{"id":2045,"date":"2026-04-01T10:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/?p=2045"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:39:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T03:39:38","slug":"case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Study: Do Keywords in URLs Impact SEO &amp; Rankings?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One of the long-standing questions asked of <a href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/services-and-consultancy\/\">SEO Consultants<\/a> is whether keywords in URLs actually influence rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ll often hear that they\u2019re a minor factor at best. But in practice, you still see SERPs where keyword-led URLs appear to have an edge &#8211; particularly when they align closely with how users search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So rather than rely on theory, I tested it on my own site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/#The_Setup\" >The Setup<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/#What_Changed_and_What_Didnt\" >What Changed (and What Didn\u2019t)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/#The_Impact\" >The Impact<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/#Impression_Increases\" >Impression Increases<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/#Clicks_Increases\" >Clicks Increases<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/#What_This_Suggests\" >What This Suggests<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-do-keywords-in-urls-impact-seo-rankings\/#Final_Take\" >Final Take<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Setup\"><\/span>The Setup<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/why-ive-rebranded-as-dave-ashworth\/\">I rebranded and launched my new site<\/a>, the focus for the structure and content was on consultancy-led services and skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The original URL structure looked like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\/services\/<br>\/services\/website-migrations\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\/skills\/<br>\/skills\/google-tag-manager\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of November, I updated all service and skills URLs (27 pages in total) to include \u201cconsultant\u201d or \u201cconsultancy\u201d terms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\/services-and-consultancy\/<br>\/services-and-consultancy\/website-migrations-consultant\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\/skills\/google-tag-manager-consultant\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Changed_and_What_Didnt\"><\/span>What Changed (and What Didn\u2019t)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To keep this as clean as possible:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>All updated URLs were redirected using 301s<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Internal links were updated accordingly<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Titles, headings, content, and schema were left unchanged<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No additional optimisation work was carried out<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This was purely a URL structure update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Impact\"><\/span>The Impact<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Using Google Search Console, I compared 1st December \u2013 31st March against the same period previously, filtering for queries containing \u201cconsult\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"865\" height=\"418\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gsc_data.png\" alt=\"GSC data\" class=\"wp-image-2046\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gsc_data.png 865w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gsc_data-300x145.png 300w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gsc_data-150x72.png 150w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gsc_data-768x371.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 865px) 100vw, 865px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The result:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A modest increase in clicks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A significant increase in impressions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A clear improvement in average position<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The biggest gains were seen on consultancy-related queries, where the updated URLs more closely matched search intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Impression_Increases\"><\/span>Impression Increases<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most impacted keywords in terms of impressions are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"609\" height=\"693\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/impressions.png\" alt=\"Impressions\" class=\"wp-image-2048\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/impressions.png 609w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/impressions-264x300.png 264w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/impressions-132x150.png 132w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Clicks_Increases\"><\/span>Clicks Increases<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Most impacted keywords in terms of clicks are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"605\" height=\"691\" src=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/clicks-1.png\" alt=\"clicks\" class=\"wp-image-2049\" srcset=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/clicks-1.png 605w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/clicks-1-263x300.png 263w, https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/clicks-1-131x150.png 131w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 605px) 100vw, 605px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_This_Suggests\"><\/span>What This Suggests<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This isn\u2019t a controlled experiment, and rankings are never influenced by a single factor in isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, with no other changes made to these pages, the data strongly suggests that adding relevant keywords to URLs can help reinforce topical relevance &#8211; particularly when those terms reflect how users are searching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Take\"><\/span>Final Take<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>URLs are just one part of how your pages are understood &#8211; alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/seo-why-you-dont-need-to-include-brand-name-in-title-tags-anymore\/\">titles<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/how-to-stop-google-from-re-writing-your-meta-descriptions\/\">meta descriptions<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/case-study-the-importance-of-schema-mark-up\/\">structured data<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, do keywords in URLs impact rankings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Based on this test, they appear to play a supporting role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not something to over-optimise or keyword-stuff, but when used naturally and aligned with intent, they can contribute to improved visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short &#8211; keep URLs clean, descriptive, and relevant. &nbsp;And feel free to chuck in some keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I updated service and skill URLs across my site to include consultant-led terms &#8211; keeping everything else the same. This case study looks at the impact on rankings and visibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-keyword-research","category-on-page-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2079,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045\/revisions\/2079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daveashworth.co\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}