Google\u2019s official position is straightforward: hyphens are treated as word separators, while underscores are treated as word joiners. In practical terms, best-seo-tools<\/code> is understood as \u201cbest seo tools,\u201d but best_seo_tools<\/code> may be read as \u201cbestseotools\u201d as if it\u2019s one combined word. That\u2019s why hyphens are considered more SEO-friendly\u2014they make it easier for Google to parse a URL into meaningful words. Even though modern search engines have improved and can often interpret both formats, Google still recommends hyphens because they improve readability, provide clearer keyword separation, and reduce ambiguity that underscores can sometimes create.<\/p>\n

If you want your URLs to perform well in 2025, the best approach is to keep them short, descriptive, and easy to read, while using hyphens as your default separator. Avoid unnecessary numbers, extra words, or messy parameters, stick to lowercase letters, and don\u2019t change old URLs unless it\u2019s absolutely necessary\u2014if you do, use proper redirects. A simple comparison makes the point clear: www.example.com\/mens-suits-charcoal-grey<\/code> is more readable and keyword-friendly than www.example.com\/mens_suits_charcoal_grey<\/code>. Both can rank, but the hyphen version is typically clearer for users and search engines, which can help improve CTR and overall SEO performance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When it comes to SEO best practices, even the smallest details matter\u2014especially how you structure your URLs. For years, SEOs have debated whether underscores (_) or hyphens (-) are better, and while Google has clarified this multiple times, confusion still remains. The truth is your URL is more than just an address; it acts as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,117,10,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google","category-google-knowledge","category-search-engines","category-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2781"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2984,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2781\/revisions\/2984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.searchenginegenie.com\/blog-seo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}