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How to Pronounce URLs in Podcasts

Filed Under: Podcasting

Quoting URLs in PodcastsWeb addresses can often be rather long and cumbersome, which may work fine in print, but don’t necessarily translate well to the spoken word. So what is the best strategy to handle URLs in podcasts?

How often have you received an e-mail from a friend or colleague that contains a link to an interesting web page, where the link spans two or three lines of the e-mail and contains all sorts of seemingly random numbers and characters? Quite often I suspect.

Accessing these sorts of links in an e-mail is really easy; just click on the link and bosh, you’re off to the website in question. However, if you had to speak the web address over the phone for example, it would be another matter entirely. So what is the best way to approach this problem of pronouncing web addresses in podcasts or via the spoken word?

URLs and Web Addresses

Before looking at how to pronounce URLs, it is first best to have a good understanding of the key components of a URL and how modern web browsers handle them.

If you’re not familiar with the term URL (just a posh name for web address really) or what the individual bits of a URL mean, then you may find my previous post on Anatomy of a URL helpful.

Some of the key points regarding URLs that can influence how we decide to pronounce them are:

  • Browsers automatically add the http:// if missing
  • Browsers automatically add the trailing / if missing
  • Browsers automatically correct backward slashes to forward
  • URLs missing the www often still work fine

A Bit of a Mouthful

So, taking these points into account, let’s imagine we have a web address that we want to convey in our podcast (excuse the gratuitous plug):

https://www.richardfarrar.com/archives/

This would sound something like:
[powerpress url=”https://www.richardfarrar.com/audio/full-url.mp3″]
A bit of a mouthful,  which took 11 seconds to say! However, as most modern web browsers will automatically add the http:// component for us if it’s missing from the URL, we are pretty safe in dropping this from our quoted web address, giving us:

www.richardfarrar.com/archives/

This would sound something like:

[powerpress url=”https://www.richardfarrar.com/audio/url-2.mp3″]

Much easier to say and easier for the listener to absorb I’m sure you’ll agree, and it only took 7 seconds to say, 4 seconds quicker.

Dropping the Trailing Slash

Not all web addresses have a trailing slash, it all depends on whether the address is pointing to a web page directly, or a directory. Only directories require the trailing slash, and while this should technically be included, things will work fine without it. So save your breath and ditch the trailing slash if the URL you intend to say has one:

www.richardfarrar.com/archives

This would sound something like:

[powerpress url=”https://www.richardfarrar.com/audio/url-3.mp3″]

This time it only took 6 seconds to pronounce the URL, almost half that of our original starting point.

Dropping the WWW

While dropping the www can make a very compact web address, and one that is likely to be easily remembered by listeners, it should be approached with a little caution.

As previously mentioned, the majority of web addresses will work without the www, however a small minority might not. So as a precaution, if you’re thinking of including a web address in your podcast without its www, check it in your web browser first just to make sure it works, before leading your listeners on a potential wild goose chase.

An additional point in the favour of dropping the www from the URL is that most people are so conditioned into thinking that a web address must begin with www, that if it’s not present, they will add it by default:

richardfarrar.com/archives

This would sound something like:

[powerpress url=”https://www.richardfarrar.com/audio/url-4.mp3″]

And we’re now down to 4 seconds, almost a third of our original spoken URL.

Forward Slash vs Slash

While the separating slashes used in URLs are the forward slash (/), most users are familiar with entering a slash in web URLs and would probably know which one to use. So when pronouncing a web URL in a podcast, you can make the URL shorter and easier to pronounce by using the term slash instead of forward slash.

If you don’t feel happy with this, try a little experiment on your web browser by entering a URL, but replacing the forward slash (/) with a backward slash (\). The chances are that the clever little web browser will automatically replace the backward slash with a forward one:

richardfarrar.com/archives

This would sound something like:

[powerpress url=”https://www.richardfarrar.com/audio/url-5.mp3″]

And we’re now down to 3 seconds, almost a quarter of our original spoken URL, which is much easier to say,  but more importantly much easier to remember by the listener.

Don’t Dig Too Deep

As a general guideline, I would only ever consider pronouncing the URL in a podcast as above in the last example with the domain name and either the root level web page or first level directory.

Trying to pronounce long directory names or pages buried deep within a site in a podcast is a fruitless exercise as nobody would ever remember the URL, and probably wouldn’t even bother to re-listen to the URL again to copy it down.

If you really need to guide someone to a buried web page, give them a URL as above and then tell them how to navigate to the required page on the website.

Alternatively, if you control the website yourself, create a new short-cut link that is easy to say and remember, which is  likely to result in much higher conversion rates.

BBC Guidelines

Whenever I’m checking how to approach new internet media, I always tend to check the BBC to see how they tackle things, on the basis that they’ve been in the broadcasting and media business for a while now (so probably know what they’re doing) and are always keen to adopt emerging Internet technologies.

I always find them a very useful yardstick, as I’m sure anything they adopt has been well thought out and considered. As such the BBC have produced a guideline document on URL Requirements, which provides a useful reference on the use of URLs in marketing and on their pronunciation.

Save Your Breath

So next time you have to pronounce a URL, don’t be a chump, save your breath and make the URL as easy to say and as short as possible. Your listener(s) are much more likely to remember it and visit the URL, which is what you are really after.

Posted on 19 August 2008Tagged: podcast, URL, urls

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BBC Radio Interview on Podcasting

Listen to my interview on BBC radio about podcasting and how long a podcast should be:

https://www.richardfarrar.com/audio/BBC-interview.mp3

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Richard Farrar

Hi, I'm Richard; an Electronic Engineer by trade, self confessed Geek, Blogger and Podcaster, although as often the case life has the habit of taking us on unplanned journeys... Read More ›

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