Electric heat pumps to heat and cool houses

Published 28.06.2021 by Schmitt Trading Ltd

Original published June 14, 2021 8.26am EDT

Author: Robert Brecha Professor of Sustainability, University of Dayton

Electric heat pumps use much less energy than furnaces and can cool houses too – here’s how they work

Heating or cooling? I do both.
FanFan61618/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Robert Brecha, University of Dayton

To help curb climate change, President Biden has set a goal of lowering U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50%-52% below 2005 levels by 2030. Meeting this target will require rapidly converting as many fossil fuel-powered activities to electricity as possible, and then generating that electricity from low-carbon and carbon-free sources such as wind, solar, hydropower and nuclear energy.

The buildings that people live and work in consume substantial amounts of energy. In 2019, commercial and residential buildings accounted for more than one-seventh of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. New heating and cooling strategies are an important piece of the puzzle.

Fortunately, there’s an existing technology that can do this: electric heat pumps that are three to four times more efficient than furnaces. These devices heat homes in winter and cool them in summer by moving heat in and out of buildings, rather than by burning fossil fuel.

As a scientist focusing on renewable and clean energy, I study energy use in housing and what slowing climate change means for industrialized and developing countries. I see powering buildings with clean, renewable electricity as an essential strategy that also will save consumers money.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vU9x3dFMrU?wmode=transparent&start=440]

 

Heat pumps draw in air from the outside and use the difference in temperature between indoor and outdoor air to heat buildings. Many also provide cooling, using nearly the same mechanism.

Heat pumps work by moving heat, not air

Most heating systems in the U.S. use forced-air furnaces that run on natural gas or electricity, or in some cases heating oil. To heat the building, the systems burn fuel or use electricity to heat up air, and then blow the warm air through ducts into individual rooms.

A heat pump works more like a refrigerator, which extracts energy from the air inside the fridge and dumps that energy into the room, leaving the inside cooler. To heat a building, a heat pump extracts energy from outdoor air or from the ground and converts it to heat for the house.

Here’s how it works: Extremely cold fluid circulates through coils of tubing in the heat pump’s outdoor unit. That fluid absorbs energy in the form of heat from the surrounding air, which is warmer than the fluid. The fluid vaporizes and then circulates into a compressor. Compressing any gas heats it up, so this process generates heat. Then the vapor moves through coils of tubing in the indoor unit of the heat pump, heating the building.

In summer, the heat pump runs in reverse and takes energy from the room and moves that heat outdoors, even though it’s hotter outside – basically, functioning like a bigger version of a refrigerator.

 

More efficient than furnaces

Heat pumps require some electricity to run, but it’s a relatively small amount. Modern heat pump systems can transfer three or four times more thermal energy in the form of heat than they consume in electrical energy to do this work – and that the homeowner pays for.

In contrast, converting energy from one form to another, as conventional heating systems do, always wastes some of it. That’s true for burning oil or gas to heat air in a furnace, or using electric heaters to heat air – although in that case, the waste occurs when the electricity is generated. About two-thirds of the energy used to produce electricity at a power plant is lost in the process.

Retrofitting residences and commercial buildings with heat pumps increases heating efficiency. When combined with a switch from fossil fuels to renewables, it further lowers energy use and carbon emissions.

Going electric

Growing restrictions on fossil fuel use and proactive policies are driving sales of heat pumps in the U.S. and internationally. Heat pumps are currently used in 5% of heating systems worldwide, a share that will need to increase to one-third by 2030 and much higher after to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

In warmer areas with relatively low heating demands, heat pumps are cheaper to run than furnaces. Tax credits, utility rebates or other subsidies may also provide incentives to help with up-front costs, including federal incentives reinstated by the Biden administration.

In extremely cold climates, these systems have an extra internal heater to help out. This unit is not as efficient, and can significantly run up electric bills. People who live in cold locations may want to consider geothermal heat pumps as an alternative.

Infographic advertising rebates for installing geothermal heat pumps in New Jersey.

 

Geothermal heat pumps may be a better option than air-source versions in colder climates.
NJDEP

These systems leverage the fact that ground temperature is warmer than the air in winter. Geothermal systems collect warmth from the earth and use the same fluid and compressor technology as air source heat pumps to transfer heat into buildings. They cost more, since installing them involves excavation to bury tubing below ground, but they also reduce electricity use.

