Create a Custom URL

What's inside this article:

• Basic information
• Create a Custom URL from the Custom URL list
• Create a Custom URL from the Section / Infopage edit page
• Guidelines
• Update the URL for a published page

Basic information

A Custom URL is a short piece of human-readable text (normally 1-3 words) that replaces the numerical ID in a page URL.

Creating a Custom URL has the following benefits:

• Descriptive URLs tell users where they will go after clicking a link.
• URLs that include keywords might rank more highly on search engine results pages.
• Consistent use of descriptive, user-friendly URLs boosts the authority of your domain for search engines.

From Pangea CMS, you can create a Custom URL for the following page types:

• Section
• Infopage
• Category page

The following rules apply for Sections:

• You can create a Custom URL for a standalone Section page. If the Section is merged with a Category, the Custom URL for the Section is not used. You need to create a Custom URL for the Category page. For detailed information about merging Sections and Categories, see the following article:
  • Merge a Section and a Category
• You do not need to create a Custom URL for your homepage.

Create a Custom URL from the Custom URL list

From the Custom URL list in Pangea CMS, you can create a Custom URL for a Section, Infopage, or Category page.

To open the list, go to Settings > Custom URL.

Hit + Add new to create a new Custom URL.

Create a Custom URL from the Section / Infopage edit page

You can create a Custom URL for an individual Section / Infopage from the edit page for the Section / Infopage in Pangea CMS.

Create the Custom URL via SEO > Custom URL.

You can create a Custom URL for a standalone Section page. If the Section is merged with a Category, the Custom URL for the Section is not used. You need to create a Custom URL for the Category page from the Custom URL list. For detailed information about merging Sections and Categories, see the following article:

• Merge a Section and a Category

Guidelines

To create an effective Custom URL, we suggest following the basic guidelines below:

• Use only lower-case letters (even for proper nouns). For example, use russia and not Russia.
• Use hyphens (-) to separate words. For example, russia-invades-ukraine.
• Do not include redundant words with no semantic value (such as the and a).
• You might create Custom URLs in English or your local language. However, it is important to use the same language for all Custom URLs on your site.
• Search engines crawl and index URLs, so consider including keywords at the beginning of the Custom URL that reflect the page content.

Examples of effective Custom URLs are as follows:

• https://www.rferl.org/russia-invades-ukraine
• https://pressroom.rferl.org/journalists-in-trouble
• https://www.voanews.com/press-freedom

The following rules apply for creating a Custom URL in Pangea CMS:

• The Custom URL must start with a letter.
• The Custom URL can include only letters, numbers, hyphens (-), and underscores (_).
• The Custom URL can include non-Latin script, as the Custom URL feature supports Unicode.
• Each Custom URL must be unique. You cannot use the same Custom URL for more than one page.
• The following URLs are reserved for special pages and cannot be used as a Custom URL:
  • api
  • mobapp
  • podcast
  • rss
  • staticreport

NOTE: You can create Custom URLs that are derivatives of the reserved URLs (such as 'podcastok' and 'podcast-patsany').

Update the URL for a published page

If you create a Custom URL for a published page that did not previously have a Custom URL, no further action is required. The default URL will automatically redirect to the Custom URL.

If you change the Custom URL for a published page, the old Custom URL will no longer work. We suggest manually creating a URL redirect from the old Custom URL to the new one. For instructions, see the following article:

• Create a URL redirect