Module 4 · 4.1

English ▾

Pages and the menu

Module 4: Pages, look and features · Reading time: 7 minutes

Learning objective: After this lesson you can add, rename, move and delete pages, organise the menu with a submenu and custom links, and you know what happens to old addresses, the contact page and the error page.

Key concepts: page, address (slug), homepage, menu, submenu, heading, custom link, footer links, contact page, error page (404), redirect

Why the structure of your site matters

A visitor decides within a few seconds whether he can find what he is looking for, and he does that through the menu. If "Contact" is missing, or a page is called "Info" while it actually shows your rates, he leaves. Search engines also read your menu to see which pages are important.

Schildersbedrijf Example starts with a first version made by the AI: Home, Services, About us and Contact. After checking it (lesson 2.4), the painter wants two changes: a separate "How we work" page with the steps from quote to completion, and two pages under Services for interior and exterior painting. He arranges this in two panels: Pages and Menu. Both are free: managing pages and the menu costs no edits.

The Pages panel

You open the panel with Pages in the rail on the left, or with the page switcher at the top right of the chat panel. You see all the pages of your site. Click a page to open it in the preview and edit it.

What you do here:

Add page: you only enter a name. The new page gets a heading and a text block with a hint ("Tell people here what this page is about."). Then ask the AI in the chat to fill it, or write the text yourself (lesson 3.2). The page is added to the menu automatically if there is room, and to the footer column with page links.
Edit page: for each page you change the Name and the Address, and click Save.
Move up and Move down: the order of the pages. The menu and the footer column with page links follow this order.
Delete: the builder first asks whether you are sure and tells you how many links on your site point to that page (in the menu, the footer or buttons). It removes those links as well, so no dead links are left behind. You can restore a deleted page through Versions (lesson 3.5).

The homepage is special: you cannot delete or move it, and its address is always the main address of your site. A site has at most 30 pages.

You can also ask for a new page in the chat ("Create a How we work page with four steps from quote to completion"). The AI then creates it straight away with content. That is an instruction to the AI and costs 2 edits, because a page is added (lesson 1.2). Through Add page it is free, but you then fill it yourself or with a separate instruction.

Pitfall: the hint on a new page is placeholder content. If you forget it, your live site will say "Double-click this text to write it yourself". Check every new page before you go live.

Name and address: what happens when you change them

Every page has a name and an address. The name is what visitors see in the menu and in the heading. The address (technically the slug) is the last part of the address bar: in www.example.com/how-we-work/ that is how-we-work. Use short, ordinary words with hyphens, without capital letters or punctuation.

If you change the name, menu items and footer links with the old name automatically get the new name. A menu item with its own menu text keeps that text.

If you change the address, links within your own site keep working: the menu, the footer and your buttons point to the page itself, not to the old address. But the old address disappears. The next time you click Go live, the builder removes the files that no longer belong to the site, so a renamed page does not leave an old address behind. No redirect is created (an automatic forwarding from the old address to the new one). Anyone who uses the old address, for example through a link in an old email, on Facebook or in Google's search results, lands on the error page.

Google recommends permanently redirecting the old address to the new one when an address changes. So the builder does not do that. What does this mean for you?

Choose your addresses carefully before you share your site or submit it to Google (lesson 6.2).
If an address does need to change later, update what you control yourself: links in your email signature, your business profile and your social media profiles. Google finds the new address through your sitemap, but the old address may give errors for a while.
If you have a plan, your site is stored as files in your hosting package, and a redirect is possible there with a rule at hosting level. That is outside the builder and meant for advanced users.

The error page

Every time you publish, the builder creates an error page itself (technically the 404 page, after the error code the web server returns): in your branding, with menu and footer, the heading "This page does not exist" and the button "Go to the homepage". Search engines do not include it. Take a look at it once: type a path that does not exist after your site's address, such as /does-not-exist/.

The Menu panel

In Menu you organise the menu. Drag pages to change the order. Drop a page onto another one and it becomes a submenu item of that page. That is how Schildersbedrijf Example puts "Interior painting" and "Exterior painting" under "Services". Click Save menu to keep it; until you do, you see "Menu not saved yet".

You can also:

add an Own link: a web address (https://...), a phone number (tel:0612345678 as an example), an email address (mailto:...), a path on your site (/how-we-work/) or an anchor to a section (#quote);
add a Heading: a non-clickable label that you drag items under. A heading with no items under it is removed when you save;
give each item its own Menu text. If you leave it empty, the page name is used;
take a page out with Remove from menu. It then appears under Not in the menu: the page still exists, but only people who know the address or follow a link can reach it.

