Creating Short URLs for Webpages

Why create short URLs for webpages?

Assume you have a webpage for an upcoming event located at this address:

http://www.yoursite.com/events/spring/annual-dinner-2012

You want to advertise your event, but clearly that URL is too long for radio ads, cards, and billboards. Using the CMS, you create a short URL that points to the long address:

http://www.yoursite.com/annual-dinner

In the language of the CMS, that first, long URL is a Canonical URL. The second, shorter URL is an Additional Page URL.

TIP: For an explanation of Additional Page URL(s), what they are, and their relationship to the Canonical URL, see the previous step.

Steps for creating short URLs for Pages

  1. Go to the Page to which you want to redirect.

  2. Hover over Edit and press Properties.

  3. Click on the Page Paths & Location tab.

  4. Enter More URL(s).

    Assume that your Canonical URL is http://www.yoursite.com/board-of-directors/new-members-for-2012, & you want two Additional Page URLs to point, or redirect, to that Canonical URL:

    • http://www.yoursite.com/board/new

    • http://www.yoursite.com/new-board

    In the More URL(s) field, you would enter exactly the following and then click on Add Path:

    /board/new

    Next, you would enter exactly the following and then click on Add Path again:

    /new-board

    Note in both cases that:

    • You did NOT enter in the domain name, http://www.yoursite.com

    • You put everything after the domain name, including the / (a forward slash, found below the question mark on your keyboard)

    • You used all small letters (numbers are OK too) and hyphens instead of spaces

    • You did NOT end with an HTML. That will not work, so never end with ”.html”.

    WARNING: Read those four preceding bullet points again and make sure you understand them!

  5. Press Save.

    Now visitors can go to http://www.yoursite.com/new-board, for example, and end up at http://www.yoursite.com/new-board-members-for-2012.

  6. Test!

    Test your work by going to the Additional Page URL(s) that you created. If you don’t end up at the Canonical URL, check to make sure that you followed the rules given in the previous step, Enter More URL(s).

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