Actor URL (or technical name, as we call it), is the page URL of the Actor shown on the web. When you're creating an Actor, you can set the URL yourself along with the Actor name. Here are best practices on how to do it well.

Why is Actor URL so important

The Actor URL plays a crucial role in SEO. Google doesn't just read the Actor's name or README; it also analyzes the URL. The URL is one of the first signals to Google about the content of your page—whether it's a product listing, a tool, a blog post, a landing page for a specific offering, or something else entirely. Therefore, it's important to know how to use this shorthand to your advantage and clearly communicate to Google what your page offers.

<aside> 💡 Apify tip: This part of the manual is only applicable to new Actors. Once set, existing Actor URLs shouldn't change.

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How to choose a URL

The right naming can propel or hinder the success of the Actor on Google Search. Just as naming your Actor is important, so is choosing its URL. The only difference is: once set, the URL is intended to be permanent (more on this later). So what's the formula for the best Actor URL?

Brainstorming

What does your Actor do? Does it scrape, find, extract, automate, connect? Think of these when you are looking for a name. You might already have a code name in mind, but it’s essential to ensure it stands out and is distinct from similar names — both on Google and in Apify Store.

Matching URL and name

The easiest way is to make sure the Actor name and the technical name match. As in TikTok Scraper (tiktok-scraper) or Facebook Data Extractor (facebook-data-extractor). But they can surely differ.

SEO

The name should reflect not only what Actor does (or what website it targets) but also what words people use when they search for it. This is why it's also important to do SEO research to see which keywords work best for the topic. Ideally, the URL should include a keyword that has low complexity (low competition) but high traffic (high demand).

<aside> 📚 Learn more about SEO research and the best tools for it here: SEO

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Inspiration in Apify Store

Explore Store URLs of similar Actors. But avoid naming your Actor too similarly to what already exists. There are two reasons for that:

1. There’s evidence that new URLs that are similar to existing ones can have drastically different levels of success. The first URL might thrive while a similar one published later struggles to gain traction. For example, onedev/pentagon-scraper was published first and has almost 100x traction than justanotherdev/pentagon-scraper. It will be very hard for the latter to beat the former. The reason for this is that Google operates on a "first come, first serve” basis; and once it's set, it is very hard to make Google change its ways and make it pay attention to new pages with a similar name.