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evans49950383
evans49950383
Participant
March 24, 2017
Question

Google SEO File Naming… Which is better NewYorkCity , New-York-City, New_York_City

  • March 24, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 894 views

After 10 years of doing it wrong, I thought I would try to get a correct answer before I go back and redo 1k+ file names.

Previously a typical file Name would be:

0583_Evan_Sante-AppleiPhone_iPhotography_Balu_ArtDeco_Graffiti_Female_Portrait_YellowHair_Bowler_Hat_Bolo_Tie_Attitude_190Bowery_EastVillage_NYC_NewYork

I would use underscores to separate keywords and CamelCase to separate multiple word concepts.

As I just found out dashes are preferred over underscore but which is better regarding concepts:

New_York_City or NewYorkCity? After a few days of research, It seems like Google treats them the same but I can’t find anything definitive?

Also how does Google treat Hashtags in file Names? If anyone knows a good resource forum for these types of questions, Does Google have such a thing or definitively knows the answer I would be grateful. - CES

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Rob Hecker2
Rob Hecker2
Legend
March 24, 2017

GOOGLE hates underscores and will lower your mobile compatibility ranking if urls include them.

If the file is an image, an include, javascript, css, etc., then GOOGLE has no reason to care.

O
osgood_
Legend
March 24, 2017

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Rob+Hecker2  wrote

GOOGLE hates underscores and will lower your mobile compatibility ranking if urls include them.

First time I've heard of that. I use underscores in file names regularly. Doesn't seem to have done any damage to Google rankings at all. A lot of what is to do with Google is all hearsay in my opinion.

They can't even get their own sites right so why should anyone take what they inform very seriously. Im not sure they even believe the dross they spin out at times as they dont seem to follow their own preachings

Rob Hecker2
Rob Hecker2
Legend
March 24, 2017

It used to be all speculation regarding what GOOGLE cared about, but these days GOOGLE provides a lot of information and advice. I believe it was the state-wide mobile usability report that docked me for having underscores.

See the second paragraph on this page:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/76329?hl=en

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