New, smaller “mini-split” heat pump systems work well in all but the coldest climates. Instead of requiring ducts to move air through buildings, these systems connect to wall-mounted units that heat or cool individual rooms. They are easy to install and can be selectively used in individual apartments, which makes retrofitting large buildings easier.

Even with the best heating and cooling systems, installing proper insulation and sealing building leaks are key to reducing energy use. You can also experiment with your thermostat to see how little you can heat or cool your home while keeping everyone in it comfortable.

Mini split heat pump indoor unit mounted over a fireplace.

 

A new mini split heat pump system.
Robert Brecha, CC BY-ND

For help figuring out whether a heat pump can work for you, one good source of information is your electricity provider. Many utilities offer home energy audits that can identify cost-effective ways to make your home more energy-efficient. Other good sources include the U.S. Department of Energy and the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. As the push to electrify society gains speed, heat pumps are ready to play a central role.

[The Conversation’s science, health, and technology editors pick their favorite stories. Weekly on Wednesdays.]The Conversation

Robert Brecha, Professor of Sustainability, University of Dayton

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Republished under a Creative Commons license from The Conversation.

Source: https://theconversation.com/electric-heat-pumps-use-much-less-energy-than-furnaces-and-can-cool-houses-too-heres-how-they-work-154779 loaded 28.06.2021

The Quality of Progress is in the Quantity (Number of Attempts You Make)

Even though you will certainly make some mistakes on the path to success, never forget that mistakes are part of progress, and progress will always progress, regardless of whether the outcomes of your decisions or actions are positive or negative. In the long run, the quality of progress you will make is in the quantity or number of attempts you make. Don’t let any negative outcomes of your attempts weigh you down; use both positive and negative outcomes for your overall progress. (Featured Image Credit: Pixabay.com.)

The Quality of Progress is in the Quantity (Number of Attempts You Make)

7 tips on how to handle news

Published 23.06.2021 by Schmitt Trading Ltd

How to consume news while maintaining your sanity

Original published June 21, 2021 1.19pm BST

Author Aly Colón, Washington and Lee University

Too much news can overwhelm consumers and promote anxiety.
The Washington Post / Contributor/ Getty Images

Aly Colón, Washington and Lee University

The amount and variety of news produced today often tests people’s ability to determine its value and veracity. Such a torrent of information threatens to drown news consumers in a river of confusion.

Media coverage of the coronavirus, for example, illustrates how news may overwhelm and confuse consumers, and even contribute to mental health woes by escalating anxiety.

The overabundance also undermines Americans’ ability to decipher fact from misinformation.

But techniques exist for ferreting out what we can trust and what we should question, and there are steps we can take to help determine where the news comes from.

The owners of news media outlets often bring their own view of the news they want their organization to focus on. Some see themselves as information providers. Others may want to advance agendas they believe in.

One example of what should be covered in the news was provided by New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs in 1897. It still appears on the newspaper’s masthead: “All the News That’s Fit to Print.”

This statement of values enables us to understand what the journalist or news organization wants to convey and why. Understanding the messenger helps us understand the message.

As a longtime journalist, and as a journalism professor who teaches media ethics, I believe news consumers should bring a critical eye to the news.

Here’s a list you can use when reading, listening to or watching news. It offers steps to bring better focus and context to the relentless news feed.

1. What’s news to you?

What is news? News, at its core, focuses on information that is “new.” It conveys the latest knowledge about local, state, national and international occurrences. Other definitions can be found here, here and here.

What’s the difference between your definition of news and that of news providers? The American Press Institute notes that journalism seeks to determine “newsworthiness.” That, it says, involves verification and value.

2. Learn more about the news you turn to

What news organization produces the news you turn to, and what does its mission statement disclose about its purpose and promises?

Who does it identify as the audience it serves?

What a news organization says it stands for can be found online. For examples, search for an “About” heading, a mission statement or “policies and standards.”

Stacks of newspapers.

 

Stacks of newspapers on a New York City street.
Richard Levine/Corbis via Getty Images

3. Become familiar with journalists your news comes from

What are the names of the journalists associated with the news story, and what’s their background? Check online.

