Content URL Structure

This document explains how content URLs are formatted and what determines their structure in your CMS. Understanding these rules will help you recognize, share, and configure content links across your site.

Content URLs are built from several key elements:

• Domain: The full domain name that will be used.
• Prefix: This is a word or short phrase that appears at the start of the URL, such as news, sports, or article. The prefix is based on the Content Type or Publication settings.
• Content ID: Each content has a unique number, which is included in the URL.
• Slug: This is a readable, SEO-friendly version of the article title, using hyphens instead of spaces. If the title is missing or cannot be converted, a default word like article is used.
• Date (optional): Some URL formats include the article’s publication date.

Domain

The domain is selected based on the Publication’s domain, as defined in the Publisher Configuration.

If the domain field for the publication is empty, then your default domain is used.

URL Formats

Depending on your site’s configuration, article URLs can appear in several formats. Here are the most common patterns:

1. Default Format
   /[prefix]/[article-id]-[slug]
   Example: /news/1234-breaking-news

2. HTML Format
   /[prefix]/[article-id]/[slug].html
   Example: /news/1234/breaking-news.html

3. Slug-Only Format
   /[prefix]/[slug]
   Example: /news/breaking-news

4. Date Format
   /[prefix]/[YYYY-MM-DD]-[slug]/
   Example: /news/2025-07-02-breaking-news/

Prefix

The prefix element of the URL is determined through these rules. If one of the rules passes, the decision process stops and this rule is accepted.

1. Content Type

In Publisher Configuration, find a Content Type and click on its name to edit it.

If this Slug field is filled, it is used as prefix and further rule evaluation is stopped.

For example, for a content with type “Recipe”, you would want to have all recipes have a prefix of recipe.

2. Publication

In Pubilsher configuration, find a Publication and click on its name to edit it.

If the field URL Prefix for Content is filled, it will be used. For example, for all “Business Edition” content, their prefix can be business. Note that a Publication can also have its own domain.

3. Default

The default slug article is used.

Slug

• The slug is usually based on the article title, using only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens.
• If the title is missing or cannot be converted, the word article is used instead.
• Special characters are removed or replaced to ensure the URL is web-friendly.

Customization

If you need a specific URL format that is not covered, contact your CMS administrator.