Long URLs

Known problems?

[ryan26]

Have long URLs caused problems in the past? Is there a certain "limit" that anyone can tell of?

[espeed]

You mean other than long URLs are a pain to type, and URLs longer than 78 chars wrap when you send them in plain-text email -- see "URL as UI" <http://useit.com/alertbox/990321.html>.

IE has a URL character limit of 2083 chars, see <http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q208/4/27.ASP&NoWebContent=1>. I believe Netscape has a larger limit so if this is for a public website, the specifics for it are probably a non-issue since you need to develop for the lowest-common denominator. NOTE: I am not saying IE is the lowest-common denominator -- other browsers may have a lower limit.

[ryan26]

No, I mean if someone were to register a domain name like "http://www.widgetnewsandanythingelseyouwant.com"

[netcommr]

Yes, there is a limit on domains. Read [zooknic.com]

[takagi]

No, I mean if someone were to register a domain name like "http://www.widgetnewsandanythingelseyouwant.com"

Try: WeLoveTheIraqiInformationMinister.com
It has a 33-letter domain, is indexed in Google and IE has no problems with it.

(I hope the moderator will allow this example URL. I have no relation to this site)

[ryan26]

IE, obviously, won't have a problem. However, do you see any problems with search engines seeing a long URL as spam?

My site was on Google for a day about a month ago, and has since disappeared. It has 31 characters in the URL, using keywords seperated by "-".

[takagi]

Pages are only added for a short time (few days) if freshbot finds your site. It is only after the Google Update that a site is added to the Full Index. Last update was April 11 [webmasterworld.com]. The data used for an update is usually collected a few weeks before the update, so it is very well possible that your site will show up after the next update.

[ryan26]

Thank-you. :)

[farside847]

Google currently has listings for URLs from my site that are 118 characters long. The domain name is only 3 characters though...