How accurate has their work been? You can turn to news research organizations like Poynter and other independent groups focused on transparency and fact-checking.

What approach do they take? Is it straight, interpretative or personal? Straight news focuses on verifiable facts. The interpretive approach adds the journalist’s understanding of the subject matter. And the personal approach offers the journalist’s opinions.

4. Compare different sources of news on the same subject

Consume news from sources across the news spectrum when possible – from local to regional to national and international.

Ask yourself the following questions: How do they frame the same news from their vantage point? What, if any, slant seems apparent? What’s the focus of their lens on the news?

5. Compare notes with others you trust and maybe don’t trust

Ask your friends, and even those who aren’t friends, what their take is on the news. What news sources do they turn to that they trust? How do they evaluate their news?

Seek out different perspectives so you can compare them with your own.

6. Seek out commentary from those who analyze news

Look for columnists or commentators whose views you share. Seek out columnists and commentators whose views you don’t share.

Here is a list provided by The Washington Post of columnists across the political spectrum, with a brief description of their focus.

The New York Times has a host of them, too. And so does the Tribune Content Agency.

Try to understand where they are coming from and why.

7. Decide what news matters to you, and what doesn’t

Be open about the news you consume.

Contact news producers when you think their news is incomplete or incorrect. Professional news producers welcome constructive feedback. They see it as beneficial to improving.

Consult other sources of news and knowledge for more insight on the news: magazines, books, podcasts and Instagram, for example.

Consume a variety of news: the good, the bad and, if necessary, the ugly.

Finally, take a break from news. Too much news overwhelms. The right diet of news enlightens.

[Over 106,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]The Conversation

Aly Colón, Knight Professor of Journalism Ethics, Washington and Lee University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Republished under a Creative Commons license from The Conversation.

Source: https://theconversation.com/how-to-consume-news-while-maintaining-your-sanity-160070 loaded 22.06.2021

Google’s history of differentiating good content from bad content

This article briefly discusses Google’s history of differentiating good (high-quality) content from bad content (low-quality) content since its inception several years ago. Initially, when Google started out, its algorithm was developed as the basis for SEO on its platform; since then it has been used to create a noticeable gap between high-quality and low-quality content. This gap has helped internet users bridge a line between good and bad content, or acceptable and unacceptable content. (Featured Image Credit: Pixabay.com.)

Google’s history of differentiating good content from bad content

How fast your Fitness may Vanish

Published 03.06.2021 by Schmitt Trading Ltd

Published May 14, 2021 5.48am EDT by Authors Dan Gordon, Associate Professor of Cardiorespiratory Exercise Physiology, Anglia Ruskin University and Justin Roberts, Associate Professor of Health and Exercise Nutrition, Anglia Ruskin University

Getting in shape isn’t easy. But after all that hard work, how long do we actually maintain it? Turns out that even the great effort we put into training, taking a bit of time off can mean that we become “unfit” much faster than it took us to actually get in shape.

To understand how the body becomes “unfit”, we first need to understand how we become fit. The key to becoming fitter – whether that’s improving cardiovascular fitness or muscular strength – is to exceed “habitual load”. This means doing more than our body is used to. The stress that this has on our body makes us adapt and become more tolerant, leading to higher fitness levels.

The time it takes to get fit depends on a number of factors, including fitness levels, age, how hard you work, and even environment. But some studies do indicate that even just six sessions of interval training can lead to increases in maximal oxygen uptake (V02 max) – a measure of overall fitness — and improve how efficiently our body is able to fuel itself using the sugar stored in our cells during exercise.

For strength training, some gains in muscle force can be shown in as little as two weeks, but changes in muscle size won’t be seen until around 8-12 weeks.

Cardiovascular fitness

When we stop training, how quickly we lose fitness also depends on many factors – including the type of fitness we’re talking about (such as strength or cardiovascular fitness).

As an example, let’s look at a marathon runner, who is in peak athletic fitness and can run a marathon in two hours and 30 minutes. This person spends five to six days a week training, running a total of 90km. They’ve also spent the last 15 years developing this level of fitness.

Now let’s say they stopped training completely. Because the body no longer has the stresses of training forcing it to stay fit, the runner will start to lose fitness within a few weeks.

