URLs

Definition

Uniform resource locators (URLs) specify the location of a resource on the internet, such as a web page.

All European Commission websites must be hosted on the europa.eu domain, as per the rules for the Europa domain and subdomains, and use the following URL structure: (entity).europa.eu; for example, op.europa.eu in the case of the Publications Office.

Basic rules

• URLs should be in English, even when content on the page is in a different language.
• Multiple words in a URL must be separated by a hyphen (-), though an underscore (_) is also valid.
• Multiple words without a hyphen separating them are not allowed (e.g. publicationsoffice X is incorrect; publications-office ✓ is correct).
• Acronyms must not be used, except for pre-approved exceptions.
• Avoid using stopwords (e. g. ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’, etc.).

Refer to RFC 1738 specifications for details.

Indicating content language

For the Publications Office, translated pages must have almost the exact same URL as the original, changing only the language code after the domain.

Example:

URL of original page in English:
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/about-us/who-we-are

URL of same page in French:
https://op.europa.eu/fr/web/about-us/who-we-are

See complete language table for details.

Examples of language codes:

Bulgarian: bg
Spanish: es
Czech: cs
Danish: da

Implications for HTML publications

Each URL must be used to reference only one publication. URLs should not be repurposed, even for different editions of the same publication. Even if you do not need to reference the old content, re-using a URL could still have a negative impact on search results for the publication.

Implications for search engine optimisation

• Better user experience
  A well-structured URL provides search engines and users with a clear indication of the content of a page prior to the user clicking on the link.
• Rankings
  While including keywords in the URL can improve search visibility, URLs alone do not have a major impact on ranking. They are but one piece of a site’s search engine optimisation strategy.
• Link sharing
  Optimised (human-readable) URLs posted on social media are more likely to receive clicks because users can easily see what the content is about.
  Example:
  Optimised URL:
  example.europa.eu/en/about-us
  
  Unoptimised URL:
  example.europa.eu/en/?:573478904834808097946

Refer to RFC 1738 specifications for details.