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.

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Last update: February 10, 2023
Created: February 10, 2023