BrightspaceQ: Hello Thank you for offering Brilliant Directories here, I have two questions 1.
Could AtomChat (a current Appsumo offer: https://appsumo.com/products/atomchat/) be implemented simply so that members could directly message each other?
2. Url optimization for the member profile pages seems inflexible and cannot always be optimized- unless I am mistaken, currently as I understand it the member profile URL can only include the very top level url PLUS members can only exist in one Top level url - that's a problem for SEO under some circumstances when you really need the option for the member url to be built according to needs, it should include options like the Sub- category and the sub Sub category as well as the Top category, this way the site admin can build a short but optimised URL for any situation.
This limitation really is a problem for those situations where the admin uses the BD suggested workaround of using a Single top level category for all members but in doing so you cannot use the right keywords (either the subcategory or the sub subcategory) in the url. Seems a simple improvement to your advanced URL setting which is like a mini url builder to add the sub category and sub sub category as options ( of course as there can be multiple sub or sub sub categories the user would need to select a "primary" one which would be used in the URL.
Any chance you will improve the url feature since it's so important for SEO?
Thanks
Jeff_BrilliantDirectories
Jun 27, 2024A: Thank you for the questions!
According to their documentation (https://help.atomchat.com/installing-atomchat-on-basic-javascript) it looks like AtomChat is integrated into a site by adding a snippet of javascript into the footer of a site. This can be done easily through the Brilliant Directories Admin by going to the Design Settings >> Custom CSS / HEAD tab and adding the code to the "Additional Footer Code" field.
Regarding member profile page URLs, the template used to generate these URLs can be set in the Advanced Settings >> "Member Profile URL Structure" setting. The URL template currently supports any combination of the following information provided by the member: Country, State, City, Postal Code, and Top Level Category. An individual member's profile page URL can also be edited by the site owner to be any unique URL they choose.
We currently do not support using the Sub and Sub-Sub categories in the URL template because members often choose multiple Sub and Sub-Sub Categories, so the system would be guessing as to which one to use in the URL, and putting this decision in the hands of the member adds additional friction to the profile page creation process and is often not what the owner of the site would choose. So in this case, it is often easiest for the site owner to simply edit the profile page URL of a member to be whatever is optimal for their SEO strategy after the fact.
That being said, we are very open to customer feedback and are constantly adding new features and options based on that feedback, so the ability to include this data in profile page URLs in the future is definitely possible.
I hope that helps!
Verified purchaser
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for your response, just to clarify about Atomchat, are you then saying it will work out of the box for members or are you saying that it will need a custom integration? If it's the latter that could be difficult, expensive or impossible since your platform is a shared one and so there may be limits to what can be changed easily or whether something can be changed at all.
With regards the URL issue I raised, I think you raised some valid points but respectfully I think that the platform options are inadequate. Here is why:
- URL structure is a cornerstone of on page SEO, the failure to be able to optimise member profiles at volume is a serious limitation, I realise that if the niche allows members to only exist in one niche it can work with the top category but Taxonomy can be challenging and often the limitation to only exist in a single top level category is a problem.
- Appreciate the possibility to manually change a memebrs URL but in reality membership websites have hundred or thousands of members so it's not that practical.
- When you consider the volume of urls in a membership website a large proportion will be the member profile urls and they are the best opportunity for organic traffic via longtail keywords, losing that ability because of a simple limitation on urls is major disadvantage to a membership website.
- as I mentioned I appreciate that the use of sub or sub sub categories in the url brings a minor complication because the user can select more than one but this is very minor compared to the limitation this causes, as I mentioned it's a simple as choosing a primary sub or sub category when required, not complicated and easily made intuitive by using form design eg. " Select your Primary Sub category", I hope BD will reconsider because user feedback from the community can help to address the limitations inherent in shared platforms that only become apparent when you deep dive
Glws
Regarding Atom Chat - based on their documentation, all that is required for the integration is to copy code from your Atom Chat account and paste it into the footer of the website. To paste code in the footer of your Brilliant Directories website is as easy as navigating to the "Additional Footer Code" setting and pasting the code. Should take a matter of seconds to complete. :)
Thank you for all of your feedback regarding using Sub Categories in URLs, we really appreciate it!