Persistent Item URLs

Hi All,

Over the last 12 months, the newly created Organic Growth Team has been working on identifying risks to (and opportunities for!) existing organic traffic (largely Google search) to the Envato marketplaces.

Our websites are built on a 10-year-old code base that was largely built before many SEO best practices were best practice. There are many technical executions on our sites which aren’t SEO best practice but we are aware of them, and we’ve been working hard to retrofit these practices.

One of these ‘non-best practices’ is the ‘non-persistent’ nature of item URLs. Until this week, if you updated your item name, a new item URL (and therefore page) would automatically be created. The original URL would be 301 redirected to your new item URL. While the 301 redirect looks after the user experience for your customers, it’s poor for SEO because

  1. Redirects do not pass 100% of earned page authority from your original item page. Meaning your ‘new’ item URL (page) would have less authority in search engines than the original

  2. Redirects increase page load time and page load time is a Google ranking factor

  3. If, for example, you update your item name once a year, each year you would be adding an additional 301 redirect from your original item URL (name) to the current item URL (name). Redirects pass less and less value with each redirect to a point when they’ll not pass on any of the original value at all - watch this helpful video from Google’s Matt Cutts on multiple redirects.

As of this week, when you update your item name, your original URL will be maintained. This does not alter your (or another sites) ability to link to your item using any URL string you like as long as it contains https://marketname.net/item/ and the correct item ID /18780235 eg. https://marketname.net/item/any-words-or-numbers-you-like/18780235. Please keep in mind that doing this will trigger a 301 redirect to the correct URL which increases the time it takes to load your item page (see point 2).

Finally, here’s my favourite write up on best practices for URL structures which covers both SEO and UX needs by Pedro Dias (ex-Google Search Quality Team member).

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So if I were to rename one of my tracks, would the URL still hold the original name (being a persistent URL) or would it change to a new URL (featuring the new title) that gets 301 redirected to the original page (in the same way a link with custom text in it would redirect)? If it’s a persistent URL then I’d imagine it wouldn’t change at all, but that would mean as soon as one changes their item title, the title / name in the URL would be different. Would it still be considered the same (persistent) URL even if it had a different name in it (but the right item ID)?

I think the actual URL of the item page stays the same from now on:

…and then:

… and this turns redirecting the other way around:

@katehunter, please correct me if I got it wrong.

So if the URL stays exactly the same, then the string in the URL will no longer match the new item title, right? This could cause a bit of confusion.

OR will the string in the URL update to match the new item title? This would be better, but in this case is it still considered the original URL or is it considered a new URL?

In other words, does changing the string in the URL make it a new URL or is it still treated as the original? (only this time causing a 301 redirect to the page)

Maybe this is offtopic, but it’s on the topic of redirecting:

When I am on my Statement page on, for example, VideoHive, and I try to visit my own AudioJungle file via link in the statement, I get an error page (“file missing”) because it doesn’t redirect to AudioJungle… :confused:

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In my interpretation, it’s the case when [quote=“AurusAudio, post:4, topic:74129”]
the URL stays exactly the same, then the string in the URL will no longer match the new item title
[/quote]

I could be getting it wrong though.

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Sorry, but I didn’t understand what was the change?

If we updated the item name now, the item will be available in two URLs?

Eg: /item/old-name/123 and /item/new-name/123 ?

If so, which one does google cache for their results? the first one or second one? if its the first one whats the point of changing name? If its the second one will it be treated as new page and get zero authority?

Please explain @katehunter

I think the original URL will stay the same from now on. From what I understand, ‘updating’ the original URL to match the new title essentially creates a new URL and causes a 301 redirect. So yes, changing the string makes it a new one, and is NOT treated as the original.

In terms of title confusion, you can alter your URL to match your current title as long as it stays within the parameters explained the in last section. It WILL, however, create a 301 redirect to the original URL. So it’s up to you whether you want to change it to contain the new title, at the cost of SEO performance.

For example:

https://audiojungle.net/item/upbeat-ukulele/10256164
https://audiojungle.net/item/chickenwing/10256164

both go to the same page. The second one is causing a 301 redirect.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong! :sweat:

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What’s been basically said from what I understand is if your item is marketplace/item/my-awesome-item then the title is My Awesome Item, but, if you rename the item to My Very Awesome Item, the link will still remain my-awesome-item.

If I got it right! :slight_smile:

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I understand the same, somehow i agree with the changes. I already do the test on 2 items in september and october. Google see these changes but results are terrible even with re-design that is 10x better.

Not sure if related, but preview links on soft rejected (hidden) items no longer work, get the 410 Gone response @katehunter

So if I get this correct, it’s better no to rename our items, because authority of pages is decreasing. Am I right?

You are correct on all points @SixideBeats & @MorningLightMusic

‘the URL stays exactly the same, then the string in the URL will no longer match the new item title, right’ - Correct also @AurusAudio

As @MorningLightMusic points out -

In terms of title confusion, you can alter your URL to match your current title as long as it stays within the parameters explained the in last section. It WILL, however, create a 301 redirect to the original URL. So it’s up to you whether you want to change it to contain the new title, at the cost of SEO performance.`

@surjithctly the item would not be available on two URLs, only the /item/old-name/123 - Google will index the original URL generated on the marketplace.

@Lumberjack_Music +1

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@katehunter

Thank you for your response. And what about ranking in AJ search? Would changing names of items also affect on ranking in AJ search?

We uploaded our theme wrong Slug and changed it and now it’s live. But the old URL is persisted and i think it’s bit confusing for other people who noticed it. Some of people not realize it but some one will notice it.

Example ->

Theme name we changed after Coolist | Infinite Scroll Magazine WordPress Theme but old one is Urban Magazine WordPress Theme. So is this really need to change this :frowning: I like the old one…

Hmm, that’s sad. I’ve decided to rename old items to unique and more artistic names, but now it will add a lot of confusion :frowning: This basically means “renaming” is now unwanted/obsolete feature.

Im not a SEO expert but maybe remove the item name from URL is the solution? How about just use some unique ID number instead?

I’m not sure what to do now. I wanted to make some “housecleaning” in my portfolio by renaming some items and especially packs but now i don’t think its a good idea. Anyone feel the same?

Hi @Enrize,

Renaming your items is still something that is wise to consider if you feel there may be some value to be gained by attracting more customers. The URL doesn’t need to be identical to your item name.

The additional positive of the change to the URLs automatically being updated with name change is that you can test name changes without losing page value. For example, if your name change didn’t produce the desired results, you can change it back or iterate to test another without incrementally losing earned organic page authority because the URL has changed each time.

I’d consider

  1. Why do I want to change my item name?
  2. What do I think it will achieve?
  3. Why do I think this?
  4. Can I validate this hypothesis?
  5. What is the change?
  6. Does this change support the goal of the hypothesis?
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I’ve noticed that the URL is not changing anymore, however you’ve made a good choice!

Now authors need to think twice before naming items and not change the name in the future. For SEO purposes is better to have the URL similar the the page title not completely different.

Could it be possible to at least change name of the zip file when you download an item please? It persistent too and can be very confusing for a customers.