When we manage our website content, the link (URL) in the address bar is often a detail that is easily overlooked.However, a clear and organized URL structure not only makes it easier for visitors to understand the content of the page, but is also the foundation for search engines to effectively crawl and display website information.A good URL can not only enhance the user experience but also directly affect the performance of the website in search results.

AnQiCMS was designed with SEO needs in mind from the very beginning, providing a wealth of tools and flexible configuration options to help us build search engine-friendly URL structures.This includes settings for pseudo-static, 301 redirect management, and custom content links, etc.

The core function and advantages of AnQiCMS URL structure

AnQiCMS in URL structure optimization provides a variety of practical features, allowing us to easily configure:

  1. Flexible pseudo-static configurationThe website's URL looks more like a static page address, for exampleyourdomain.com/article/anqicms-seo.htmlInsteadyourdomain.com/?id=123This format is more friendly to search engines and more descriptive. AnQiCMS has built-in multiple pseudo-static rules and supports customization to meet the needs of different websites.
  2. Content Custom URL
  3. 301 Redirect ManagementWhen the page URL changes, content merges, or the website structure is adjusted, 301 redirect can ensure that the original traffic and search engine weight are not lost.The built-in 301 redirect function of AnQiCMS allows us to easily manage these redirect rules.
  4. Support for Canonical URLIn some cases, there may be more than one URL pointing to a page with the same or similar content.By setting canonical links, we can tell search engines which URL is the "preferred" version, thus avoiding duplicate content issues and concentrating SEO weight.
  5. Comprehensive SEO Tools Assistance：Besides the URL structure itself, AnQiCMS also provides tools such as automatic Sitemap generation and Robots.txt configuration, which indirectly assist search engines in more efficiently and accurately crawling and indexing our content.

Practice Steps: Create Search Engine Friendly URL Structure

Step 1: Select and Configure URL Rewriting Rules

The first step in optimizing the URL structure is to enable and configure pseudo-static.In AnQiCMS backend, you can find the 'URL Rewrite Rules' setting under the 'Feature Management' menu.

AnQiCMS provides four built-in rewrite rules that usually cover most website needs:

  • Number PatternThe ID of the content is mainly used in the URL, for example/article/123.htmlThis pattern is concise but lacks descriptiveness.
  • Model naming pattern: The URL contains the model name (such asarticleorproduct) and content alias, for example/article/anqicms-tutorial.html. More friendly to English sites, clearly indicating the content type.
  • Category naming pattern 1/2：URL includes the category name and alias of content, which can more clearly show the level of content relationship.

We recommend, for most corporate websites and content sites,Model naming patternorCategorization naming patternsIt will bring better SEO effects, as URLs of these patterns are more semantically meaningful.

If the built-in rules cannot fully meet your needs, you can choose the 'Custom mode' for more fine-grained configuration. In Custom mode, you can use the following common variables to build URLs:

  • {id}：Content's unique digital ID.
  • {filename}：Content's custom URL alias, usually the pinyin or English of the content title.
  • {catname}：Custom URL alias for the category.
  • {catid}：Category ID.
  • {module}：Content model (such asarticleorproduct）URL alias.
  • {page}：Used for pagination, indicating the page number.

Tip:Build custom URLs following the principle of 'short, concise, and accurate'. The shorter the URL, the better, including core keywords, and using hyphens-Replace spaces, avoid using underscores_Or other special characters. For example, instead of usingyourdomain.com/article_detail?id=123，chooseyourdomain.com/article/anqi-cms-url-optimization.html.

Step 2: Refine content custom URL

After configuring the rewrite rules, the next step is to fully utilize the 'Custom URL' field when adding or editing content.This feature exists on the article, category, and tag editing pages.

  • Article/ProductIn "Publish document" or "Publish productSystem will usually generate a pinyin alias automatically.You can manually modify it as needed to ensure it contains the main keywords while keeping it concise.anqi-cms-url-optimization-tutorial.
  • Document CategoryIn the "Document Classificationwebsite-seo-guide.
  • Document LabelIn the 'Document Tag' management, you can also set custom URL aliases for each tag, for example,cms-best-practices.

Important Notice：Custom URL must ensure it is unique throughout the entire site. If the alias entered already exists, the system will automatically add numbers to ensure uniqueness.

Third step: Make full use of 301 redirect