Developing
The edit date is unknown (an archived older copy is dated October 15) and Google made no announcement.
In 60 seconds
- The new version adds the clause "whereas hyphens clearly signal a word boundary."
- The old text said underscores' convention "is already commonly used" for grouping concepts; the new text reads "underscores are commonly used for denoting concepts that should be kept together."
- The author assumes it followed Google's recent videos on URLs in Search.
- No other changes to the documentation are described.
Impact Layer
- What changed
- Google's URL guidance now states the hyphen versus underscore distinction more explicitly.
- Why it matters
- Teams still debate URL separators, and the wording reinforces Google's long-standing advice.
- Who is affected
- SEOs, developers and content teams.
- Martech stack area
- SEO & Search, CMS
- Stack impact
- Use hyphens between words in new URLs. Do not change working URLs only for this.
- Business impact
- Low Reported by Search Engine Roundtable's Barry Schwartz. Google's reason for the edit, the date it was made and any other changes are not stated.
- Related vendors
- What to watch
- Further edits to the URL structure documentation.
Barry Schwartz reported on Search Engine Roundtable on October 21, 2026 that Google made a minor wording edit to the “Use hyphens to separate words” section of its URL structure best practices documentation. He says the overall meaning did not change.
The exact wording
- The new version adds the clause “whereas hyphens clearly signal a word boundary.”
- The old version said underscores’ convention “is already commonly used” for grouping concepts. The new version reads “underscores are commonly used for denoting concepts that should be kept together.”
Not stated
Google’s reason for the edit or any official announcement (the author only assumes it followed Google’s recent videos on URLs in Search), when the change was made (an archived copy of the previous version is timestamped October 15, 2026) and whether any other part of the documentation changed.
Our read
This is a clarification, not a new rule. Hyphens remain the safe default for new URLs.
Sources
- Search Engine Roundtable: Google Updated Its URL Structure Best Practices For Hyphens In URLs (opens in a new tab)
Source for the exact old and new wording and what is not stated.