A menu list has at most 8 items, and so does a submenu. If the menu is full, a new page is not added automatically; you see a message and add it yourself, or you group pages in a submenu.

You do not choose the design of the menu (the shape of the bar) here, but under Branding (lesson 4.2). The content stays the same.

Pitfall: pages that do not belong in the menu, such as your privacy statement or a thank-you page after the form, go under Not in the menu. A link to your privacy statement does belong in the footer (lesson 7.1).

A good contact page

Almost every site needs a contact page. Visitors expect it on the right of the menu or as the last item. Put on it:

your business name, address (if visitors may drop by), phone number and email address;
the contact form (lesson 4.3);
optionally your opening hours or availability, and a map.

In the builder you do this with the Contact section (through Blocks or the picker under Add section, lesson 3.4). It shows your address, phone, email, opening hours and optionally the form. Note: the first version often contains placeholder details, such as a made-up phone number. Replace them (lesson 2.4).

Unique titles

Without a title of your own in the SEO panel, the builder creates the title in the browser tab and in Google from the page name and the name of your site, for example "How we work | Schildersbedrijf Example"; the homepage gets the name of your site. So two pages with the same name get the same title. Give every page its own name; you will write better titles in lesson 6.1.

In the builder: how to do it

Open Pages and click Add page. Type "How we work" and click Add.
Fill the page through the chat or write it yourself; replace the hint.
Under Edit page, check the Address (how-we-work) and click Save.
Open Menu. Drag "How we work" to the spot between Services and Contact. Drop the service pages onto "Services" to create a submenu.
Click Save menu and check the menu in the preview, also on Mobile.
Put your site online again (lesson 5.1) and click through all the menu links yourself.

Summary

In Pages you add pages and change their name, address and order; you can delete pages and restore them through Versions.
Internal links follow a new address, but the old address disappears without a redirect: choose your addresses before you share your site.
In Menu you drag the order and submenus, add custom links and headings, and click Save menu; at most 8 items per list.
The builder creates the error page itself, in your branding with a button to the homepage.
A contact page with real details and unique page names belong on every site.

Quiz

1. You change the address of the "How we work" page from how-we-work to the-way-we-work and put the site online again. What happens to someone who opens the old address? He is automatically forwarded to the new address
He still sees the old version of the page
He lands on your site's error page
He sees an empty page without a menu

The builder removes the old address and does not create a redirect. Links within your own site do follow the change.

2. You delete the "Projects" page. What does the builder do with the button on the homepage that linked to that page? It removes it too, just like menu and footer links to that page
It stays and shows an error message from then on
It points to the homepage from then on
It turns into a heading

Beforehand, the builder tells you how many links point to the page; they are removed with it, so no dead links are left behind.

3. How do you make "Exterior painting" a submenu item under "Services"? You type "Services > Exterior painting" in the page name
You drop "Exterior painting" onto "Services" in the Menu panel and click Save menu
You choose the Two rows menu design under Branding
You put the page under Not in the menu

Dropping an item onto another one creates a submenu. The design under Branding only changes the shape of the bar.

4. Why do you put a privacy statement under "Not in the menu"? Because a privacy statement is not allowed to be online
Because search engines would otherwise reject your site
Because the menu may have no more than three items
Because visitors do not look for it in the main menu; a footer link is enough and keeps the menu clear

The page exists and can be reached through the footer, while the menu stays short and clear.

5. Two pages are both called "Services" and have no SEO title of their own. What is the result? The builder refuses to save the second page
They get the same title in the browser tab and in Google
The second page automatically gets the number 2 in its title
Nothing happens, titles come from the first heading on the page

Without an SEO title of its own, the builder creates the title from the page name and the site name. So give every page its own name.

Exercise

Exercise A4.1: Your pages and menu. Make sure your site has at least three pages in the menu, including a contact page with your real contact details, that every page has its own name and that you have put the site online again. Then enter the web address of your AI Builder site (your free address, such as schildersbedrijf-example-123.weboke.site, or your own domain). The program opens your homepage the way a visitor would and checks: are there at least three pages in the menu, does every menu link work (the page exists and gives no error), is there a contact page, and does every page have its own title. You see green, orange or red for each point. If you choose the Minimal menu design under Branding, the page links only appear in the footer; for this exercise, use a design with the links in the menu bar.

Exercise A4.1: Your pages and menu

Your site's address (for example www.example.nl or yoursite-123.weboke.site)

What you enter and what we find isn't stored. Your browser remembers your answers and whether you've passed the exercise. If you're signed in, we only save that you got the exercise (almost) right in My courses; you can delete that there too.

Cookies at WebOké

Cookie settings

Necessary

Marketing