One of the many advantages of using Magento is that it respects several SEO practices to improve the positioning of your site in search engines.

But do not be deceived! Having a system that uses SEO techniques does not mean you do not have to do anything other than install. There is a lot of work to do to optimize your pages, a lot of configuration ahead.

One of these system features is Friendly URL, where you can customize url’s, rewriting the page address, the most friendly to the visitor (easy to remember).

But what’s the difference?

Using a very simple example, you can transform this:

http://www.yoursite.com/page.php?q=3456&p=null&cat=true&dir=

In a friendly url, the same url above becomes:

http://www.yoursite.com/shoes

Basically this is just a redirect, the new url functions as a mask. Therefore, you can also use this functionality to redirect old url’s from your site to new addresses.

I want, I want…

The first step to using url’s rewrite is to enable this feature on your server. If you are responsible for installing your server, then it is up to you to enable the mod_rewrite library (usually in Apache). If you use a hosting, then check with the support on the possibility of using this library, or read the specifications before hiring the service (highly recommended).

During the installation of Magento, it will question (using checkbox) if you want to enable the friendly url functionality on the system. Check this option only if you are sure that your server has the mod_rewrite library enabled, otherwise the system will not work properly after the installation.

Tip: See the Magento Inc. website the prerequisites for installing the system. If the mod_rewrite library was disabled then other important libraries may be as well.

In a few clicks

If you did not enable the rewrite during installation, do not worry. You can still turn this feature on/off through the backend. Browse in:

System > Configuration > General [Web]

In the “SEO – Search Optimization System” tab, you check whether or not you want to keep this feature active.

Applying the rewrite to the system

A clever way to use rewriting in Magento would be, for example, by creating a url like “www.yoursite.com/promotion-of-weeks/“. So you can spread this address all over the web, on social networks, with partners, printed media, etc.

And every week you can change the landing page “promotion of weeks“, redirecting to a particular hotsite, category, or product. That way you do not have to worry about the validity period of the url, or stay up to date all your partners on the new promotional url.

Let’s see how easy it is. On your backend navigate to:

Catalog > URL rewriting

A list of url’s should be listed. They are all managed by the system itself to make the site more search engine friendly. But you have the freedom to edit them. By clicking the “Create Url” button, you have a form available to create the new redirects.

The important thing here is to inform a valid base path, that is, a url that exists within your domain.

In this example I quoted the url “week-33“, so in my domain there should be the url “www.yoursite.com/week-33“. And whenever someone clicks on “promotions-of-week” you will be redirected to the “week-33” promotion until I decide to change.

Nothing is constant except change

This thought of Heraclitus well defines the importance of this functionality in the system.

Use with moderation and intelligence.

Success!