SEO-Friendly URL Structure: Turkish Characters, Hierarchy and Parameters

URL structure is one of the hardest decisions to change on a site. After launch, every change means redirects, internal link updates and a period of fluctuation. Getting it right the first time is far cheaper than fixing it later.

This article covers the Turkish character and transliteration decision, principles for short and readable URLs, folder hierarchy, parameter management and the 301 plan for when URLs change, in light of Google's URL structure documentation.

Short answer: an SEO-friendly URL is short, readable, lowercase and separates words with hyphens. Turkish characters can technically be used, but for consistency and easy sharing, transliteration (ş→s, ğ→g, ı→i) is more practical on most sites. If URLs must change, every old address should 301-redirect to its new equivalent in a single hop.

Should URLs use Turkish characters?

Google's documentation recommends percent-encoding characters outside the ASCII range, so "ayakkabı" (shoe) becomes "ayakkab%C4%B1" in the address. The same documentation also recommends using your audience's language, with transliteration where applicable. In short, both approaches work for Google.

In practice I recommend transliteration for most Turkish sites. Encoded addresses look long and unreadable in messaging apps, email and some analytics tools, and CMSs and plugins handling characters differently can spread one page across two addresses.

Whichever route you choose, stick to one rule. If /kislik-bot and /kışlık-bot coexist on the same site, the problem is not the characters but the inconsistency. Review transliterated words once before launch for changed meanings or unwanted associations.

What should a short, readable URL look like?

Google recommends using readable words rather than long ID numbers where possible, and separating words with hyphens rather than underscores. URLs are also case-sensitive; /Product and /product are two separate addresses for Google.

Words in the URL tell users, and anyone who sees a shared link, what the page is about. But there is no need to copy the title verbatim or repeat the keyword. Keeping time-bound details such as year, season or campaign name out of permanent pages also reduces the need for redirects later.

How to build URL hierarchy and folder structure

Folder structure should mirror the site's information architecture. A good hierarchy shows users where they are and makes reporting easier: in Search Console you can track every page starting with /blog/ or /women/ with a single filter.

In this example, products sit under /product/, independent of the category path. If a product appears in several categories, this prevents the same product multiplying across paths, while breadcrumbs show the category hierarchy. Avoid deep folders: beyond four or five levels the address gets long and fragile. For category and product structure on stores, see the ecommerce SEO guide. How to set up a language folder such as /en/ on a multilingual site is covered in hreflang and international SEO.

How do URL parameters affect SEO?

Using parameters for filters, sorting, pagination and campaign tracking is normal. The problem is countless parameter combinations with the same content becoming crawlable. Google recommends trimming parameters that do not change the content and keeping session IDs in cookies rather than URLs.

• Campaign parameters (utm_): never use them in internal links; the canonical should always point to the clean address.
• Sort and view: if content stays the same, point the canonical to the clean version and limit crawling with robots.txt if needed.
• Filters: create permanent, readable URLs for combinations with search demand and keep the rest out of crawling.
• Pagination: each page should have its own URL and a self-referencing canonical.
• Fragments (#): do not use them to change content; Google generally does not support them, so prefer the History API.

I cover the crawling cost of parameter sprawl in the crawl budget article. For multiple parameters Google recommends = and &, and a comma for several values of one key.

How to plan 301 redirects when URLs change

Sometimes a change is genuinely necessary: a platform switch, a category reorganisation, or a poor structure that has been in place for years. In that case, the goal is to move old addresses to new ones without losing the signals they earned.

If you need hundreds of rules, the redirect generator drafts them for Apache and Nginx. The difference between 301 and 302 is covered in 301 vs 302 redirects, and full domain or platform changes in the site migration SEO guide.

Checklist for auditing URL structure

• Are all URLs lowercase, with uppercase variants redirecting to one address?
• Are words separated with hyphens; are there underscores or spaces (%20)?
• Is the Turkish character decision consistent across the site?
• Is trailing slash use uniform, with the other variant redirecting?
• Do http, https, www and non-www versions consolidate into one address?
• Do permanent pages carry a year, campaign or stock code in the address?

The technical SEO guide is a good starting point for a broader audit. If you are rebuilding URL structure on a large store, we can run it together from mapping table to monitoring within ecommerce SEO consulting; see how I work on the SEO consulting page or book a call.

8+ years of hands-on SEO and GEO experience across 150+ projects in e-commerce, SaaS, healthcare and local business sectors. Writes based on real client data, not theory.