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The Simple Link

The Link and ISAPI

The default way in which links are set up in XPOR is according to the page title. So if you create a web page object called, for instance "Booklets List", your object would be generated with the URL domainname.com/booklets-list, where domainname.com is your website's domain.

Additionally, a page will always be accessible via the object ID of the page, so that if your web page object had an ID of, for instance, 11223, the URL domainname.com/11223 would take you straight to the page.

When considering SEO (search engine optimisation) it is always best to use a descriptive title for your web page object, so that the search engine can contextualise your page - that is, have it appear in their results when Internet users search for a specific thing, such as your company's line of work, or location. This is the foundation of SEO and displaying your business online.

Creating links in the CMS

The CMS (content management system) also allows the creation of link objects.  This is useful for adding more information than you would have from a simple URL on the web page object. Use this to help further with your search engine optimisation.

A link object is created with the following options:

 

These options are configurable as follows:

  • Link Type - this allows you to select between either an internal object, or an external URL. An internal object basically means any linkable object in your system (see the Creating Links to Objects heading on this page)
  • Object - This field displays if you select Internal Object. Here you select the object your link goes to.
  • URL/Authorised - This field displays if you select External URL, and is simply the URL itself that you intend to use.
  • Link Target - This chooses the display format of your linked object. It can either open in the same window, in a new window, or in a shadowbox (a small window within the same page).
  • Include in Site Menu/Map - Unchecking either of these will remove your link from menus and web page maps respectively.
  • Alternate Name - You can set up an alternate "display name" for your link here. It will appear with this name on menus and search engines, while keeping the name of the object. Great for SEO! 

Most links you will create on a web page will be to other web pages or URL-able objects in your XPOR system.  This option is provided by the Link editor.  Full demonstration is provided on the video.

Creating Links to Objects

You can also create links to objects other than web pages. For example, you might want a link to a Document object which downloads the document, or to an Image object which displays it on the page. These are all examples of URLable object types, and they work in just the same way as a web page - they add a "URLs" tab to the object when you edit it in your backend.

To use this feature, simply open the object type in your System Modeller and check this box (highlighted in blue):

This readies the URL tab for use on the selected object.

When you click a link you have created, the page will receive the object ID from the object selected for the link.  If the web page there includes a Form, which is bound to that object type, e.g. an object editor form, then the form will display the details that have been selected.  The same principle works for web pages that include Content Repeaters. An example of this in use might be, for instance, when you click on a News Article from a News List - the page that you go to would have the object ID of that article that you just clicked, and then it displays the information from that object.

The URL that is created by the link type will, by default, go to the default URL.  However, any other URL added to the target object page will also work.

Creating Links to Documents

A second type of link, Documents, is provided so that you can enable files to be downloaded form the website.  For example, a document might have a PDF component.  If we select the document link option, you will select the target document.  Then, when this link is clicked, the default component of a document object will be downloaded by the browser.

Creating External URL links.

This link type is very simple.  It will store the URL you type, such as www.webree.com.  When the link is clicked on the front of the site, the user will simply be taken to that website.  Note that you can also use this link type to permanently link to web pages within your own website.

SEO - using XPOR to guarantee high organic listing.

Once you've decided how you want to use links on your site, an important thing to consider for your business is SEO - search engine optimisation. It is the method of including key words and phrases in the links to your site, so that when people search for those phrases, your business is returned high on the listings. You can do this through either your link titles, the titles of the pages themselves, or the content of the page.

Link Titles

It has previously been explained that Search Engines will try to contextualise a link - understand what it is about.  This is a primary purpose of search engines and is one of the most important things to consider when SEO optimising your site.

The Search Engine looks for a number of things to comprehend your link, one of which is the Link Title.  XPOR provides access to this metadata, meaning you can set the link title to help Google comprehend the link's purpose.

Page Title

The title of the page is the phrase you will see at the top of the browser, usually in the Tab.  This is also key to the search engine comprehending the page.  This is very often suboptimally managed, but you can improve it - for example, most people call the Home page of their website "Home", and consequently the page title is "Home".  When search engines see this and try to catalogue the page against its title, it doesn't get any useful information about the page. Instead, you should title the page descriptively to assist the search engine. For example it may be a website for a garage, in a place called Newtown.  The page title should therefore be "car servicing in Newtown".  This lets the search engine comprehend the page.

You ideally would re-inforce with all links to the page being "www.mysite.com/car-servicing-in-newtown" AND all link titles being "car servicing in Newtown".  Then, there is no doubt that this is the purpose of the web page.

Content

It should go without saying that the content on the web page is pertinent to its purpose.  In the garage example, you would likely see "My Garage serves the Newtown area, servicing cars ... etc."  If you can understand the pages purpose from reading its content - and the links and titles all work together, then this is 95% of the task of getting your page to the top of a search engine - without any further cost or effort.

Back linking

If you can get other websites to link to your website, this will increase its' visibility for a search engine, which will therefore rank it higher. BUT make sure that the back link exactly matches your page URL and the page title and includes the Link Title.