Web Groups Explained

Get Started

To get started got to Sysconfig > Website > Web Groups.

From here you can manage existing web groups or create a new web group.

Create New or Edit existing web group

Name: is the name of web group you are creating or editing. The web group name will become part of the title tag unless you overwrite it using the title tag field below. The name can be changed any time without interruption to the functionality of the website. Only the title tag will change.

Webcode:  The webcode is the key to adding a link to the web group on your website. The webcode will show in the URL of both the webgroup page and the property detail page. It is limited to 30 characters. Because it will become part of your URL structure, choose your webcodes with care. Best practices for webcodes include:

• Use complete words
• Use keywords or descriptive words to describe the webgroup
• Use hyphens to separate words.
• Do not use underscores
• Do not use spaces
• Do not use special characters such as an apostrophe or exclamation mark.

Examples of good webcodes include: pet-friendly-rentals, oceanfront-rentals, captains-quarters-rentals, asheville-cabin-rentals, etc.

DO NOT CHANGE the webcode from the "All Properties" web group.  If you do it will break your site. It must remain set at "all".

Once a webcode is set and there are links to the webgroup pages on your site, you cannot change the webcode without it resulting in a broken link.

Default Page: Do not change this unless specifically told to do so by VRM. This is the name of the page that contains the code for the layout of your individual property detail page. Every website comes with the default page set as DetailPage.aspx If you have a desire or need for different properties to have a unique layout, you can ask to have a separate page designed with a new name. You should leave this as is unless you have requested a unique layout. If request a new layout and change this after properties have been added, this will become the new default for any new properties assigned but WILL NOT re-assign the new page to properties that were already in the web group. You can assign the new page to each property on the property detail level. (See figure 1-4)

TITLE TAG: This is the title tag for this web group. Entering anything in this field will overwrite the dynamic title tag that comes with the website

META DESC. This is the meta description for the web group page.

Description: The description will appear on the website on the web group page. Best SEO Practices for entering description include a Headline and make it a "header 1" from the WYSIWYG editor.  Enter a short description about the web group. Use good keywords without overdoing it. Make each web group description unique.

Assign Properties

The left column are those properties that are not assigned to this web group while the properties in the column on the right are assigned and will show up on the website in the property list when the link to this website is clicked.

You can add and remove properties to the web group by checking the white boxes next to a property's name and then click the "Add" or "Remove" buttons.  NOTE: Properties can exist in multiple web groups.

Web Group Backup History

Whenever the descriptions for web groups are edited, a backup history is created.  This allows you to restore previous content in case of errors.  This is found under System Configuration > Website > Web Groups > [Select Web Group] > Edit Properties > [Select Property] > History.  The History tab shows the prior edits.  By clicking on each of the edits, the content will be expanded to give a summary of the prior details.

If you make an error, you can use this feature by clicking the "Restore" button, and the previous version you selected will then become the active content.  The restoration options are displayed chronologically with the newest on top.

This feature was made available on September 16, 2021 as part of Version 7.1 so backups are only available for content created or edited after that date.

Selecting the 'Restore' button will result in a message window verifying the backup property web group description will overwrite the current web group description for that property.  Selecting the 'OK' button from here will initiate the restoration.  Each time a web group description is restored in this way, a new web group description back up history entry is created.

Edit Properties

This is where you edit the description for each property. See Editing Property Description for more information.

Delete Web Group

You can only delete a web group if it is empty. If there are no properties in the list when you look at the assign properties window but you can't delete the web group, it is likely that there are inactive or archived. To remove inactive and archived properties from the web group, choose the web group and click Purge Archived Items

Purge Archived Items

This will purge inactive and archived properties from the web group you have chosen.

Getting the Link for Your Web Group

The URL for your web group will always be structured the same

It is your domain name followed by /vacation/category/webcode. As an example the web code for the group highlighted in the screen shot is pet-friendly. so the link would be: 

https://www.mydomain.com/vacation/category/pet-friendly

8.2.2 Release - CAnnot Delete Web Group Issue

Web groups are created, edited, and configured on the ‘Web Groups’ tab of the website configuration window, (Select the ‘Website’ main menu option > Select the ‘Basic Website Settings’ menu option > Select the ‘Web Groups’ tab).

Vacation rental employees were unable to delete a pre-existing web group.

This issue has been resolved.