The importance of website URL structure is often undervalued in website operation, but it has a profound impact on search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience (UX).A clear, concise, and meaningful URL that not only helps search engines better understand the content of the page, improve crawling efficiency and ranking, but also allows users to have expectations about the page content before visiting, thereby enhancing trust and click-through intent.AnQiCMS (AnQiCMS) fully understands this and provides powerful and flexible tools, allowing you to easily optimize the URL structure of your website.

AnQiCMS URL structure optimization basics

AnQiCMS focuses its URL optimization capabilities on the two core functions of 'pseudo static' and '301 redirect'.SEO-friendly, as the name implies, it is to make dynamically generated pages look like static files in the URL, which is very friendly for search engine crawling.In the AnQiCMS backend, you can find the entry point for the setting of '伪静态规则' under the '功能管理' menu.

The system comes with a variety of pseudo-static rules for your selection, such as the 'numeric mode' that may generate something like/article/123.htmlof the URL, while the "Model Naming Pattern" or "Category Naming Pattern" may generate/article/seo-optimization.htmlor/category/web-design/such URLs. These preset patterns can meet the basic needs of most websites.

However, the true potential of URL structure optimization is realized by the "Custom Mode" provided by AnQiCMS.It allows you to finely design the URL format for each type of content according to your SEO strategy and website content characteristics, achieving high flexibility and control.

Build Search Engine Friendly URLs

To build search engine friendly URLs, we can follow several core principles:

  1. Clear and readable:Avoid URLs that are lengthy and contain too many unnecessary parameters. Users and search engines prefer addresses that are easy to understand at a glance.
  2. Include keywords:Naturally integrate the core keywords into the URL, which helps search engines determine the page topic.
  3. Concise and clear:URL length is moderate; overly long URLs may be truncated in search engine results pages, affecting user clicks.
  4. Maintain consistency:The URL structure of the entire website should maintain a uniform style, avoiding a mixture of various irregular naming methods.

In AnQiCMS, you can practice these principles by following the following steps:

  1. Enter the pseudo-static rule settings:Access the 'Function Management' page under the background and select 'Custom Mode'.

  2. Define rule variables:In custom mode, you can set exclusive URL rules for different types of content such as documents (archive), categories (category), single pages (page), and tags (tag). AnQiCMS provides a series of available variables to help you construct URLs, such as:

    • {id}【en】The unique ID of the content.
    • {filename}The custom link alias (slug) for content.
    • {catname}The custom link alias for categories.
    • {module}: Model table name for the content (such asarticleRepresents the article model.
    • {page}Page number.

    For example, you can set the URL rule for documents to bearchive===/{module}/{filename}.htmlso your article URL may display as/article/seo-optimization-guide.html，instead of/article.php?id=123. For categories, you can set ascategory===/{catname}/, generating like/web-design/link.

  3. Manage custom link aliases (filenameandcatname):This is a critical step in URL optimization.In AnQiCMS, no matter if you are creating a new document, category, tag, or single page, the system will automatically generate a pinyin-formatted custom URL alias based on the title content you enter.

    • Document (article/product)Find the "Custom URL" field when editing the document.The default pinyin alias is usually very long, you can shorten it to a few English words or meaningful pinyin combinations based on the core keywords on the page.anqicms-seo-youhua-zhinanOptimized toanqicms-seo-guidePlease ensure that this alias is unique across the entire site. Otherwise, the system will automatically add a numerical suffix to ensure uniqueness.
    • Categories, tags and single-pageIn editing this content, there will also be a "Custom URL" field.The principle and documentation are the same, you can set concise and meaningful English or pinyin aliases according to its topic./about-us.html.

By reasonably utilizing these variables and custom aliases, you can make the URL contain keywords while remaining clear and concise, thereby enhancing the search engine friendliness of the page.

Utilize 301 redirects to maintain URL stability

During the operation of the website, it is common to adjust the structure of content, merge or delete pages.If the page is changed or deleted without any handling, the existing external links and search engine收录 will become invalid, leading to users accessing a 404 page and also losing weight.The '301 Redirect Management' feature of AnQiCMS is specifically designed to solve this problem.

Under the "Feature Management" menu, you can find "301 Redirect Management". When you need to change the URL of a page, for example,/old-page.htmlto/new-seo-friendly-page.htmlYou only need to add a 301 redirect rule here, pointing the old URL to the new URL.This way, when users or search engines access the old URL, they will be automatically and permanently redirected to the new URL, ensuring a good user experience and avoiding the loss of SEO weight.It is particularly important when adjusting the large-scale URL structure.

complementary work outside of URL optimization

In addition to the direct optimization of the URL structure, AnQiCMS also provides many SEO-related tools that complement URL optimization:

  • Sitemap generation:Ensure that all your important URLs are included in the Sitemap and submit them to search engines promptly to help them discover and index your new URLs more quickly.
  • Robots.txt configuration:Properly configuring Robots.txt can inform search engines which pages can be crawled and which pages should not be, thereby guiding search engines to handle your URLs more efficiently.
  • Keyword library management:By using the keyword library, you can better plan content and reflect it in the URL alias.
  • TDK (Title, Description, Keywords) Setup:Set independent TDK for each page, along with optimized URLs, to provide clear page information to search engines.

In summary, AnQiCMS provides comprehensive support for optimizing the URL structure of websites.From flexible pseudo-static rules, to fine-grained custom URL alias management, to the indispensable 301 redirect feature, these tools can help you build a website that is both SEO-friendly and user-experience enhancing.Keep a close eye on and optimize your URL structure is a key step for a website to succeed in a highly competitive online environment.

Common Questions (FAQ)

1. I set a custom URL alias, but the front-end link still doesn't change, or a 404 page appears when clicked. What's the matter?This situation usually occurs for two reasons.Firstly, you may not have selected the 'Custom Mode' and saved under 'Feature Management' -> 'URL Rewrite Rules', or the custom rules you set do not match the URL format you want to implement.