URLs on SF.gov are structured to show users where they are and how they got there. They reassure our users that they are on a single, consistent website.
URL names prioritize what San Franciscans need from the City, so the shortest URLs are given to services.
URLs use the title of the page, with dashes between words. Small words, like and, the, or are skipped. We add structure to the URL for non-service content.
Page title | URL |
Wear a face covering | |
Buy a home with City help | |
MOHCD | https://sf.gov/departments/mayors-office-housing-and-community-development |
Standard URLs work well within the site, and we will not change the URL structure of SF.gov for new URL requests.
The most effective way to get a strong, short URL is to create strong page titles focused on what users are coming to SF.gov to do. http://sf.gov/get-immigration-legal-help is a full URL, but should be short enough to fit on most advertising.
User and SEO friendly
Consistent and predictable
Short and simple
Memorable
easy to type
everything a user can reach on your site should have a distinct URL that a user can bookmark and use later to reach that same location
Services-oriented
We spell things out rather than use acronyms in long/full URLs. Short URLs may use acronyms.
use dashes to separate words
omit articles (a/an/the)
Automatically removed: a, an, as, at, before, but, by, for, from, is, in, into, like, of, off, on, onto, per, since, than, the, this, that, to, up, via, with
be lowercase
match the title of the page, when possible
sf.gov/departments/name-of-department
sf.gov/departments/parent-department/child-department
Department homepages are the pages for any government department, agency or public body.
Department pages are within the /department directory. The full title of the department is turned into the URL.
Sub-departments are nested within their parent departments.
Departments can have a single short URL. By default, this is the shortest version of the organization’s name in common use (which may be an acronym).
sf.gov/ttx for the Treasurer and Tax Collector
sf.gov/mayor for the Office of the Mayor
Other divisions, groups, campaigns, and initiatives may request short URLs only if they need it for public promotional materials.
The short URLs for groups within parent departments default to including the parent department name or acronym.
sf.gov/gsa/oca for the Office of Contracts Administration within the General Services Agency
If a sub-department is particularly high-profile, they may have a short URL with only their name, excluding the parent department.
www.sf.gov/mohcd for the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development within the Office of the Mayor
sf.gov/departments/general-services-agency/county-clerk
Short link: sf.gov/clerk
sf.gov/departments/general-services-agency/office-of-contracts-administration
Short link: sf.gov/gsa/oca
sf.gov/departments/board-of-supervisors
Short link: sf.gov/bos
Individual supervisor: sf.gov/departments/board-of-supervisors/district-6
Question: Do they get sf.gov/bos/d6?
sf.gov/topics/name-of-topic
Topic pages gather transactions, services, policies, departments, news, events related to a theme or “tag”.
Topic pages are within the /topics directory.
sf.gov/transaction-name
sf.gov/name-of-transaction/related-resource-name
For MVP, the only service content types we have are transaction start pages and media (ie. PDF forms). Later, we may have other content that is related to a service or a transaction -- explainers, eligibility rules, fee charts, etc. Later later, we will have actual digital services.
Transaction start pages come right after the top-level domain, with no subdirectory. The URL uses the name of the service, including the verb. Note that “a” would be removed from “Apply for a cannabis equity permit”
Other service content, such as separate pages for eligibility info, process explainers, media, etc, is added to the base URL.