Why Flat URL Structures Are Better for SEO (and Simpler for You)

Discover why flat URLs are better for SEO, easier to manage and the smarter choice for modern websites. Simplicity wins.

When building your website, one of the last things you probably think about is your URL structure. But believe it or not, the way your page URLs are organised plays a small but important role in your site's search engine performance, user experience, and long-term maintainability.

At Landing Pad, we’ve made a deliberate decision to use a flat URL structure across all websites built on our platform.

Here’s why that’s a good thing — and what it means for your site.

What Is a Flat URL Structure?

A flat URL structure means that all your website pages live directly under your main domain, without extra folders or category paths in the address.

For example:

Flat URL:

yourdomain.com/social-media-management


Nested URL:

yourdomain.com/services/social-media-management

The second example includes a category ("services") in the path, while the first keeps things clean and direct.

Why Flat URLs Are Good for SEO

Search engine algorithms have evolved. Today, Google cares more about content quality, site speed, mobile performance and page relevance than how many folders are in your URLs.

Still, URL structure can send helpful signals — and flat URLs offer a few key advantages:

1. Cleaner, Shorter Links

Short URLs are easier to:

  • Read
  • Share on social media
  • Remember and type
  • Use in ads or print materials

2. Better for Future Changes

Flat URLs are more stable. If you reorganise your content or rename categories, your page links don’t break — avoiding messy redirects and lost SEO value.

3. No Duplicate Content Conflicts

Nested structures can sometimes cause duplicate pages (like /services/seoand/seo), which requires extra SEO handling. A flat structure avoids this.

4. Speedier Crawling

Googlebots prefer flatter websites. When your structure is simple, crawlers find and index your content faster, which can help with visibility.

Are There Any Downsides?

It’s fair to ask: “Don’t category URLs help people understand what kind of page they’re on?”

That was once true — but today’s websites rely more on clear navigation, headings, internal links, and breadcrumb trails to give users context. In fact, long URLs like /blog/2023/07/why-keywords-matter often do more harm than good by making URLs harder to manage and less shareable.

TL;DR: A clean slug like /why-keywords-matter is easier for both Google and your audience.

How to Optimise Flat URLs for SEO

Even without categories, your URLs can still be highly SEO-friendly. Here’s how:

  • Use keywords in your slug (e.g. /content-strategy-guide)
  • Keep slugs short (3–5 words max)
  • Separate words with hyphens (never underscores or spaces)
  • Avoid numbers or dates unless relevant (e.g. /top-seo-trends-2025)
  • M ake each slug unique across your site

What to Say to Clients (Or Your Team)

If someone on your team asks, "Why doesn’t our service page live under /services/?" — here’s your answer:

“Our site uses a clean, modern URL structure to make pages easier to manage and faster to load. It’s better for SEO long-term, and avoids problems when we rework our categories in the future. Don’t worry — search engines care more about content and structure than folders in your URL.”

Final Thoughts: Simplicity Wins

URL structure might seem like a tiny detail — but it’s one of those small things that, when done well, makes your website easier to scale, maintain, and rank.

At Landing Pad, we handle the structure behind the scenes, so you can focus on what matters: growing your business and building a site your customers love.

Used by 100+ company around the world