Custom URLs

[john@idplususa.com]

We are looking to customize the URLs on our site but have not found a way to do this with 7.0.6. Currently when we set up a new page (products page, category page, or custom webpage) it defaults the address of that page to something like this:

http://www.domain.com/Webpage.aspx?WebpageId=11
http://www.domain.com/Categorie-Name-C63.aspx

Is there a way to customize this address to something specific that we want with the newest version 7.0.6? We have recently upgraded but can't get it to work.

I have created a custom ‘Webpage’ item and see under one of the options it has a field for ‘Custom Url’ but when I type the custom URL in the field it still doesn’t change the viewable page to that address. Nor when I type in that exact address does it go to the specific page.

We have also enabled ‘Custom Extensions’ from the SEO->Settings page hoping that that would fix the problem but it doesn’t look like it does anything either.

[AbleMods]

Custom Extensions is only necessary if you want to eliminate the .aspx from the end of a URL

If you just want to change the URL of a category display page or WebPage, simply specify that new page URL in the Custom Url field. This field is available when you edit a Product, Category or Web Page in the store catalog.

When specifying the new page URL, you must still include a .aspx on the end unless you have Custom Extensions enabled. So for a category, enter "MyStuffForSale.aspx" in that category's Custom Url field and save it. Now navigate to <yoursite>/MyStuffForSale.aspx and the category you edited will be displayed with the new URL.

[krittleb]

I have been searching for some kind of "tutorial" on how best to utilize the new SEO functions available in 6.0. Does some kind of tutorial exist??

Some questions I have:

1- Will we have to set up some kind of page redirect if we do change our product URL's? How do we do that to avoid problems with all our currently indexed pages we are wanting to change URL's on so they don't screw us up on Google? We are just finally consistently getting on page one for Google on our main key word after 3 years and do NOT want to screw that up!!

2- What are the advantages of using custom extensions? I saw a different post earlier regarding whether having a .aspx extension is negative for page ranking and if it is advantageous to change, we should do that at the same time we change our URL's.

I would also just like a general overview of all the new options, when best to apply them, etc. if such a thing exists.

[AbleMods]

Kristi,

I am by no means an expert but I will offer what knowledge I have.....

1- Will we have to set up some kind of page redirect if we do change our product URL's? How do we do that to avoid problems with all our currently indexed pages we are wanting to change URL's on so they don't screw us up on Google? We are just finally consistently getting on page one for Google on our main key word after 3 years and do NOT want to screw that up!!

No. Custom URLs specified on a category or product do not override the original AC7-manufactured URL. So both URLs still reach a valid and relevant destination.

More importantly, I feel compelled to ask why you would ever want to mess with your SEO if you're consistently gaining ground over the last 3 years? Whatever you are doing, it's obviously working.

2- What are the advantages of using custom extensions? I saw a different post earlier regarding whether having a .aspx extension is negative for page ranking and if it is advantageous to change, we should do that at the same time we change our URL's.

Custom extensions offer the ability to have a cleaner-looking URL such as http://www.hairbowcenter.com/HairBows and perhaps add a (albeit small) of keyword relevance to the URL. Whether this indeed has a noticeable impact remains to be seen imho. One more reference word on an entire page of content rarely makes-or-breaks the SEO barrier to Page 1 results.

If having a .ASPX extension on the page URL gave a negative page ranking, a significant portion of the entire internet would be at the bottom. So I completely disagree with that statement.

In the end, every little bit counts. Eliminating .aspx extensions alone will most likely go unnoticed. But combined with improved keyword targeting, better (and more) relevant content, plenty of relevant inbound site links and CPC marketing....then you would see some improvement. How much or how little is still somewhat voodoo in the industry and entirely dependent on the search engine(s) involved.

[krittleb]

Thanks Joe!

That clears up a lot!

So, we will proceed without changing extensions and am happy to not have to worry about re-directs.

We have realized significant sales improvements every time we scuttle onto the bottom of the first page for our main key work "grosgrain ribbon" but it has seemed like a long 3 years to get to this point. We are hoping that with a few more tweaks such as optimizing page url's, we can climb up to at least mid-page and stay there instead of continually dropping back off every week. It is very frustrating as some of the sites on page one are horrible cheap template sites that look generic and are obviously not well-optimized. I think most are there simply because they have "grosgrain ribbon" in the title of their home page which leads me to believe that a secure first-page ranking should not be that difficult considering the sites that are there already! We shall see what URL optimization does...

*Edit - Also, what about duplicate content? If both URL's link to the same page, is this a ding with the search engine's?

[AbleMods]

*Edit - Also, what about duplicate content? If both URL's link to the same page, is this a ding with the search engine's?

The general (translate: voodoo) consensus is duplicate content can/might/maybe ding you negative. Again, all depends on how duplicated it is. Worst case scenario is the duplicated link drops down while the other stays up....in theory

Remember SEO rank/position all depends on inbound linkage to that page. If the vast majority of inbound links arrive at one URL versus the other, the one will nearly always rank higher regardless.

[deverill]

Regarding duplicate content, Matt Cutts, the head of the web-spam division of Google and de facto mouthpiece of anything official from Google, has stated publicly much along the lines of what Joe says above about duplicate content. There is no duplicate content penalty yet when faced with two pages with identical content Google must decide which one to rank higher and drop the other down because two identical pages are not of value to Google visitors.

He goes on to suggest that you be careful if you submit an article, for example, as a syndicated article because Google will have a hard time figuring out which one of the pages out there is the original and someone else may get ranked higher than you, the author of it. If both pages are on your site then you don't really care if one is boosted up and one is down as long as one is a clear winner and brings customers.

I would also add that the same is true of incoming links as syndication. If you have people link to your page make sure you do your best to get them all to link to the same URL or your value (in Google's eyes) will be split over two pages and it will hurt your rank.

Keep in mind that this is from Google and may or may not be true with Bing, Yahoo, etc. but it seems they often follow the paths blazed by Google.
Hope it helps,
Jim