Upgrade from SEO Support to the URL Rules

To use the new URL Rules feature, you must enable it. The URL Rules module shows the SEO Support page until the URL Rules module is enabled. This is a one-way transition and no redirects are created if you decide to disable URL Rules and reenable the deprecated SEO Support feature. Salesforce strongly recommends that you test your new configuration on Sandboxes before enabling the feature on Staging or Production.

1. Add permissions to the URL Rules Module.

   The permissions for the SEO Support module are migrated to the URL Rules module. You only need to follow these steps if you have more roles to add for the module or if you did not use the SEO Support module and so are upgrading from standard B2C Commerce URLs.

   1. Select Administration > Organization > Roles & Permissions
   2. On the Roles page General tab, select the role to which you want to add the permission.
   3. On the Roles page Business Manager Modules tab, in the Select Context list, select the site to which you want to add permissions.
   4. Under SEO select the URL Rules module.
2. Enable URL Rules on your Sandbox.
   1. Select site > Merchant Tools > Site Preferences > Storefront URL Preferences.
   2. On the Storefront URL Preferences page, select Enable Storefront URL Rules and click Apply.
   3. Select site > Merchant Tools > SEO > URL Rules. View the URL Rules page General tab.
3. Configure URL Rules.
   See Configuring SEO URLs.
4. Test other features that might be impacted.

   After you have configured and tested your storefront URLs, investigate whether you need to change the following:

   • Code: If you use our SEO Support module without custom code for SEO, no code changes are necessary to take advantage of this feature. If you have custom code or have more integrations for SEO, you might need to alter the code to work with the feature.
   • Canonical links: B2C Commerce best practice is to create canonical links for categories using the URLUtils method. If you used the URLUtils method, no changes to code are necessary. However, if you have hardcoded canonical links in your templates, you need to update them to use your new URLs.
   • Content links: Check links in your content assets to make sure that they don't need to be updated to reflect the new URLs. If you are using the content link functions, they don't need to be updated. However, if you have included hardcoded links in your content assets, these might need to be updated.
   • URL redirects: Check your URL redirects to make sure that your redirects don't need to be adjusted to your new URLs. This might because the redirects are outdated or conflict with your new URLs.
   • Static mappings and mapping rules: Check your URL mappings to make sure that your redirects don't need to be adjusted to your new URLs.
     Note: If your old URLs now match the new storefront URLs, a redirect is no longer necessary.
   • Product ID search: ensure that the product ID search works as you expect if customers enter the product ID as it appears in the URL.
5. Export URL Rules from your sandbox.
   1. On your Sandbox, select Administration > Site Development > Site Import > Export.
   2. On the Site Import Export page, scroll down to the Export section and enter a name for the export, such as sandRules.
   3. Under Data Units to Export, expand Sites > site and select Site Preferences and SEO.
   4. Scroll to the top of the section and click Export.
   5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and monitor the export in the Status section. Click Refresh to refresh the page.

When you are confident that you can transition to the new URL Rules feature, enable it on your Staging instance and import your configuration from your Sandbox instance.

1. Disable SEO Support.

   This prevents you from exporting unnecessary files in future site exports.

   1. On Staging, select site > Merchant Tools > SEO > URL Rules.
   2. On the Search Support Preferences page, in the Instance Type list, select Staging.
   3. Deselect Enable Search Friendly URLs.
2. Add Permissions for the URL Rules Module.
   1. Select Administration > Organization > Roles & Permissions.
   2. On the Roles page, click the role to which you want to add the permission.
   3. On the Roles page General tab, click the Business Manager Modules tab.
   4. On the Business Manager Modules tab, in the Select Context list, select the site for which you want to add permissions.
   5. Under SEO, select the URL Rules module.
3. Enable URL Rules on Staging.
   1. Select site > Merchant Tools > Site Preferences > Storefront URL Preferences .
   2. On the Storefront URL Preferences page, select Enable Storefront URL Rules and click Apply.
   3. Select site > Merchant Tools > SEO > URL Rules. View the URL Rules page General tab.
4. Import URL Rules into Staging.
   1. On your Sandbox, select Administration > Site Development > Site Import > Export.
   2. On the Site Import Export page, in the Import section, click Browse and select the archive you exported from your Sandbox instance.
   3. Click Upload.
   4. Select the uploaded file in the list and click Import.
   5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and monitor the import in the Status section. Click Refresh to refresh the page.
5. Update Staging Jobs.
   You need to update:

   • Sitemaps: Regenerate your sitemap to include your new URLs. The sitemap isn't automatically regenerated.
   • Replication jobs: Update your replication jobs to include the new URL Rules.
   • Site export jobs: Update your job to include URL Rules.
   • Site backup: Update your scheduled site backups to include URL Rules.
6. Replicate to production and update sitemap.

   You need to replicate the URL rules and URL-related jobs to your Production instance:

   • Replication jobs: Update your replication jobs to include the new URL Rules functionality.
   • Site export jobs: Update your job to include URL Rules.

   Regenerate your sitemap on production so it includes your new URLs. The sitemap isn't automatically regenerated, nor is it replicated from Staging.