, so nothing points through the redirect.
- Turn a page title into a slug with the Slug Generator; split an address into its parts with the URL Parser.
- “Check status” uses this site’s server, which allows each visitor 120 status checks per 10 minutes; if that runs out, finished results stay and the message says when to try again.
SEO URL Checker FAQ
What makes a URL SEO-friendly?
Short, readable words in lower case, separated by hyphens; https; no session IDs or unnecessary parameters; and one consistent form, so the same page isn’t reachable at several addresses. This SEO URL checker tests each of these.
Should I use hyphens or underscores in URLs?
Hyphens. Google recommends them because they help people and search engines see where words begin and end.
Does URL length affect rankings?
Google publishes no limit. Shorter URLs are easier to read, copy and share, so the checker warns above 115 characters and fails above 2,048, the sitemap limit.
Should my keyword be in the URL?
It helps people understand the link and does no harm when natural, but a descriptive slug matters more than an exact keyword match. Never repeat it.
Are trailing slashes bad for SEO?
Neither form is better, but /page and /page/ are different URLs. Pick one, link to it everywhere, and redirect the other.
Is my list of URLs uploaded?
No. The analysis runs in your browser. Only Check status sends those addresses (up to 20) to this site’s server to read their status codes.