Why Is This Question Back?
On October 14, 2026 Search Engine Roundtable reported on the first episode of a new Google Search Central video series in which Google's Cherry Prommawin and Gary Illyes discussed URLs. According to that report, Illyes said keywords in a URL or domain are an "incredibly small signal" for ranking, recommended hyphens over underscores to separate words, and said Google can detect spam signals in URLs; the pair also discussed emoji and percent-encoding in URL paths (Search Engine Roundtable). We did not watch the video, so those points are attributed to the trade report.
None of it is a change of policy. It restates what Google's own documentation already says, and the documentation is the better source for a communications team deciding how its newsroom, press release and bio URLs should look.
Does a Keyword in the URL Help a Page Rank?
Very little, on Google's own account. Its SEO Starter Guide says "the keywords in the name of the domain (or URL path) alone have hardly any effect beyond appearing in breadcrumbs" (Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide). That sentence is the operative one. A press release at /news/acme-raises-series-b does not outrank one at /news/2026-10-15-release because of the words in its path; ranking depends on the page and the many other signals Google uses.
The same guide gives a reason to use words anyway. "Parts of the URL can be displayed in search results as breadcrumbs," it says, and "Google learns breadcrumbs automatically based on the words in the URL." It asks site owners to "include words in the URL that may be useful for users" and warns that "A URL that only contains random identifiers is less helpful for users" (Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide). A readable URL helps a journalist who sees it in a result, an email or a pitch decide what it is before clicking. For breadcrumb markup, see how to add breadcrumb structured data.
What Does Google Actually Ask For in a URL?
Google's URL structure page sets out a short list. It asks sites to "use readable words rather than long ID numbers in your URLs" and to "Use words in your audience's language in the URL (and, if applicable, transliterated words)." On separators it is direct: "we recommend using hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) to separate words in your URLs," adding, "For historical reasons, we don't recommend using underscores." It lists https://example.com/greendress, with words run together, as not recommended as well (Google Search Central, URL structure).
Two more rules are easy to break on a newsroom. Google says it "treats both /APPLE and /apple as distinct URLs with their own content," and suggests you "convert all text to the same case." And it says "characters in the non-ASCII range should be percent encoded" in links, so a path containing an accented company or product name should be linked in its encoded form. The page also asks sites to "shorten URLs by trimming unnecessary parameters" and to avoid session IDs in URLs (Google Search Central, URL structure).
characters, counted from the URLs as printed on Google's page
Character counts are ours, taken from the full example URLs on Google's page. Google sets no URL length rule on that page; the chart shows that its recommended and not-recommended examples are not separated by length.
The chart shows that Google's recommended and not-recommended example URLs are not sorted by length: the hyphen and underscore versions are both 66 characters, and the recommended percent-encoded form is longer than the unencoded one.
What Do the Rules Mean for a Newsroom Page?
Our recommendation, not a Google rule, for a press release or newsroom URL is a lowercase path of a few plain words separated by hyphens, under a stable directory such as /news/ or /press/. Google's Starter Guide notes that "using directories (or folders) to group similar topics can help Google learn how often the URLs" in each directory change (Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide). A dedicated newsroom directory does that; see how to create an online newsroom.
| Choice | What Google's pages say | Our suggestion for a newsroom |
|---|---|---|
| Words or IDs | "use readable words rather than long ID numbers" | A few words naming the announcement |
| Separator | Hyphens recommended; underscores not recommended | Hyphens only |
| Case | /APPLE and /apple are distinct URLs | All lowercase |
| Accented names | Non-ASCII characters "should be percent encoded" | Transliterate, or link the encoded form |
| Parameters | Trim unnecessary parameters; avoid session IDs | No tracking parameters in the canonical URL |
| Keywords | "hardly any effect beyond appearing in breadcrumbs" | Use words for readers, not for ranking |
Tracking parameters deserve a note. UTM tags on links you send to journalists are fine, but they should not become the address the page is known by; that is what the canonical URL is for (see what is a canonical URL and how to track press and podcast links with UTM).
Should You Change Old URLs to Add Keywords?
Usually not. Given Google's statement that URL keywords have hardly any effect, a rename for keywords gains little, and it creates work: every old address needs a permanent redirect so links from past coverage still resolve. Google's Starter Guide says that where the same content is reachable at different URLs, site owners should "try setting up a redirect from non-preferred URLs to a URL that best represents that information" (Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide). For the mechanics, see 301 vs 302 redirects.
