What`s the value in shortening the permalink of a post title?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Nathaniell Brenes: Hey guys, I've got an SEO question.
  
  What's the value in shortening the permalink of a post title? Are there really any SEO benefits to it or is it just a matter of convenience?
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  Perry Bernard: There's no need to have what's called functional words in linguistics in the permalink, as they dilute the keyword relevance of the URL. Just like in newspaper headlines, it's possible to easily discern the meaning of an article via a truncated sentence where functional words are removed.
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  Nathaniell Brenes: But would the shorter permalink have any SEO advantage? I understand that the functional words are unnecessary, but if there's no reason to NOT use them, then I don't need to be editing my permalinks before posting. ;
  
  With the hummingbird update seeming to favor more conversational search, is there a reason to take my conversational title and break it down into a few key words?
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  Perry Bernard: Longer URLs = greater dilution. That's about it really. Hummingbird is not really about long tail matches to conversational URLs. That's kindof a sideways projection in my view.
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  Pau Lica: Your keyword won't get diluted, your URL won't look ugly and spammy, and it will also decrease your page's loading time (not by much, but...).
  
  Here's what Matt Cutts once said:
  
  "If you have got a three, four or five words in your URL, that can be perfectly normal. As it gets a little longer, then it starts to look a little worse. Now, our algorithms typically will just weight those words less and just not give you as much credit.
  So, I would not make it a big habit of having tons and tons of words stuffed in there, because there are plenty of places on a page, where you can have relevant words and have them be helpful to users – and not have it come across as keyword stuffing."
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  Perry Bernard: +Pau Lica page loading time???
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  Pau Lica: +Perry Bernard
  Yeah, long URLs can increase your page's loading time.
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  Perry Bernard: +Pau Lica why?
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  Pau Lica: +Perry Bernard
  It takes more time to read and load the information basically, server-side I think. This requires a more technical explanation, which is a bit out of my league, and I can't seem to find the articles where I've read about it. It's been some time...
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  Nathaniell Brenes: Thanks +Perry Bernard and +Pau Lica. Do you guys know how a shorter URL would affect the actual title of the post?
  
  The reason I'm asking is that I do a lot of reviews, and frankly, after 500 posts, I'm running out of short, creating ideas. I keep hitting a wall of long post titles and was considering how the long URL might affect ranking.
  
  So do you think a long post title (h1) with a shorter permalink would be the best mix here, or will I run into SEO problems with mismatching my permalink + post title?
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  Perry Bernard: +Pau Lica I think there are much larger and more critical content factors influencing speed than URL length. I wouldnt worry about it. Where long URL is probably a symptom of factors like queries or dynamic content, that's when I'd worry more. Not so much for a static post or page.
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  Perry Bernard: +Nathaniell Brenes in that case I probably wouldn't append. I get your concern now. Uniqueness is your issue.
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  Pau Lica: +Nathaniell Brenes
  Usually the URLs are the same as the page/post title, but that's not a rule. It's mainly a WordPress thing; it generates the permalink as the page/post title and people don't bother changing it.
  
  Mismatching your URL with your page/post title, or H1, won't affect your SEO. It's just the best practice to keep it short, somewhat similar to your title, and with a keyword in it (if any). A shorter URL won't affect the title of the post.
  
  I suppose your reviews are about different thing, so you use different titles, therefore you will also have different URLs.
  
  Matt Cutts was asked if 10 words would be much for an URL, and he said: "It is a little abnormal. I know that when I hit something like that – even a blog post – with 10 words, I raise my eyebrows a little bit and, maybe, read with a little more skepticism. So, if just a regular savvy user has that sort of reaction, then you can imagine how that might look to some competitors and others."
  
  Let me give you an example. Let's say you are reviewing the new Samsung Galaxy S5, and your title is like this: "The ultimate review of the new Samsung Galaxy S5". Now, your URL should simply be - example.com/samsung-galaxy-S5-review/. Short, simple, nice, and with a keyword.
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  Nathaniell Brenes: Thanks +Pau Lica, that pretty much answers my question. Maybe it's just a Wordpress thing, because it seems odd to me that search engines would encourage you to have short URLs, but that's just because I'm used to seeing the post title and URL match.
• 
  Pau Lica: +Nathaniell Brenes
  You're welcome!
• 
  Tim Capper: If i am posting in wordpress, I do tidy up, shorten the url.
  
  EG : The main difference between longer and shorter urls in wordpress
  
  In this case you can edit the URL to something a bit neater :
  
  /difference-between-longer-shorter-urls- wordpress
  
  Aw bollocks, I should have read the comments, I see Pica answered you already ... lol
• 
  Pau Lica: Hehe! The more the merrier!
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  Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:43:22 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/whats_the_value_in_shortening_the_permalink_of_a_post_title +Nathaniell Brenes
  
  The cuetimes listed on this page are functional while the live broadcast continues and also once Youtube has finished processing the public broadcast. Processing time varies between 6-24 hours. During this period the clip is viewable in full but the cuetimes cannot be relied on.
  
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• 
  Nathaniell Brenes: +Edwin Jonk ;I'm getting an error on the video and don't see it loaded to the youtube channel, is that just me?
• 
  Edwin Jonk: The URL is mis-spelled, namely a g is missing at the end:
  Dumb SEO Questions 92.
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  Nathaniell Brenes: Got it, watching now. Thanks!
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  Edwin Jonk: +Nathaniell Brenes ;can you check ;
  https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/whats_the_value_in_shortening_the_permalink_of_a_post_title
  to see if it is working now?
• 
  Nathaniell Brenes: Here's what I"m seeing ;http://take.ms/e4414
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  Edwin Jonk: Let me ping +Jim Munro ;
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  Nathaniell Brenes: I did see the video on the YouTube link you sent me.
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  Jim Munro: Hi +Nathaniell Brenes ;Please try now. I apologise for the inconvenience - it was my fault.
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  Nathaniell Brenes: +Jim Munro ;Video's working now. Thanks! Appreciate all the help you guys give.