What does url mean

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

Data Science Team Lead at AltaML.

Table of Contents

What Does Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Mean?

A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), otherwise known as a Universal Resource Locator, is the address of a resource on the Internet and the protocol used to access it.

It indicates the location of a web resource like a street address indicates where a person lives physically — because of this, an URL is often referred to as: “web address”.

A URL contains the following information:

The protocol used to access the resource.

The location of the server (whether by IP address or domain name).

The port number on the server (optional).

The location of the resource in the directory structure of the server.

A fragment identifier (optional).

A URL is a type of uniform resource identifier (URI). In common practice, the term URI isn’t used, or is used synonymously with URL, even though this is technically incorrect.

Techopedia Explains Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

Users browsing the Internet use URLs and use them by typing or copy-pasting them in their web browser’s address bar.

Also, every time you click on a hyperlink inside an application (email, web page, word document), you are effectively being redirected to that URL.

All URLs are presented in the following order:

Colon and two slashes.

Location of the server.

The port (optional) and the location of the resource on the server.

Fragment identifier (optional).

So, the format will look like this:

This looks more complex than it actually is. The most common schemes (protocols) are HTTP and HTTPS, which any www-user will recognize. The location of the server is generally a domain name, such as Google.com.

Given this, the following URLs are much simpler to understand:

http://www.google.com/default.htm

https://www.google.com/default.htm

Both these URLs indicate that there is a file named default.htm on a server with the address of «google.com». One uses regular HTTP, while the other uses a secure version of this scheme.

Two common elements of confusion about URLs:

The «www» isn’t always part of the technical protocol. Websites just started using this to indicate the user is using the World Wide Web. This is why if you go to http://google.com, it redirects to http://www.google.com. However, how the domain name is set up is based on how the web server and network administrators set it up in the backend.

Most users access the internet via a web browser, which inserts port 80 on HTTP connections behind the scenes. This is why if you go to http://www.google.com:80, you will see the same website as if there were no port number. A different network port could still be specified to make the connection to a particular destination. You can append user input, query parameters, or values to a URL depending on the configuration of the web server where that particular resource is hosted on.

Finally, the following URL demonstrates a fragment identifier, more commonly known as a query string:

This is saying that to use the HTTP protocol to send a request to the web resource (at google.com over port 80) passing into the resource a list of required input parameters via a set of key/value pairs. The key is the variable name (“hello”) and the value is the input («some-page»).

This is why you’ll sometimes see an extremely long URL as many variables are being sent to the web server in more interactive Web applications or dynamic pages like a search engine.

A broad range of other fragments is also used to specify the details of a destination, such as the # (hashtag) that directs the user to a specific view of a page.

For example, the #Examples fragment in this URL redirect the user to the “Examples” section of the Fragment Identifier page in the Wikipedia:

URLs can be redirected or forwarded to a different URL in several ways, the most common of which are 301 (permanent) and 302 (temporary). URL redirection is used to ensure that a visitor doesn’t end up on a 404 page, or to substitute an old or obsolete page with a new one with a different URL.

URLs can also be shortened by activating a shortening service that uses a redirect on a short-named domain. This is particularly useful in case of lengthy URLs containing many queries.

Tim Berners-Lee and the Internet Engineering Task Force working group is credited with developing the URL in 1994. It is formally specified in RFC 1738.

What Is a URL (Uniform Resource Locator)?

Hint: It helps you find things on the web

In This Article

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Abbreviated as URL, a Uniform Resource Locator is a way of identifying the location of a file on the internet. They’re what we use to open not only websites, but also to download images, videos, software programs, and other types of files that are hosted on a server.

Opening a local file on your computer is as simple as double-clicking it, but to open files on remote computers, like web servers, we must use URLs so that our web browser knows where to look. For example, opening the HTML file that represents the web page explained below, is done by entering it into the navigation bar at the top of the browser you’re using.

Other Names

Uniform Resource Locators are most commonly abbreviated as URLs but they’re also called website addresses when they refer to URLs that use the HTTP or HTTPS protocol.

