{"id":3154,"date":"2023-02-24T18:13:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T18:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/obo.zoj.mybluehost.me\/uncategorized\/how-to-create-a-test-url\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T17:11:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T17:11:48","slug":"how-to-create-a-test-url","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/how-to-create-a-test-url\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Create A Test URL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Use a test URL to share a creative for internal review before directing production traffic to it. A test URL is created through the same URL workflow as a production URL, but its path and search settings should make its temporary purpose clear.<\/p>\n<h3>Keep the test experience out of search results<\/h3>\n<p>From the Creative Management screen, select <strong>Edit properties<\/strong>, expand <strong>Advanced Options<\/strong>, and scroll to <strong>Robots meta directives<\/strong>. For a test URL, select <strong>No index<\/strong>, <strong>No follow<\/strong>, and <strong>No archive<\/strong>. These directives tell search engines not to index, follow links from, or cache the test experience.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/academy-current-robots-meta-directives.png\" alt=\"Current Robots meta directives in Edit creative\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">For a private test URL, select No index, No follow, and No archive. Clear these directives before a public launch that should be indexed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Publish the creative and open Add URL<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>On the Creative Management screen, open the status menu and select <strong>Live<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Add URL<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/academy-current-live-creative.png\" alt=\"Current Live creative with Add URL available\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Add URL becomes available after the creative status is Live.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Create the test URL<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Select the approved test domain.<\/li>\n<li>Enter a unique path. Use a clearly temporary value such as <code>test-project-2026-07<\/code>, not the intended production path.<\/li>\n<li>Optionally select a URL tracking category and sub-category for reporting.<\/li>\n<li>Select the creative and save.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/academy-current-add-url.png\" alt=\"Current Add a new URL screen\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The current Add URL screen combines a domain and unique path, optional tracking categories, and the creative assignment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Review test URL settings<\/h3>\n<p>On the URL Management screen, review <strong>Edit URL &amp; settings<\/strong>. For a test URL, set its sitemap option to <strong>Never<\/strong> so it is not added to <code>sitemap.xml<\/code>. Keep the test path separate from the final production path.<\/p>\n<p>Before a public launch that should appear in search, return to <strong>Edit properties<\/strong> and clear No index, No follow, and No archive. Then create or assign the final production URL and complete the GoLive checklist.<\/p>\n<p>For the full URL workflow, see <a href=\"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/create-a-url-for-your-creative-to-go-live\/\">Create a URL<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n<p>If you have any questions, contact <a href=\"mailto:help@ioninteractive.com\">help@ioninteractive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Use a test URL to share a creative for internal review before directing production traffic to it. A test URL is created through the same URL workflow as a production URL, but its path [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2353],"tags":[2356,2355,2359],"class_list":["post-3154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-publishing","category-the-publishing-the-publishing","tag-create-a-url","tag-test-url","tag-url"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3154"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9504,"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions\/9504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioninteractive.com\/ionacademy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}