Hyperflow Fluid Paths
Give every page on your site the path it deserves
Sygnal gets so many requests for this, we've built a special expertise and internal toolset that enables us to deliver this functionality on Webflow-hosted sites.
Check our our service page for details on our Webflow Fluid Paths offering.
SEO specialists have long been frustrated by Webflow's inability to handle custom paths for each page, including CMS pages.
Paths are an important indication of the semantic context of a page, such as;
/recipes/dinner/main-course/venison/services/cosmetic/eyes/eyelashes/course/learning-javascript/getting-started/part-1
Static pages can be pathed like this using folders and pages, but CMS collection pages require a more rigid path formation of ../collection-slug/item-slug.
This makes things such as hierarchies /school/course/chapter/lesson, or /restaurants/illinois/chicago/pizza problematic.
We'll just have none of that, thank you.
What is Path Remapping?
Sygnal uses the term remapping to describe a process by which we;
Serve any page on your site, under any path that you choose
Fix the canonical URL, accordingly
Fix the sitemap, accordingly
Redirect the actual page to your preferred path
Welcome to remapping. Isn't it awesome?
Advantages;
No special linking needed. Your natural Webflow CMS links work perfectly fine with Sygnal's remapping approach.
No SEO loss. Have your old pages already been indexed? That's great! Zero SEO loss.
No backlink traffic loss. They'll just get redirected, too.
Important Concepts
Direct v. Indirect Proxy
Sygnal's path remapping capability is engineered to work on both a directly proxied site, and an indirectly proxied site.
A directly proxied site is one where the request origin to the proxy and the underlying origin share the same domain.
An indirectly proxied site is one where they differ, and this is particularly useful for testing or special SEO cases such as a localized site, or one which is geo-gated with varying content and prices.
Remapping & Maps
The physical path describes the location of the page on your Webflow site, as Webflow publishes it, e.g. /blog/article.
The virtual path describes the new virtual path that the page will be delivered under, and SEO'd under.
It's important to consider the site design you want. A poorly-planned map could have circular routes that cannot be resolved.
It's also important to consider how this will play into worker-routes, since they designate the correct worker to run at different parts of your site.
Map Types
Static maps are a simple map of physical paths to virtual paths.
Dynamic maps are the same, but are generated dynamically and typically managed within the CMS itself.
Algorithmic maps work on match-based mapping and are custom-designed for each site.
Limitations
Webflow Editor
Untested on fluid paths
Can edit on webflow.io
Future;
Special mode for FP shutdown possible when in editor mode
Localization
With non-localized paths, it's possible to adapt Fluid Paths to work fully.
With localized paths, the map becomes far more complex and is currently unsupported.
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