Can you have underscores in URLs?

Underscores can’t be used in domain names, as the underscore character isn’t permitted. Google’s web crawlers don’t like complex URLs that are filled with unnecessary characters. If you aren’t careful to encode special characters, the content management system that you’re using will encode your file names for you.

What are dashes underscores?

Why: As explained by Matt Cutts in the Google Webmaster Help YouTube video, dashes in the URLs are used to separate two words whereas underscores combine both words into one. In SEO terms this means that when using a dash to separate words in your URL, Google will index all of these terms individually.

Is underscore a valid URL character?

Underscores are permissible in URLS.

Is the underscore in my Page recognized by Google?

Underscores in URLs aren’t recognized by Google, a URL containing “my_page” will look like “mypage”. A URL containing “my-page” will be interpreted as “my page”.

Do you use underscores or dashes for URLs?

Some older web hosting and DNS servers actually have problems parsing underscores for URLs, so that may play a part in conventions like these. Personally, I’d avoid using about-us or about_us, and just use about. I personally would avoid all dashes and underscores and opt for camelCase or PascalCase if its in code.

How to get Google to use hyphens instead of underscores?

The best thing you can do is verify that every URL is using hyphens and not underscores. Along with this, here are three additional tips: Use a robots.txt file to block Google from accessing any problematic URLs. Shorten URLs when possible by getting rid of excessive parameters. Check your site regularly for broken links.

Can you see the underscore on a hyperlink?

The other problem that seems to occur, more with the general public than programmers, is that when a hyperlink with underscores is underlined, you can’t see the underscore. Advanced users will work it out, but Joe Public probably won’t.