Path Name Aliasing

Path name aliasing is the substitution of standard sequential node and page identifiers within Drupal (such as ) for meaningful URL links (such as  ). This aliasing increases readability of site and shared links and improves search engine optimization (SEO).

A renowned module, PathAuto, has existed for some time to help Drupal with this task and it is the basis for proper aliasing within an OSF instance. This module should be installed on your OSF instance.

Once installed, a new set of options will occur to you as admin on your Drupal instance:

Administer -> Site Building -> URL aliases -> Automated Alias Settings

There are many options that can be tweaked with this module, but the most important ones are to recognize the natural hierarchy of your site and to capture new content types with logical names.

The two most important settings you should attend to are for:


 * 1) Default path pattern:
 * 2) Pattern for all page paths:
 * 1) Pattern for all page paths:

With these settings, as you add new content types, you will see a logical clustering of them as well (using the machine-readable label by content type).

You are encouraged to learn more about this option, since it is a key determinant in proper indexing and recognition by search engines.