What is a URL?

The parts of a URL

Take https://shop.yourbusiness.co.ke/products/shoes/?colour=black#reviews:

Part	Example	What it does
Protocol	https://	How the browser connects; https means encrypted
Subdomain	shop.	Optional prefix, see subdomains
Domain	yourbusiness.co.ke	Your domain name
Path	/products/shoes/	The page on the site
Query	?colour=black	Extra options, such as filters or tracking
Fragment	#reviews	A section within the page

URL vs domain name

The domain is one part of a URL. yourbusiness.co.ke is a domain; https://yourbusiness.co.ke/contact/ is the URL of your contact page.

Why https matters

The s means the connection is encrypted with an SSL certificate. Browsers mark http sites as “Not secure”, and Google prefers https. Every Hostnali hosting plan includes free SSL that installs and renews itself.

Good URLs for SEO

• Short and readable: /web-design-nairobi/ beats /?p=1234.
• Words, not numbers, separated by hyphens.
• Lowercase, with no spaces or special characters.
• Stable: changing a URL loses its Google ranking unless you set a 301 redirect from the old one.

In WordPress, set Settings → Permalinks to Post name for clean URLs.

Common URL mistakes

• Sharing links with long tracking codes (utm_…) on your own site’s menus.
• Two versions of the site (with and without www, http and https) both working without redirects. Pick one; our hosting redirects http to https for you once SSL is active.

Your domain is the most important part of every URL. Find yours on domain registration.