Custom path structures are not natively supported in Webflow, and honestly for 99% of all projects, fighting this is just not worth the battle.
Realistically there are two benefits of custom path control;
- Maybe, you can create a slightly improved UX, where there's a bit of added context in the path... like breadcrumbs offer.
- Maybe, you can get just a bit better SEO value out of the additional keywords in the URL.
And of course, the all-important third benefit of feeling cool, because you have conquered Webflow's limitations.
Before we dive into the rabbit-hole of Webflow Path Hacks, let's look at the alternatives, so that you know for sure this is worth it for your project.
Improved UX
While a breadcrumb-like URL looks cool, and makes sense, it's really not super important to the UX. You can use actual breadcrumbs instead;
- A breadcrumbs UI at the top of your page, that's actually clickable, and actually navigates your users where you want them to go.
- Breadcrumbs rich snippets, that can be displayed in your Google search results to help people navigate where they should be, directly from search results.
Improved SEO
The keywords in your URLs almost certainly play a role in your page-level SEO. But these aren't nearly as important as the page's title tag, and H1's.
You can make your desired URL structure keywording available for SEO in at least 3 ways;
- Use Webflow's SEO features on your Collection pages to design your page titles exactly the way you want, with the structure you're after.
Shop > Sweater Vests > The Merchanteer - Use the JSON+LD breadcrumbs mentioned above will also be a part of your SEO.
- Design your collection and item slugs to contain the keyword structure that is important to your SEO. You don't need /my/deep/url to do that... /my-deep-url gets you the same keyword value.