Cardiorespiratory fitness – indicated by a person’s V02 max (the amount of oxygen a person can use during exericse) – will decrease around 10% in the first four weeks after a person stops training. This rate of decline continues, but at a slower rate over longer periods.

Intriguingly, though highly trained athletes (like our marathon runner) see a sharp decline in V02 max in the first four weeks, this decline eventually evens out, and they actually maintain a V02 higher than the average person’s. But for the average person, V02 max falls sharply, back to pre-training levels, in less than eight weeks.

The reason V02 max declines is due to reductions in blood and plasma volumes – which decrease by as much as 12% in the first four weeks after a person stops training. Plasma and blood volume decrease due to the lack of stress being put on our heart and muscles.

Plasma volume may even decrease by around 5% within the first 48 hours of stopping training. The effect of decreased blood and plasma volume leads to less blood being pumped around the body each heart beat. But these levels only drop to where we started – meaning we won’t get worse.

Of course, most of us aren’t marathon runners – but we’re also not immune to these effects. As soon as we stop exercising the body will start to lose these key cardiovascular adaptations at a very similar rate as highly trained athletes.

Strength training

When it comes to strength, evidence shows that in the average person, 12 weeks without training causes a significant decrease in the amount of weight we can lift. Thankfully, research shows that you maintain some of the strength you gained before you stopped training. What is intriguing is that despite the significant decrease in strength, there’s only a minimal decrease in the size of the muscle fibres.

The reason we lose muscle strength largely has to do with the fact that we’re no longer putting our muscles under stress. So when we’re no longer working our muscles hard, the muscles become “lazy”, leading the number of our muscle fibres to decrease, and fewer muscles being recruited during an activity – making us less able to lift the heavy loads we used to.

The number of muscle fibres used during exercise decreases by around 13% after just two weeks of no training – though this appears not to be accompanied by a decline in muscular force. This implies that the losses observed across the longer periods of detraining are a combination of both this initial decline in the number of muscle fibres we use, but also the slower decline in muscle mass.

For the average gym goer who lifts weights, they would experience a drop in the size of their muscles – over time finding it harder to lift heavy loads as they have less muscle fibres being recruited.

So even after all that effort to get fit, we start losing cardiovascular fitness and strength within 48 hours of stopping. But we don’t start to feel these effects for at least two to three weeks for cardiovascular fitness and around 6-10 weeks for strength. Rates of “de-training” are similar for men and women, and even for older athletes. But the fitter you are, the slower you’ll lose your gains.

Dan Gordon is an associate professor of cardiorespiratory exercise physiology at Anglia Ruskin University.

Justin Roberts is an associate professor of health and exercise nutrition at Anglia Ruskin University.

Republished under a Creative Commons license from The Conversation.

Source: https://theconversation.com/how-quickly-do-we-become-unfit-160500 loaded 01.06.2021

How To Make Money In Real Estate

The method is the most hands on method of investing. However, if you do it smart (duh), investing in real estate can generate additional sources of income and grow your savings. As an individual who has literally grown up and lived in the real estate world, I see first hand the few positives and mostly […]

How To Make Money In Real Estate

Major Pillars for a Successful Rental Property Business

Although building a real estate business requires a lot of know-how, there are some major pillars or ingredients you need to employ if you want to succeed at building a sustainable rental property business. This article discusses the major pillars or ingredients for a successful rental property business. (Featured Image Credit: Pixabay.com.)

Major Pillars for a Successful Rental Property Business

AuReus system solar panels made from waste

by Tobias Stahl on 31.05.2021
The AuREUS material can generate energy from UV light. The ultraviolet light also passes through cloud cover – generating electricity even when the sky is overcast.
James Dyson AwardThe AuREUS material can generate energy from UV light. The ultraviolet light also passes through cloud cover – and thus generates electricity even when the sky is overcast.

For 15 years now, the James Dyson Award has been presented to young people who use fresh ideas to make everyday products a little better. One of the young engineers and designers on this year’s entry list has come up with something that sounds almost too good to be true: a solar power system made from organic waste that works even without sunny weather.

The invention, submitted by 27-year-old student and inventor Carvey Ehren Maigue to last year’s James Dyson Award, is so unique that it even won its own sustainability award for the first time. The focus on sustainability is no accident: Maigue lives in the Philippines, one of the countries most affected by climate change.

