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How to Fix Page URLs That Are Too Long

If you’ve received a warning in SureRank saying:  “Page URL is longer than 90 characters and may affect SEO and readability.”


This guide will help you understand why it matters and how to fix it, even if you’re not a technical person.

What’s the problem

Long URLs can negatively impact both user experience and search engine optimization. URLs that exceed 90 characters may:

  • It’s hard for users to read or remember
  • Appear truncated in search results, reducing click-through rates
  • Include unnecessary words or parameters that don’t improve SEO
  • Make sharing links more cumbersome (e.g., in emails or social media)

Example of a long URL: https://example.com/blog/optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-higher-google-rankings-and-better

Why this matters

Shorter, descriptive URLs are easier for both users and search engines to understand. Benefits include:

  • Improved readability: Users can quickly understand the page content from the URL
  • Better SEO: Search engines may give preference to clean, concise URLs
  • Higher click-through rates: Short, clear URLs look more trustworthy in search results
  • Simpler link sharing: Easier to copy, paste, and distribute across platforms

What to do

Step 1 – Review the page URL

  • In WordPress, go to the page or post editor.
  • Look for the Permalink or URL slug section.

Step 2 – Shorten the URL

  • Remove unnecessary words, stop words (like “the,” “and,” “of”), or redundant phrases.
  • Keep the URL descriptive but concise. Ideally, under 90 characters.
  • Use hyphens (-) to separate words for readability.

Example:
Before:
https://example.com/blog/optimize-your-wordpress-site-for-higher-google-rankings-and-better

After:https://example.com/blog/boost-your-wordpress-seo-and-google-rankings

Step 3 – Update internal links

  • If other pages link to this URL, update those links to prevent broken links.
  • SureRank will detect broken links if any remain and guide you to fix them.

Step 4 – Set up a redirect (if needed)

  • If the page was already published and indexed by search engines, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.
  • This ensures users and search engines reach the correct page and preserves SEO value.

Step 5 – Verify with SureRank

  • Edit the page in WordPress.
  • Click the SureRank icon in the top-right corner of the editor/Page Builder.
  • Select Analyze – this will open the Analyze tab, showing a list of Page Checks.
  • Once the changes are made, the SureRank page-level check will automatically run and update the status.
  • If editing the page using a Page Builder, please save your changes in the editor before refreshing the checks.

How to test after changes

  • Visit the new URL to confirm it works correctly
  • Check internal links pointing to this page

Tips & Best Practices

  • Keep URLs short, descriptive, and readable
  • Avoid using dates or session IDs in URLs
  • Use lowercase letters only to prevent duplicate content issues
  • Limit the use of special characters; hyphens are preferred.
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