Say I have a site listing Academy Awards whose URLs were built using run-on words.http://example.com/bestactress/2016http://example.com/bestdirector/2016http://example.com/bestpicture/2016As a user, I would have preferred using hyphens for readability.http://example.com/best-actress/2016...First, is there any reason (SEO or otherwise) to prefer the run-on forms? I wasn't around when these URLs were created or I would have pushed back, but maybe there's some logic to it that I'm missing.Assuming the answer is no, is there any benefit beyond readability to changing the structure with 301 redirects from the old URLs and correct canonicals?Higher click-through from readability?I would think a tiny amount at best.Better accuracy when searching for best actress?I expect modern search engines handle this just fine.Better ranking?Doubtful, but SEO is definitely not my expertise.Our site luckily has only a handful of these run-on URLs, and fixing them correctly shouldn't require significant effort. In those cases, as long as there's no danger to do actual harm, I favor fixing it. But I realize I may be giving in to OCD pressure. :)
Fix existing URLs to hyphenate run-on words?
search engines;best practices;clean urls
For the reasons you cite, you should change them to hyphenated words. Search engines are pretty good at extracting words out of run on sentences but that's a shot in the dark. I'm sure Google would give preference to separated words over run ons. Users are more likely to guess at a URL using hyphens than run on ones. So, overall they are more discoverable.So switch them out.