How to Remove Your Website’s Redirects and Get a Clean URL
Do you have a website with a small or medium business focus? If so, you’ve probably been asked this question a thousand times. Your customers can find your website address by googling your business name + website. If their browser’s URL bar shows something like “blah.com” when they’re on your site, they’ll assume that “blah” is your website’s address. For small businesses, finding a good domain name can be difficult. If you use GoDaddy to register your new domain, they may try to trick you into paying more for a premium plan. Don’t be fooled. There are better options. You can use Bluehost to register a new domain and achieve a clean URL.
Why Should You Re-Register Your Domain?
In the beginning, you’ll want to register your.com domain name. While you’re at it, why not register all the other extensions (like.net,.org, and.biz)? The more extensions you have, the more possibilities for growth. Keep in mind, however, that if you ever want to switch hosts, you’ll have to tell your customers to re-find your website.
How Do I Register a Domain With Bluehost?
One of the most popular and trusted companies when it comes to shared hosting is Bluehost. To register a domain with them, visit this link and click the register button. If you’re looking for a free domain with an excellent service, this is the option for you. When you get to the next screen, you’ll notice that they offer a free domain with a one-click install from WordPress.
Why should you choose WordPress for your website’s content management system (CMS)? It’s a very popular option among indie web developers and designers who prefer to work independently. If you’re looking to grow your traffic and have a larger audience, WordPress is a great choice. Not only does it offer a free domain, but you can also use their excellent CMS to build a professional-looking website with a minimal learning curve.
What Are the Benefits of a Clean URL?
A clean URL is easy to remember and doesn’t have any pesky redirects attached to it. When your customers type in your website’s URL, they’ll see a list of links for your website. If any of the links are broken or lead to a place that’s not even remotely related to what your customers are looking for, they’ll leave and find a different website.
On the other hand, a blocked or messy URL will make your customers hesitant to visit your site. A URL that’s blocked or messy often comes with several redirects and oftentimes a virus or malware.
How Do I Create a Clean URL?
To create a clean URL, you simply need to use the ‘additional features’ button on your WordPress dashboard. A few clicks and you’ll have a clean URL.
Why should you do this? It’s often times difficult to remember complex URL addresses. A clean URL will make it easier for customers to find your content. If you have a one-page website, you may not even need to worry about redirects as your customers will simply navigate your content at the address you provide.
What About Redirects?
On the subject of redirects, I would advise against them. In a nutshell, redirects are basically annoying. When a customer clicks a link on your site that takes them to someone else’s website, your server will recognize the request and, in most cases, will send the user to the site you’ve set up in advance. However, in some cases, users may click a link and get redirected to a malicious website where they’ll enter their personal details before being shown the error page.
That’s why I always recommend against using them. Instead, create a clean URL and stop worrying about redirects.
Will This Improve My Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Every website owner wants to perform well in search engine results. For most people, improving SEO is a difficult and tedious process. Using redirects makes this process a lot more complicated. In simple terms, SEO is the process of getting your website to show up at the top of a search engine result when a customer types in a keyword or phrase.
To get started with SEO, take a look at my recommended SEO tool, SEMrush. With this tool, you can literally perform searches across all the popular search engines (like Google, Bing, and Yandex) and track the success of your SEO efforts. Using redirects can actually hurt your SEO as Google sees the numerous redirects as ‘redirect chains’ and punishes websites that are overly manipulative with technical SEO.
If you decide to use redirects, make sure that the links are ‘nofollow’. This will instruct search engines like Google to ignore the links and not consider them in their calculations when determining your website’s SEO score.
How Do I Ensure My Site’s Performance On Different Devices?
Have you ever tried to watch a movie on your mobile phone and then tried to visit a site that wasn’t optimized for mobile phones? Chances are, the movie didn’t look the same as what you were used to, and the site performed poorly. If you’re passionate about film and have an extensive knowledge of movies, you might be able to tell the difference between a film formatted for digital devices and one formatted for TV screens. Even if you can’t tell the difference, your customers might not be able to either.
This is why it’s important to make sure that your site’s performance is good on all the different devices. Mobile phones are incredibly important now, but don’t forget about the desktop computer and the tablet as well.
Summary
In conclusion, having a clean URL is important. It makes a lot of sense to create a few redirects to promote your blog or vlog, but ultimately, you shouldn’t put yourself in that position. Instead of using redirects, create a clean URL and focus on growing your business.