Examples of URLs

You’re probably used to entering in URL, like this one for accessing Google’s website:

Which, aside from having FTP instead of HTTP, looks like any other URL you might encounter out there on the web.

Let’s use the following URL as an example of an HTTP address and identify each part:

URL Syntax Rules

Only numbers, letters, and the following characters are allowed in a URL: ()!$-‘_*+.

Other characters must be encoded (translated to programming code) in order to be accepted.

Some URLs have parameters that split it away from additional variables. For example, when you do a Google search for lifewire:

The question mark you see is telling a certain script, hosted on Google’s server, that you want to send a specific command to it in order to get custom results.

The specific script that Google uses to execute searches knows that whatever follows the ?q= part of the URL should be identified as the search term, so whatever is typed at that point in the URL is used to search on Google’s search engine.

You can see similar behavior in the URL in this YouTube search for best cat videos:

Although spaces aren’t allowed in a URL, some websites use a + sign, which you can see in both the Google and YouTube examples. Others use the encoded equivalent of a space, which is %20.

Some URLs can swap between parameters depending on the context. A good example can be seen when adding a timestamp to a YouTube video. Some links require an ampersand and others use a question mark.

URLs can also use anchors. These are situated at the very end and describe where, on that page, to jump to when the link is selected. Anchors are created when adding links to a web page, and they use the number sign (#). Here’s an example in a Wikipedia entry where the anchor takes you to another part of the page:

URLs that use multiple variables use one or more ampersands after the question mark. You can see the example here for an Amazon.com search for Windows 10:

The first variable, url, is preceded by the question mark but the next variable, field-keywords, is preceded by an ampersand. Additional variables would also be preceded by an ampersand.

Parts of a URL are case sensitive—specifically, everything after the domain name (the directories and file name). You can see this for yourself if you capitalize the word «need» in the example URL from Google that we deconstructed above, making the end of the URL read todays-cpu-vulnerability-what-you-NEED.html. Try to open that page and you can see that it doesn’t load because that specific file doesn’t exist on the server.​

More Information on URLs

If a URL points you to a file that your web browser can display, like a JPG image, then you don’t have to actually download it to your computer in order to see it. However, for files that aren’t normally displayed in the browser, like PDF and DOCX files, and especially EXE files (and many other file types), you’ll be prompted to download it.

URLs provide an easy way for us to access a server’s IP address without needing to know what the actual address is. They’re like easy-to-remember names for our favorite websites. This translation from a URL to an IP address is what DNS servers are used for.

Some URLs are really long and complex and are best used if you click it as a link or copy/paste it into the browser’s address bar. A mistake in a URL could generate a 400-series HTTP status code error, the most common type being a 404 error.

If you try to access a page that doesn’t exist on the server, you’ll get a 404 error. These types of errors are so common that you’ll often find custom, often humorous, versions of them on some websites. If you’re having trouble accessing a website or online file that you think should be loading normally, try troubleshooting the URL.

Most URLs don’t require the port name to be given. Opening google.com, for example, can be done by specifying its port number at the end like http://www.google.com:80 but it isn’t necessary. If the website were operating on port 8080 instead, you could replace the port and access the page that way.

By default, FTP sites use port 21, but others may be set up on port 22 or something different. If the FTP site isn’t using port 21, you have to specify which one it’s using in order to access the server correctly. The same concept applies to any URL that uses a different port than what the program used to access assumes by default that it’s using.

Yes. How you block a website depends on your device and operating system. Most web browsers let you block specific sites, and you can block a URL on your entire network via your router settings.

A vanity URL is a short, memorable URL that redirects from a longer, more complex URL. To set up a vanity URL, use a URL shortener that offers custom domains.

A callback URL is a page where users are redirected after completing an action in another website or program. For example, if you make a purchase on a website and get directed to a third-party payment processor, you’ll be directed to a callback URL (usually a confirmation page) on the original site after completing the payment.

