Take care when changing the section name
Advisory
Impact
The use of the section name for the URL means that if you change the section name after the page has published, this will also change the page's URL and the URLs of any of its subpages.
This should be avoided whenever possible, as it can:
- affect search engine listings of the page and its subpages.
- break links if websites outside the University have linked to the old URL of the page or its subpages.
- break bookmarks / favourites that people may have saved for the page or its subpages.
- mean that any URLs already in print will no longer work, including those created as QR codes (which will need to be recreated).
Example
If a webpage has the URL https://www.exeter.ac.uk/polar/habitat and you change the 'habitat' section name to 'environment', then the URL will change to https://www.exeter.ac.uk/polar/environment.
If the page has a subpage called 'weather', with the URL https://www.exeter.ac.uk/polar/habitat/weather, then when you change the name of the 'habitat' section the URL of its subpage will also change to https://www.exeter.ac.uk/polar/environment/weather, even though you didn't edit that subpage directly.
If you must change the section name, it may be worth preserving the existing URL by adding an Output URI to your page. This situation can also be avoided altogether by giving your page an Output URI when it's created.
Further reading
To fully understand the URL of your page, please read 'The web address: overview', followed by the following, in order:
- Take care when changing the section name (this page)
- The Output URI
