A static URL is an address without parameters, for example /shoes/sneakers. It stays the same for a page. The term describes only the form of the address. It says nothing about how the page is built: a CMS page can have a static URL, and a static website can have parameter URLs.
Static or dynamic?
The counterpart is the dynamic URL with parameters such as ?id=12. SEO articles often call static URLs easier to read and free of parameter variants. Google’s URL structure documentation recommends readable words instead of long ID numbers and warns that overly complex URLs with many parameters can create unnecessarily many URLs with identical or similar content. It does not state a general preference for static over dynamic URLs. Parameters should be written with = and &.
In practice a static URL can usually be made descriptive. /product?id=12 becomes /shoes/sneakers. When an old address is replaced, it needs a 301 redirect to the new one.
Example
dynamic: /product?id=12
static: /shoes/sneakers
Sources
- URL structure – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
- What is a URL? – MDN Web Docsdeveloper.mozilla.org
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