The major difference between HTTP and HTTPS is that HTTPS is more secure. Therefore, it should always be used on websites where secure data needs to be transferred.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

End users use URLs by typing them directly into the address bar of a browser or by clicking a hyperlink found on a webpage, bookmark list, in an email or from another application.

URL protocols include HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and HTTPS (HTTP Secure) for web resources, mail to for email addresses, FTP for files on a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, and telnet for a session to access remote computers. Most URL protocols are followed by a colon and two forward slashes; «mail to» is followed only by a colon.

Optionally, after the domain, a URL can also specify:

URLs can only be sent over the Internet using the ASCII character-set. Because URLs often contain non-ASCII characters, the URL must be converted into a valid ASCII format. URL encoding replaces unsafe ASCII characters with a «%» followed by two hexadecimal digits. URLs cannot contain spaces.

When designing URLs, there are different theories about how to make the syntax most usable for readers and archivists. For example, in the URL’s path, dates, authors, and topics can be included in a section referred to as the «slug.» Consider, for example, the URL for this definition:

https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/URL

Look past the protocol (identified as HTTPS) and the permalink (www.techtarget.com) and we see the file path includes two paths (searchnetworking and definition) and the title of the definition (URL).

Additionally, some URL designers choose to put the date of the post, typically, as (YYYY/MM/DD).

Using the URL https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/search/query?q=URL as an example, components of a URL can include:

Other examples of parts of a URL can include:

Both HTTP and HTTPS are used to retrieve data from a web server to view content in a browser. The difference between them is that HTTPS uses a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate to encrypt the connection between the end user and the server.

HTTPS is vital to protecting sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card numbers and identity data, from unauthorized access.

HTTPS uses TCP/IP port number 443 by default, whereas HTTP uses port 80.

A URL is the most common type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). URIs are strings of characters used to identify a resource over a network. URLs are essential to navigating the internet.

URL shortening is a technique in which an URL may be made substantially shorter in length and still direct to the required page. A shortener achieves this using a redirect on a domain name that is short.

There are many URL shortener services available. While many are free, those that offer capabilities such as Web analytics, charge a fee. Companies that offer URL shorteners include Rebrandly, Bitly, Ow.ly, clicky.me and Budurl.com.

Some Web site hosts, such as GoDaddy.com, offer URL shorteners. Other service providers, including search engines, have begun turning away from URL shorteners because they are often subject to abuse by spammers, who hide malware inside shortened URLs.

The retention of data related to Web usage has become a huge privacy concern. There has been increased public demand for search engine and application service providers to be transparent in what information they collect, retain and sell.

For example, in March 2019, Google updated its Chrome privacy policy. It notes that in its basic browser mode, the search engine stores information locally on your system. This information includes browsing history, including URLs of pages visited, plus a cache of text, images and other resources from those pages.

However, Google also collects and retains data for various lengths of time. Some data can be deleted whenever a person wants, some data is deleted automatically, and some data Google retains for longer periods of time when necessary.

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What is a URL?

This article discusses Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), explaining what they are and how they’re structured.

Summary

With Hypertext and HTTP, URL is one of the key concepts of the Web. It is the mechanism used by browsers to retrieve any published resource on the web.

URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is nothing more than the address of a given unique resource on the Web. In theory, each valid URL points to a unique resource. Such resources can be an HTML page, a CSS document, an image, etc. In practice, there are some exceptions, the most common being a URL pointing to a resource that no longer exists or that has moved. As the resource represented by the URL and the URL itself are handled by the Web server, it is up to the owner of the web server to carefully manage that resource and its associated URL.

Basics: anatomy of a URL

Here are some examples of URLs:

Any of those URLs can be typed into your browser’s address bar to tell it to load the associated page (resource).