Maigue’s invention, called AuREUS System Technology, is a new material that can convert UV light into energy. Unlike conventional solar panels, the fluorescent-yellow material absorbs UV light and then begins to glow. This releases energy as visible light, which in turn can be turned into electricity using tiny solar panels. If that’s not enough of an attraction for you, unlike conventional photovoltaic or solar thermal systems, the material also works under cloudy skies – and what’s more, it consists almost entirely of organic waste.

This idea makes it easy for anyone to use solar power. In the future, energy from the sun can be generated in front of the house instead of just on it. It also serves as protection from prying eyes.

“When I first competed in 2018, my invention was just a window that aimed to harness UV light, sunlight, and convert it into electricity,” Maigue tells James Dyson Award staff in an interview. “Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to make that glass at the time, but I developed the product further and lifted the concept and the technology and found other applications for it. AuREUS is actually a material or technology that allows other devices to harvest UV light and convert it into electricity. AuREUS is based on a plastic material, so it can be made into different shapes.”
Currently, inventor Carvey Maigue is working on making the fluorescent yellow material more convertible. Then it could even be used in clothing.
James Dyson FoundationCurrently, inventor Carvey Maigue is working on making the fluorescent yellow material more versatile. Then it could even be used in clothing.

The material consists of 80 percent waste, and only 20 percent is man-made. Maigue gets the waste from Philippine farmers. Their harvests have been increasingly destroyed in recent years by natural disasters such as severe storms or floods. Instead of disposing of the actually ruined harvest, it can now be used to produce the AuREUS material. At one time, the material was said to be made of 100 percent organic waste.

Now, as the winner of the Dyson Sustainability Award, the young inventor already has a number of ideas for bringing his material to the people: “I want to make threads and fabrics so that even clothing would be able to harvest ultraviolet light and convert it into electricity. We also want to make curved sheets that could be used in electric cars, airplanes and even boats.” The technology could also capture UV radiation that has so far bounced off buildings, sidewalks and streets in cities and gone unused.

“AuREUS has the opportunity to bring solar energy capture closer to people,” Maigue explains. “Just like computers used to be used only by the government or military and now the same technology is in our smartphones, I want solar energy harvesting to become more accessible.”

Translated from the original: https://efahrer.chip.de/news/student-erfindet-solaranlage-aus-abfall-sie-funktioniert-ohne-sonnenlicht_105027 loaded 01.06.2021

See also:

https://www.jamesdysonaward.org/2020/project/aureus-aurora-renewable-energy-uv-sequestration

https://www.dezeen.com/2020/11/27/aureus-carvey-ehren-maigue-james-dyson-awards-sustainability

https://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/mapuas-carvey-maigue-shortlisted-in-james-dyson-award-for-solar-device

https://www.dyson.com/newsroom/overview/features/november-2020/interview-aureus-system-technology-jda-2020

https://www.fastcompany.com/90578605/these-solar-panels-dont-need-the-sun-to-produce-energy

https://www.facebook.com/Carvey.Ehren.Maigue1

https://ask.fm/professionals/carvey-ehren-maigue%27s-email/156696020

Solar parks are being robbed throughout Europe

by Tobias Stahl on 31.05.2021
When night falls, there is no peace and quiet between the solar panels in German solar parks. In addition to birds and deer, thieves are also increasingly hanging around there.

Unfortunately, where there is expensive equipment, thieves are often not far away. It is no different in solar parks: For some time now, solar parks all over Europe have been haunted by gangs, some of them organized. They do not shy away from unconventional diversionary maneuvers.

In solar parks all over Europe, a race is on between man and technology. It is becoming increasingly common for gangs of thieves to steal expensive equipment from the parks, usually at night when it is otherwise quiet there. In January of this year, for example, 20 inverters were stolen from a solar park in Wittstock. The resulting damage amounts to around 50,000 euros. In January, inverters worth 70,000 euros were also stolen from the Zepel solar park. In the Atzendorf solar park, cable drums and emergency power generators were recently missing, and 40 inverters were also stolen from the Glaubitz solar park in March. And such incidents are no longer rare in other European countries either, reports the Austrian news portal Der Standard.

