The Importance of Custom URLs in eCommerce SEO with commercebuild
Table of Contents
In the dynamic world of eCommerce, having control over your online presence is vital for success. One key aspect of this control lies in the structure of your product page URLs. commercebuild, a powerful eCommerce platform designed for both B2C and B2B businesses, has recently introduced a feature that allows users to customize product URLs, known as “Custom URLs.” This feature provides significant advantages in how search engines interact with your product pages. For detailed guidance on enabling and using this feature, refer to the commercebuild support article.
With over seven years of experience optimizing websites on the commercebuild platform, we’ve gained deep insights into the platform’s SEO capabilities. One feature that has recently stood out is the “Custom URL” functionality. This tool allows for the assignment of personalized, SEO-friendly URLs to products, which can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your online store.
This article will explore the pros and cons of using this feature in greater detail than before.
Why Custom URLs in commercebuild Are Game-Changing
Activating Custom URLs in commercebuild brings numerous benefits:
- Consistent Product Recognition: Custom URLs stay linked to a product throughout its life, ensuring consistency that makes it easier for users and search engines to find and index your products. This stability also helps maintain the integrity of backlinks and bookmarks, boosting SEO performance.
- Automatic Canonical URL Assignment: The Custom URL is automatically designated as the canonical URL for the product, eliminating the need for manual intervention. This automation reduces errors and saves time, which is vital for effective SEO since canonical URLs prevent duplicate content issues.
- Efficient Bulk Management: Custom URLs can be managed individually or in bulk via CSV/XLS/XLSX data import/export, allowing for streamlined management of large product inventories and ensuring consistency across all product URLs.
- Built-in Functionality: commercebuild offers out-of-the-box functionality for setting up Custom URLs tied to Product Descriptions or Secondary Descriptions, without the need for additional plugins.
- URL Stability: Once set, a Custom URL remains unchanged even if there’s a decoupling between Sage and commercebuild’s Product Descriptions. This consistency is crucial for maintaining SEO rankings, as changing URLs can disrupt search engine indexing.
- Fewer 404 Errors: Custom URLs reduce the likelihood of 404 errors and the need for permanent redirects due to changes in Product Names within Sage. This is essential for both user experience and SEO since 404 errors can frustrate users and harm search engine rankings.
- Preservation of Traditional URLs: When a Custom URL is created, the original URLs (such as https://<domain_name>/<category1>/<permalink> and https://<domain_name>/parent-brand/<brand_name>/<permalink>) remain active as automatic redirects to the Custom URL. This ensures that existing links to your product pages remain functional.
The Drawbacks: Challenges with commercebuild’s Custom URLs
While the benefits are compelling, there are challenges to consider:
- Complexity in Setup: Establishing and maintaining Custom URLs can be complex without a systematic approach, requiring a solid understanding of SEO principles and the specific requirements of the commercebuild platform.
- Not a Publishing Shortcut: Setting up a Custom URL alone does not publish the product on your website; additional steps are necessary to make the product visible to customers.
- Category Limitations: Custom URLs are only functional for products categorized as B2C/B2B; they do not work for products assigned to a brand but not a B2C/B2B category.
- Dependency on Permalinks: Traditional URLs set before enabling a Custom URL will redirect traffic to the Custom URL until the product’s permalink changes. While this doesn’t affect organic search rankings, it can impact referral traffic from backlinks and bookmarks.
Best Practices for Optimizing Custom URLs in commercebuild
To make the most of commercebuild’s Custom URL feature, consider the following tips:
- Establish a URL Pattern: Create a consistent rule for your URLs (e.g., <brand>-<sku||mpn>-<collection||series>-<product name>-<product type>-<product material/finish>-<color||size>) to maintain a predictable URL structure.
- Keep URLs Simple and Short: A simple, short URL is easier to remember, share, and fits comfortably within character limits on platforms like Twitter.
- Use Lowercase Letters: Always use lowercase letters in Custom URLs to avoid potential issues with case-sensitive servers.
- Avoid Special Characters and Spaces: Exclude special characters (except dashes) and spaces in URLs to prevent browser and platform issues.
- “Slugify” Your URLs: Use a “Slugify” formula to convert text into a Custom URL format. For example, in Google Sheets, you could use this formula: =LOWER(REGEXREPLACE(REGEXREPLACE(REGEXREPLACE(TRIM(A2),”[^a-zA-Z0-9]+”,”-“), “-{2,}”, “-“), “^-+|-+$”, “”))
- Backup Your URLs: Always keep a backup of your Custom URLs to avoid losing valuable data in case of errors.
Key Considerations Before Using Custom URLs
Enabling Custom URLs affects various product types and content pages. The Custom URL follows the format: https://<domain_name>/<custom_url>, with the Custom URL serving as the canonical address. A product assigned to multiple categories will appear under each category and be accessible via the Custom URL. Changes in permalinks for products with Custom URLs have little impact on organic traffic, as the canonical address remains consistent.
If you disable Custom URLs, all previously set Custom URLs stay active, but the automatic redirects from Traditional to Custom URLs stop, and Traditional URLs regain authority. Re-enabling Custom URLs restores them as the authoritative URL and reactivates the redirects.
Conclusion: Making the Right Choice for Your eCommerce SEO
Enabling Custom URLs in commercebuild offers substantial benefits, such as enhanced SEO, consistent product identification, and reduced 404 errors. However, these advantages come with challenges that require careful consideration. It’s essential to weigh these factors and decide based on your specific business needs.
Ensuring proper handling of URL changes is critical to maintaining your search engine rankings, traffic, conversions, and sales. If you need assistance setting up and managing the Custom URL functionality on your commercebuild-powered website, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our experienced SEO professionals are ready to help you optimize your site’s performance.
