admin tree "Virtual Pages" to organize root level pages and keep Admin Pages Tree tidy

[SwimToWin]

BACKGROUND

SEO matters and so hiding pages behind a "section" is not necessarily good - example:

• Current practice is to show the pages "Foo, Bar, Baz" in a section.
  • https://www.example.com/resources/foo
  • https://www.example.com/resources/bar
  • https://www.example.com/resources/baz
• For SEO reasons, it's better to show the page at root level like so:
  • https://www.example.com/foo
  • https://www.example.com/bar
  • https://www.example.com/baz

PROBLEM: LACK OF ORGANIZATION WHEN ALL PAGES ARE PUBLISHED AT ROOT LEVEL

This design is fully possible today. However, the root folder becomes disorganized when all pages are published in the root - and the pages tree structure is not of much use when all pages are published in the root.

SOLUTION: VIRTUAL PAGES TO THE RESCUE

As a publisher, when publishing many pages that have a root level url, I want to organize my pages below a Virtual Page (that doesn't have a url), so that pages are organized in a Pages Tree Structure (using "Virtual Pages").

What is a "Virtual Page"?

• Virtual Page can never have a name (Admin -> Page -> Settings -> Name).
  • The Name field is simply blank
  • The Name field is never used in the url for child pages.
• Virtual Page is a container used to organize other pages.
• Virtual Page is never shown in the front-end.
• Virtual Page is shown in the Editing interface only.
• Virtual Page might have a Template - but the template can only be used in the Admin interface.
• Virtual Page might have fields (Title, Summary, Text etc.) - but the contents cannot be shown online.

[AndZyk]

Hello @SwimToWin,

just out of curiosity:

1 hour ago, SwimToWin said:

For SEO reasons, it's better to show the page at root level like so:

• https://www.example.com/foo
• https://www.example.com/bar
• https://www.example.com/baz

Is there a source for this statement? I don't quite believe that this makes any difference at all.

Also you can already achieve this by using for example URL segments on your homepage: https://processwire.com/docs/front-end/how-to-use-url-segments/
You would just have to check the URL segment with the page somewhere else in the page tree.

Regards, Andreas

[bernhard]

And not to forget URL hooks: https://processwire.com/blog/posts/pw-3.0.173/#making-short-urls-of-all-blog-posts

[DV-JF]

Here's a detailed example of how to achieve this with URL segments:

 

[millipedia]

3 hours ago, SwimToWin said:

BACKGROUND

SEO matters and so hiding pages behind a "section" is not necessarily good - example:

• Current practice is to show the pages "Foo, Bar, Baz" in a section.
• For SEO reasons, it's better to show the page at root level like so:
  • https://www.example.com/foo
  • https://www.example.com/bar
  • https://www.example.com/baz

Hopefully those other suggestions will help answer your question, but like @AndZyk I'd be interested to see what the justification is for not organising your pages in sections.

My feeling is that hiding navigational elements is more likely to have a detrimental effect on usability (and hence SEO). I can't be the only one who occasionally edits a URL to navigate up a level (ok, I might be). Perhaps it's different if you have a limited number of products on a site but I think having a decent hierarchy is going to be better for users.

[wbmnfktr]

Well... https://github.com/Toutouwai/VirtualParents

[wbmnfktr]

Short URLs VS Flat URL Structure

Does URL Length Affect SEO?
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/does-url-length-affect-seo/425230/

Google: No Benefit to An Artificially Flat URL Structure
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-no-benefit-to-an-artificially-flat-url-structure/400609/

[SwimToWin]

1) It seems, the SEO reason that I gave is being taken very literaly. To me, it's more a matter of having built-in flexibility to structure pages without necessarily exposing the structure. I may not want to expose the parent page in the front-end.

2) "Virtual Pages" aligns with Ryan's "no assumptions" design principle. ProcessWire allows the admin to structure pages - but doesn't make (too many) assumptions about how these pages are output in the frontend. Or, to put it in the words of Ryan, "ProcessWire doesn't control the front-end, there are very few assumptions that can be made from an editing perspective." See also: No assumptions (cute interview!).

3) Short urls are cool - SEO or not - and "Virtual Pages" help me achieve that. Consider these versions of the same url:

• Long: www.example.com/book-reviews/wheres-wally-in-hollywood/
• Short: www.example.com/wheres-wally-in-hollywood/

4) WordPress has a bunch of change / shortify your urls tools - some quick examples:

• https://wordpress.org/support/article/pages/#changing-the-url-of-your-pages
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/url-shortify/

@bernhard URL hooks are nice. Thanks for that pointer.

@wbmnfktr Thanks for the VirtualParents module link. I'm trying not to use plug-ins and would prefer to have this flexibility built-in (or use hooks).

Thanks for constructive inputs and perspective. I'll rest my case.