The fact that the perpetrators are often not caught, even though the heists usually last several hours and the solar parks are monitored by camera, is due to the fact that they are excellently prepared: When the thieves have overcome the most dangerous zone between the fence and the panels, it is difficult for the security forces to spot them on one of the many screens. To do this, the criminals crawl or crawl across the field, dismount the loot and have accomplices, for example, drag it outside on ropes from outside the security fence.

Although the cameras are getting better and better, they must not be over-sensitive, as birds, deer or wild boars are often on the move on the grounds at night. Too many false alarms would be just as much of a hindrance in the fight against crime as too few, as genuine alarms could then be overlooked.

Court-appointed experts such as Markus Piendl are currently working in Austria to test the safety systems by trying to overcome them. The fact that Piendl and his colleagues not only crawl across the site on all fours, but also disguise themselves with a small fir tree or a wild boar mask, shows that the criminals leave no stone unturned.

René Steinkellner, founder of the security technology company Styx, explained to Standard what happens to the solar components once they have been successfully stolen: According to the report, the stolen panels and inverters often go to Eastern Europe and from there to Africa. “Installations in Italy and Spain are often robbed, so the problem is already big there,” Steinkellner explains.

The major insurance companies have also long been aware of the problem, and accordingly they now require certain security standards before insuring a solar farm. But the cat-and-mouse game is still likely to go on for a while.

Translated from the original: https://efahrer.chip.de/news/wie-kriminelle-solarparks-leerraeumen-auch-wildschweinmasken-kommen-zum-einsatz_105028 loaded 01.06.2021

7 Important Tips You Can Use to Structure Your Permalinks for SEO

A permalink is any URL you see in the rectangular box at the top of any browser. It is used for linking any internet searcher to a post, page, or other types of content on a site; also, it is used for link building. There are some reasons why link building is important, most especially because it can optimize a site and tremendously improve its SEO.

URL means “Uniform Resource Locator”: it is an address to a particular resource or location on the Internet. So, URL is a “permanent link” which is popularly called “permalink”—the short name for “permanent link.” In essence, a permalink is a URL and does the work of a URL by linking internet searchers to specific web posts or articles, news stories, pages, or types of content.

It is important to know how to structure permalinks and change or edit them because research has proven that the structures of permalinks have an impact on internet users or site visitors who usually bookmark them or link to them from various websites.

The structure of permalinks can help a site on search engines; however, some site owners and bloggers don’t often realize this, and many of them don’t even know how to make/structure and or edit/change permalinks. The following are 7 important tips you can use to structure your permalinks for SEO:

1. Create your own shorter slug instead of using the typically longer slug created by WordPress

By default, whenever you want to publish a post, WordPress creates a “slug” which is the part of the permalink that is located immediately after your domain; the slug automatically created by WordPress is usually as long as WordPress can possibly make it.

In most cases, if the title of a post or article is not short or doesn’t contain a small number of characters, WordPress automatically makes permalinks longer than necessary. Longer permalinks usually affect clicks from visitors and most visitors are often click shorter permalinks which automatically contain shorter slugs.

For example, if your domain name is https://domain.com/, and the title of your article is about “5 of the best ways you can use to purify water”, the slug that WordPress would create is “5-of-the-best-ways-you-can-use-to-purify-water” and the permalink would be https://domain.com/5-of-the-best-ways-you-can-use-to-purify-water. Note that, generally, WordPress uses all the words in a title and creates the longest permalinks possible, rather than shorter permalinks that are more preferable for SEO.

Because of SEO, you could neglect WordPress’s usually longer slug (“5-of-the-best-ways-you-can-use-to-purify-water”) and permalink (https://domain.com/5-of-the-best-ways-you-can-use-to-purify-water) and use a shorter slug (“5-best-ways-to-purify-water”) and permalink “https://domain.com/5-best-ways-purify-water”; better still, you could make your permalink shorter by using “https://domain.com/5-ways-purify-water”.

Make your permalinks to be as short as possible because shorter permalinks are known to perform better in search engine results— The shorter, the better. If possible, keep your permalink below 100 characters, or make it to be far less than 100 characters; between 40 and 60 would be great.