The cases where a change can be worth it are practical rather than ranking-driven, in our view: a URL that exposes a session ID, mixes case inconsistently, uses underscores across a site you are already migrating, or carries a product name the company no longer uses. Even then, a redirect from the old address is the condition of doing it.
Can a URL Hurt a Page?
Search Engine Roundtable's report says Illyes noted that Google can detect spam signals in URLs; it gives no detail of what those signals are, and the Google pages we read do not list them. What Google's documentation does describe is crawling trouble: "Overly complex URLs, especially those containing multiple parameters, can cause problems for crawlers," and patterns such as infinite calendars and broken relative links can create very large numbers of URLs (Google Search Central, URL structure). Those are more likely to affect a large newsroom archive than any choice of words.
What This Means for Anyone Buying a Placement
Treat URL keyword work as housekeeping, not as a lever. If a vendor proposes to rewrite your newsroom URLs, or the URL of a placed article, "for SEO," ask what the change is expected to do given Google's own statement that URL keywords have hardly any effect beyond breadcrumbs. The URL of a placement on a publisher's site is the publisher's choice, and a paid article is advertising, labeled as sponsored and typically carrying nofollow or sponsored links, whatever its address says. No URL structure guarantees a ranking or an AI citation.
What a buyer can reasonably ask for is that pages it controls are readable, consistent and stable: lowercase hyphenated words, one URL per page, and permanent redirects whenever an address changes, so that earned coverage linking to the old address keeps working.
Methodology and Limitations
Four limits apply. First, the news hook is Search Engine Roundtable's report of a Google video; we did not watch the video and attribute its points to the trade report. Second, the rules quoted come from two Google Search Central pages, both last updated December 10, 2025, and read on October 15, 2026; Google can change them. Third, the chart counts characters in Google's own example URLs; the counts are ours and Google sets no length rule on that page. Fourth, the newsroom suggestions are our recommendations, not Google rules, and we tested no rankings.
Conclusion
Google has said for years, and its documentation says now, that keywords in a URL do almost nothing for ranking. The useful work is duller: readable words, hyphens, one case, encoded characters and redirects that keep old links alive. A newsroom that gets those right has done what Google asks, and anyone selling more than that from a URL rewrite is selling something Google says does not exist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do keywords in a URL help SEO?
Very little. Google's SEO Starter Guide says keywords in a domain name or URL path "have hardly any effect beyond appearing in breadcrumbs." Words in the URL still help people understand the link.
Should I use hyphens or underscores in URLs?
Hyphens. Google's URL structure documentation says "we recommend using hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_) to separate words in your URLs" and does not recommend underscores.
Are URLs case-sensitive in Google Search?
Yes. Google says it treats "/APPLE and /apple as distinct URLs with their own content" and suggests using one case so it can tell when URLs point to the same page.
Should I change old press release URLs to add keywords?
Usually not. Google says URL keywords have hardly any effect, and any change needs a permanent redirect from the old address so links from past coverage keep working.
Can I use accented characters or emoji in a URL?
Google says non-ASCII characters should be percent encoded in links. Search Engine Roundtable reports that Google's October 2026 video discussed emoji and percent-encoding in URL paths, but it reported no recommendation on emoji.
Does a shorter URL rank better?
The Google pages we read set no length rule. They ask for readable words, fewer unnecessary parameters and no session IDs, which tends to keep URLs short.
Sources
This guide is built from two Google Search Central documentation pages and one trade report of a Google video, all read on October 15, 2026. The newsroom table's right-hand column, the advice on when to change URLs and the buyer questions are our recommendations, not Google rules. We did not watch the Google video and did not test rankings.
- platform documentation Google Search Central, URL Structure Best Practices for Google Search. Supports readable words, hyphens, case, percent-encoding, parameters, crawling problems and the example URLs charted. Read October 15, 2026.
- platform documentation Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide. Supports the keywords-in-URL statement, breadcrumbs, directories and redirects. Read October 15, 2026.
- trade press Search Engine Roundtable, Google Search On URLs: Ranking Factor, Hyphens vs Underscores & Emojis. Supports the October 14, 2026 report of the Google video and Illyes's points as reported. Read October 15, 2026.