What is routing?

Last modified: January 22nd, 2025

In web development, routing is the process that determines what content a visitor to your Site should see when they enter a URL in their Internet browser or change pages by clicking an internal link on your Site.

By default, when visitors enter a URL or click on a link, they will see the content for the file with a file name that matches the URL. In most cases, default routing will deliver the correct content to your user. However, you should employ custom routing in the following situations:

  • You have updated the name of a page.
  • You have updated your site architecture, specifically the subdirectories in your URL.
  • You have deleted a page from your website.
  • You want visitors to see a helpful, branded 404 page when they enter an incorrect URL.

On CloudCannon, you can:

  • Use custom routing to redirect old page URLs or configure extra headers on a route.
  • Send visitors to a 404 page when they enter an incorrect URL.
  • Remove the URL extension to create a cleaner-looking URL.
  • Use geolocation to detect which country your visitors are from.

For help setting up routing on your Site, please contact our friendly support team.

Open in a new tab