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Property URL Management

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When HomeRunner detects changes to property titles from your Property Management System (PMS), the system must determine whether to update the property URL slug (the last part of the URL) to match the new title.

How this is handled may impact your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience.

The Problem #

Automatically updating property URLs when titles change can:

  • Negatively impact SEO rankings
  • Create broken links
  • Require redirect management

However, keeping URLs unchanged when titles change creates a disconnect between the URL and the actual property name.

Available Solutions #

Property Slug Setting #

HomeRunner includes a Property Slug setting that controls whether URLs regenerate when titles change.

Default configuration: This setting is disabled by default, meaning property URLs remain unchanged even when titles are updated in your PMS.

Benefits:

  • Maintains consistent URLs for better SEO
  • Prevents broken links
  • Eliminates redirect management complexity

Limitation:

  • Property URLs may become disconnected from current property titles over time

Custom Field Control (Recommended) #

You can use a custom field in your PMS to explicitly define each property’s slug, giving you complete control over property URLs.

Implementation:

  1. Create a custom field in your PMS for property slugs
  2. Populate the new custom field with the slug for each property in your PMS
  3. Map the Property Slug to the newly created custom field in HomeRunner Settings (Sync > Source Mapping)
  4. HomeRunner will use your specified slug instead of generating one automatically

Benefits:

  • Complete control over each property’s URL
  • No automatic changes unless you modify the custom field
  • Intentional URL management
  • Eliminates title/URL disconnect

Custom Field Format Requirements #

When using custom fields to control property slugs, slugs must follow this format:

  • All lowercase letters
  • Use hyphens (-) for spaces
  • No special characters

Examples:

  • “Luxury Beach House” → luxury-beach-house
  • “Downtown Apartment 2BR” → downtown-apartment-2br
  • “Mountain View Cabin” → mountain-view-cabin

Implementation Steps #

Setting Up Custom Field Control #

  1. Create a custom field for property slugs in your PMS
  2. Populate the slug field for each property using the proper format
  3. Specify the custom field as the source for the Property Slug in HomeRunner settings:
    • Access HomeRunner settings
    • Navigate to the Sync section
    • Click on the ‘Source Mapping’ tab
    • In the Property Slug Source section, use the dropdown to select the custom field created for this purpose
    • Save your configuration
  4. HomeRunner will automatically use these custom slugs for property URLs

Best Practices #

The custom field approach provides optimal balance between SEO protection and URL relevance. This method ensures your property URLs remain stable, relevant, and under your complete control while avoiding the problems of both automatic URL changes and title/URL mismatches.