2. Use dates for news content, but don’t use dates for evergreen content

When you want to publish a post, it is advisable to use dates for news stories because they occur on a particular date or around a particular period of time, and it is important to give an actual indication of when stories were actually published.

On the other hand, evergreen content like educational content doesn’t require dates because they would likely remain “fresh” or unchanged, and therefore don’t need to be “time-stamped”.

Note that if your permalink has a date that is years away from the current date, fewer people would click on it if it appears on search engine results pages. Why? Because people tend to be more attracted to recently published content.

3. Include keywords in your permalinks

Always remember to use keywords in your permalinks because they help signal to search engines (Google, Yahoo, Baidu, Bing, etc.) what your articles or posts are about; this will in turn help to boost your ranking on search engine results pages.

For example, if the title of your article is “5 of the best ways you can use to purify water”, your permalink could be https://domain.com/5-best-ways-to-purify-water or https://domain.com/best-ways-to-purify-water which is shorter. Note that the keyword is centered on “ways to purify water”; it’s advisable that the  “keywords”—“ways”, “purify”, and “water”—be included in the slug, and eventually the permalink as well.

4. Include hyphens in your permalinks to distinguish words from each other—especially keywords

Use hyphens to distinguish or separate the words in the slug part of the permalink. If you don’t use hyphens, it would be difficult for visitors and even search engines to easily understand the words in the permalink.

For example, if hyphens are not used in the slug (“5bestwaystopurifywater”) part of a permalink, the permalink would look like this https://domain.com/5bestwaystopurifywater, and confuse search engines, and especially humans whom search engines were designed for.

It would be preferable to use https://domain.com/5-best-ways-to-purify-water or https://domain.com/best-ways-to-purify-water, instead of https://domain.com/5bestwaystopurifywater which doesn’t have hyphens; doing so would make it easy for people to distinguish the words or keywords in the slug.

5. Ensure that “stop” words are not in your permalinks

Because certain words called “stop words” don’t really add any advantage to permalinks and SEO, and also don’t help search engines comprehend what your content is about, ensure that they are not included in permalinks, especially in the slug part of your permalink.

Examples of stop words include, “which”, “before”, “at”, “any”, “or”, etc. Using such words in your permalink is not important because they are simply a waste of space and would only make your permalink unnecessarily longer than usual, and affect your SEO.

6. Use “https” in Your Permalink

For SEO purposes, it’s important to have “https” in your permalink because it usually helps indicate to internet users or web visitors that your domain is “secure” or has an “SSL certificate”.

Most people know that secure domains usually have SSL certificates, and domains that don’t have SSL certificates are usually not secured. Any domain that doesn’t have an SSL certificate can be hacked and the information being transferred between the domain and visitors can be intercepted by hackers.

It’s important to note because one of Google’s targets is to make the internet user-friendly and secure for visitors, it considers SSL certificates as an important factor in ranking a domain or website. Therefore, if a site doesn’t have “https”, it would likely not rank as high as it should on search engine results pages.

7. Avoid using the names of categories in your permalink

Categories are highly valuable and many site owners use them to distinguish various types of content on their sites, Categories are additional sections in a domain, and some site owners add them to their permalinks; however, although categories are important, they make permalinks to be unnecessarily longer.

Your permalinks would be as short as possible and look “neater” and “sharper” if you don’t include categories. For example, if you remove the category “physical education” or “/physical-education/” from the permalink https://domain.com/physical-education/how-to-run-without-getting-tired/, the permalink would become https://domain.com/ how-to-run-without-getting-tired/, and be much better for SEO.

In addition, along with avoiding categories, also avoid using any permalink structure (like custom structure) which allows site owners to use “tags”, “author”, etc., in a permalink; applying these items makes it possible for WordPress to create longer permalinks which internet searchers don’t generally like to click. Keep your permalinks simple by making them as short as possible.

Conclusion

By following the tips given above on how to structure your permalink for SEO, you will be able to have a greater SEO advantage over many other domains. Remember to use “https” in your permalink, use shorter slugs instead of using the generally longer slugs that are automatically created by WordPress, use dates for news content and avoid using dates for evergreen content, use keywords and hyphens in your permalinks, don’t use “stop” words in your permalinks, and lastly, don’t include categories in your permalinks.

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