CMSMS URL structure

[vision360]

I have been searching for an answer on this forums for a while now but can't find a clear answer. So I will try here.

It's about the CMSMS URL structure.

Let's say I have the following pages setup with pretty urls:

http://www.mydomain.com/about-us/contact
http://www.mydomain.com/products/

If I type the following url in the browser:
http://www.mydomain.com/products/contact

What happens? I was expecting a 404 (because this page is not setup) but instead I get the contact page with this url.

A client of mine is having difficulties with these url's and is afraid for duplicate content with several url's showing the same content.

Is there a way to prevent these wrong urls? I rather see a 404 showing up than something else. I don't find it logical.

I know CMSMS is an open source solution. But the URL structure is a issue that could be a reason for me to not use CMSMS anymore. To risky.

I hope someone can give some light.

[velden]

Welcome.

CMSMS will look at the last part of the url (the part after the last slash).
The last part typically is the 'alias' of the page.

You should not be afraid of duplicate content. Read about 'canonical urls' and implement those in your templates. I think canonical urls are used in the default template too.

[vision360]

Thanks for your reply.

We already use the canonical tag in the templates.

But why does CMSMS have this URL structure. It's not really of any use is it?

[vision360]

There is another thing going on.

If we have the url:
http://www.mydomain.com/about-us/contact

And you type:
http://www.mydomain.com/index.php/about-us/contact
it also works. The caniocal tag will also output that as an url. So you still have two url's with the same content.

Can we do something with the htaccess to prevent this?

[Jo Morg]

We already use the canonical tag in the templates.

But why does CMSMS have this URL structure. It's not really of any use is it?

At this point, this is sort of a "Catch-22": this feature is part of what makes CMSMS versatile... in the way 3rd party modules can register and capture urls, in the way you can customize page urls, etc... If we kill this we lose a lot of versatility.
You don't have canonical URLs set properly if you get multiple canonical entries for one unique page. Search the forums, there are plenty of tips on how to set them up.

I know CMSMS is an open source solution. But the URL structure is a issue that could be a reason for me to not use CMSMS anymore. To risky.

Your point being?...
There is no relation between CMSMS being an open source solution and this issue, and it sure is not risky. And canonical URLs properly setup will prevent any SEO issue.

[paulbaker]

Yes you can get to the same page in a number of ways, but as others have said adding canonical code to templates prevents it being an issue. And CMSMS will always generate it own links to the correct URL anyway. The only way of getting to the wrong URL is typing it in....and why would you do that?

It's always been a non-issue for me.

What sort of difficulties is your client having? Maybe there's a way round them.

[rotezecke]

a bit off subject but:
i never type URLs (who does) but some people, including myself, may remove bits from the end: e.g. go from

Code: Select all

http://www.mydomain.com/about-us/contact

to

Code: Select all

http://www.mydomain.com/about-us/

in this case the about-us page should

• exist, and
• be the parent of contact, and
• work with or without the slash

[Dr.CSS]

One of your worries is that 'someone' will type an arbitrary URL in their address bar and get to the page, which doesn't effect anything but the URL in the address bar...

If you are worried about duplicate content problems with search bots, google, bing, etc. DON'T as none of them are going to make up URLs in the address bar they just read the links on pages and follow them...