What Is a URL and How Is It Structured

Short answer

A Uniform Resource Locator is the address of a resource on the web. It specifies the protocol, domain, path, and optional query parameters.

How it works

A URL like https://example.com/search?q=test contains: - Protocol: https - Domain: example.com - Path: /search - Query: ?q=test

The browser uses these components to locate and request the resource.

Example

Changing the path from /blog to /about requests a different page on the same server. Changing the domain requests a different server entirely.

Why it matters

URLs are the foundation of web navigation and SEO. Clean, descriptive URLs improve user trust and search engine ranking.