If you’re running a PrestaShop store, chances are you’ve come across the term PrestaShop Friendly URL more than once. It’s a popular feature that helps make your website more appealing to search engines and users alike. But what exactly does it mean? Why should you care about clean, SEO-friendly URLs, and how can you ensure your PrestaShop URLs are both pretty and functional?
In this article, we’ll walk through the importance of having clean URLs in PrestaShop, how to implement them, and why redirections matter in maintaining a seamless experience for both users and search engines.
What is a PrestaShop Friendly URL?
A PrestaShop Friendly URL refers to a URL format that is easy to read and understand by both humans and search engines. Typically, URLs are made up of random characters, numbers, and symbols, which can be confusing and difficult to remember. For example:
Messy URL:
https://www.myonlinestore.com/index.php?id_product=12&controller=product
Not only does this look unappealing, but it also doesn’t give any clear idea about what the page is about.
Now, compare that to a clean URL PrestaShop offers:
Clean URL:
https://www.myonlinestore.com/womens-shoes
Much better, right? This simple change is more than just a visual improvement—it significantly boosts your site’s SEO and user experience.
Why are Pretty URLs Important for SEO?
Search engines like Google love clean, descriptive URLs. They use them as one of the ranking factors to understand what your page is about. If a URL includes relevant keywords like “women’s shoes,” it signals to search engines that your page contains valuable information about that topic.
Here’s why Pretty URL PrestaShop settings are crucial for SEO:
Improved Crawling: Search engines can better index your pages when the URLs make sense. Clear, keyword-rich URLs help search bots understand the content and relevance of your pages.
Better User Experience: Clean, friendly URLs are easier for users to read and remember. If a customer wants to revisit a page, they can quickly find it or even type it into their browser without much effort.
Increased Click-Through Rates (CTR): Users are more likely to click on a URL that looks clean and informative in search engine results. Imagine searching for “women’s shoes” and seeing two URLs – one clean and descriptive and one full of random characters. Most users will choose the clean one, trusting that it’s more relevant.
Setting Up Pretty URL in PrestaShop
Now that you know why clean URLs in PrestaShop are important, how do you set them up? Fortunately, PrestaShop makes it relatively easy to configure SEO-friendly URLs.
Here’s how to enable Pretty URLs:
1. Login to your PrestaShop dashboard.
2. Navigate to Shop Parameters > Traffic & SEO.
3. Scroll down to the Set up URLs section.
4. Make sure that the **Friendly URL** option is enabled.
Once activated, your PrestaShop store will automatically convert its URLs into cleaner, more readable formats.
Handling Redirections in PrestaShop
Switching to PrestaShop Friendly URLs is great, but you also need to manage redirections properly. This is essential for maintaining the integrity of your website and preventing broken links.
Redirections are simply the process of forwarding one URL to another. There are a few cases where you might need to set up redirections:
1. Old URLs to New URLs: When you change a URL to a more friendly version, anyone trying to access the old link should be redirected to the new one.
2. Product or Category Changes: If you delete or update a product, you’ll want to redirect users from the outdated URL to a new relevant page.
To manage redirections in PrestaShop, you can either manually configure them using your server settings (like .htaccess) or use one of many available SEO modules designed specifically for PrestaShop. These modules allow you to handle redirections more efficiently and ensure that all old links point to the correct pages.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
While setting up Pretty URLs in PrestaShop, it’s important to avoid a few common mistakes:
Not Setting Up Redirections: If you forget to set up proper 301 redirects, users and search engines may encounter 404 errors when trying to access old URLs, hurting your SEO.
Keyword Stuffing in URLs: While it’s good to have keywords in your URLs, overloading them with too many keywords can look spammy and backfire on your SEO efforts. Keep it natural and concise.
Ignoring Special Characters: Ensure your URLs are clean, and avoid special characters (like % or &) that can make your URLs look messy.
Boiling it Down
Optimizing your PrestaShop store for SEO requires attention to detail, and your URLs are no exception. By enabling PrestaShop Friendly URLs and setting up proper redirections, you’ll improve your site’s search engine visibility, enhance the user experience, and ensure that your store’s structure remains clean and organized.
Remember, clean URLs in PrestaShop are more than just an aesthetic upgrade—they’re an essential part of building a strong, SEO-friendly online store. Whether you’re just starting or looking to revamp your current store, take the time to implement pretty URLs and watch your rankings, traffic, and sales grow.