Facebook is coming out with a new feature that allows custom URLs for profiles, so that your profile URL, instead of something like http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=pp#/profile.php?id=89X3438, would be something like http://www.facebook.com/JoeInternet. This illustrates an important point about SEO,which is that shorter URLs, especially ones that don’t have a bunch of numbers or random words in the middle, are more clickable.
The Power of URLs
You may not be too concerned about your Facebook page, although if you have a business that relies on the Internet, you cannot ignore the power of social networks. Regardless, the rule about URLs translates to any web page you may have. People like what is familiar, and a URL that looks like what could be a real word, phrase or sentence is simply more inviting and pleasing to the human eye than one that is full of code or dates.
The URL and the Human Bias
It may seem silly, since all the user has to do is click the mouse on the URL whether that URL has eight characters or eighty, but the eye naturally gravitates towards what is familiar, and once someone becomes locked on something, it is much easier to get them to move towards that target than to get them to switch targets.
Cosmetic Surgery for Your Web Page
If you’re not getting the activity you want on your webpages, the problem just might be your URLs. Take some time and check it out. Are your URL’s fun, short and friendly or big, complex and scary? If it’s the latter, consider some cosmetic surgery on those unwieldy URLs. You just might find that your webpages start getting a lot more attention than they used to.