A URL is composed of different parts, some mandatory and others optional. The most important parts are highlighted on the URL below (details are provided in the following sections):

Note: You might think of a URL like a regular postal mail address: the scheme represents the postal service you want to use, the domain name is the city or town, and the port is like the zip code; the path represents the building where your mail should be delivered; the parameters represent extra information such as the number of the apartment in the building; and, finally, the anchor represents the actual person to whom you’ve addressed your mail.

Note: There are some extra parts and some extra rules regarding URLs, but they are not relevant for regular users or Web developers. Don’t worry about this, you don’t need to know them to build and use fully functional URLs.

Scheme

The first part of the URL is the scheme, which indicates the protocol that the browser must use to request the resource (a protocol is a set method for exchanging or transferring data around a computer network). Usually for websites the protocol is HTTPS or HTTP (its unsecured version). Addressing web pages requires one of these two, but browsers also know how to handle other schemes such as mailto: (to open a mail client), so don’t be surprised if you see other protocols.

Authority

One example of a URL that doesn’t use an authority is the mail client ( mailto:foobar ). It contains a scheme but doesn’t use an authority component. Therefore, the colon is not followed by two slashes and only acts as a delimiter between the scheme and mail address.

Path to resource

/path/to/myfile.html is the path to the resource on the Web server. In the early days of the Web, a path like this represented a physical file location on the Web server. Nowadays, it is mostly an abstraction handled by Web servers without any physical reality.

Parameters

?key1=value1&key2=value2 are extra parameters provided to the Web server. Those parameters are a list of key/value pairs separated with the & symbol. The Web server can use those parameters to do extra stuff before returning the resource. Each Web server has its own rules regarding parameters, and the only reliable way to know if a specific Web server is handling parameters is by asking the Web server owner.

Anchor

#SomewhereInTheDocument is an anchor to another part of the resource itself. An anchor represents a sort of «bookmark» inside the resource, giving the browser the directions to show the content located at that «bookmarked» spot. On an HTML document, for example, the browser will scroll to the point where the anchor is defined; on a video or audio document, the browser will try to go to the time the anchor represents. It is worth noting that the part after the #, also known as the fragment identifier, is never sent to the server with the request.

How to use URLs

Any URL can be typed right inside the browser’s address bar to get to the resource behind it. But this is only the tip of the iceberg!

The HTML language — which will be discussed later on — makes extensive use of URLs:

Все об URL: понятие, структура, виды и рекомендации по созданию

Английская аббревиатура URL расшифровывается как Uniform Resource Locator, что в переводе на русский означает «унифицированный указатель ресурса». Впервые URL стал применяться в 1990 году. Слава его изобретения принадлежит создателю Всемирной паутины — Тиму Бернерсу-Ли.

Что такое URL

Изначально УРЛ применялся для обозначения размещения файлов в Интернете, но в настоящее время используется для указания расположения почти всех веб-ресурсов. URL может обозначать путь как к веб-сайту, так и к какому-то определенному документу или изображению. Чтобы перейти к нужному сайту или файлу, пользователю нужно написать в адресной строке браузера соответствующий УРЛ. Например, URL https://timeweb.com/ru/community открывает стартовую страницу сайта хостингового сообщества «Timeweb Community».

Определить URL-адрес веб-страницы просто — он показан в адресной строке браузера. Оттуда его можно скопировать, кликнув по адресной строке правой кнопкой мыши (при этом адрес выделяется) и в контекстном меню выбрав команду «Копировать».

Чтобы скопировать адрес отдельного изображения на странице, нужно кликнуть правой кнопкой мыши по картинке и выбрать пункт «Копировать адрес изображения» или «Копировать URL картинки» (в разных браузерах название команды может отличаться).

Для копирования адреса документа в контекстном меню ведущей к нему ссылки следует выбрать команду «Копировать адрес ссылки».

Во всех случаях URL окажется в буфера обмена, откуда его можно вставить в адресную строку браузера, переслать в сообщении либо вставить в текстовый документ.

