URL Structure for AI Citations
How to format URL slugs, organize your content architecture, and signal topic authority to AI crawlers.
URL structure is one of the most overlooked AEO signals. AI crawlers use URL patterns to understand content hierarchy and topic authority before reading a word on the page.
The AEO URL formula
yourdomain.com/[category]/[keyword-slug]
| Example | Status | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| writecited.com/blog/what-is-aeo | Correct | Clear category + exact keyword slug |
| writecited.com/blog/what-is-aeo-complete-guide-2026 | Avoid | Date in slug signals content decay |
| writecited.com/p=1234 | Wrong | No keyword signal, invisible to AI crawlers |
| writecited.com/blog/aeo | Too short | No context for the crawler |
Slug rules
- •Use your exact target keyword, hyphen-separated
- •Remove stop words: a, the, and, for, in, of
- •Keep under 60 characters
- •Never use dates in slugs — they signal content decay to AI models
- •Lowercase only, no special characters
- •Never change a published slug — it breaks citations already embedded in AI training data
Category structure
| Path | Use for |
|---|---|
| /blog/ | Editorial and strategy content |
| /guides/ or /learn/ | Instructional and reference content |
| /tools/ | Tool pages and calculators |
| /compare/ | Comparison and alternatives content |