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Структура URL адреса

URL-адрес, который мы видим в адресной строке браузера, состоит из нескольких частей:

В начале адреса (1) всегда указан протокол (в некоторых браузерах по умолчанию он может быть скрыт и становится виден при щелчке по адресной строке). Если мы просматриваем веб-страницу, это будет протокол передачи данных «http» или его форма «https» с поддержкой шифрования для установки безопасного соединения. Однако URL может начинаться с других обозначений, например:

После протокола (2) следует доменное имя сайта (хост) или в редких случаях его IP-адрес. Также в некоторых случаях URL-адрес может содержать номер порта, например, его можно увидеть в сетевых приложениях (выглядит это так: //example.com:8080).

Затем указывается путь к странице (3), состоящий из каталогов и подкаталогов, который, в свою очередь, включает в себя ее название.

URL также может включать параметры, которые указываются после знака «?» и разделяются символом «&». Пример адреса страницы с результатами поиска по слову «url» в поисковой системе Google:

Конечный компонент URL, который пользователь может увидеть в документах большого объема, состоящих из нескольких разделов, — это якорь, которому предшествует знак решетки «#». Часть адреса после этого знака ссылается на определенный абзац внутри страницы сайта. Пример: если на странице Википедии со статьей «URL» перейти по ссылке «Структура URL» в блоке «Содержание», унифицированный указатель ресурса в адресной строке браузера примет такой вид:

Виды URL

URL-адреса веб-страниц бывают статические и динамические.

С точки зрения SEO предпочтительнее статические ссылки, так как динамические URL имеют ряд недостатков:

Форматы URL

Транслитерация

Для обозначения названий статей обычно используют транслитерацию. Такие адреса легко читаются и понятны для восприятия пользователей.

По такому адресу сразу можно судить, какое содержимое вы увидите на странице. Поисковые системы легко распознают в подобных адресах ключевые слова, что также оказывает положительное влияние на SEO. Если в URL используется транслитерация, становится четко видна структура сайта и, чтобы попасть в нужный раздел, пользователь просто может стереть в адресной строке часть адреса.

Латиница

Латинские URL представляют собой адреса, переведенные на английский язык. Например, вместо «/novosti/» в адресе будет значиться «/news/».

Такой формат УРЛ часто используется для обозначения веб-страниц категорий и рубрик. Этот вариант считается универсальным, так как легко воспринимается пользователями и без труда обрабатывается поисковыми роботами.

Кириллические URL

Такой формат URL чаще всего применяют в кириллических доменах или когда часть адреса не очень длинная.

К их преимуществам относятся:

Однако кириллические URL имеют существенный недостаток: при копировании такого адреса и вставки его в сообщение для отправки кому-либо или вставки в текстовый редактор, вы получите непонятный набор знаков, наподобие:

Это объясняется тем, что запись URL-адресов возможна только определенными символами из разрешенного набора, а символы кириллицы в него не входят. Поэтому адрес, в котором используется кириллица, шифруется, хотя при этом ссылка все равно будет работать.

К минусам кириллических УРЛов можно отнести и трудность для восприятия зарубежными пользователями, привыкшими к латинским символам, а также сложности при чтении адресов этого формата поисковыми роботами (такие URL приходится переводить в понятный для робота вид).

Человекопонятные URL

Поисковые системы рекомендуют создавать дружественные адреса веб-страниц, по которым и пользователи, и поисковые роботы смогут судить, какая информация на этой странице находится. Например, по URL-адресу вида: www.yoursite.net/viewpage.php?page_id=23 понять это невозможно, а адрес www.yoursite.net/contact/ сразу дает представление о содержании страницы. Такие УРЛы называют человекопонятными (ЧПУ).

Кроме того, что они позволяют понять содержание веб-страницы еще до перехода по ссылке, подобные адреса имеют и другие преимущества:

При формировании ЧПУ на своем сайте следует придерживаться определенных правил:

Рекомендации по созданию URL

Соблюдайте указанные выше рекомендации, формируйте человекопонятные URL, чтобы при прочих равных условиях получить преимущество над другими сайтами.