How to Make Pages Draft (Inactive) in the CMS

Within the CMS, you can set pages to Draft (Inactive) status. This is useful when you want to temporarily remove content from your website without permanently deleting the page.

There are two main ways to make pages inactive within ShowOff.

Method 1: Making Pages Inactive in Bulk

If you need to update multiple pages at once, you can use the bulk action tools within the pages section of ShowOff.

Steps

1. Navigate to the Pages section in ShowOff.

2. Locate the list of pages and subpages.

3. Use the checkbox next to each page you want to update.

4. Once selected, bulk action options will appear.

5. Choose the option to set the page status to:

   • Active (Live)

   • Inactive (Draft)

   • Delete

This feature allows you to update multiple pages simultaneously, making it much quicker to manage large sections of a website.

Method 2: Making a Single Page Inactive

You can also change the status of an individual page directly within the page editor.

Steps

1. Open the page you want to edit in the CMS.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the page editor.

3. Locate the Active / Inactive toggle.

4. Switch the toggle to Inactive to set the page as a draft.

This will immediately remove the page from the live site.

Important Notes

Inactive Pages and Search Engines

When a page is set to Inactive, it is automatically removed from the website sitemap. This means search engines such as Google will no longer be able to crawl or index the page moving forward.

However, if the page was already indexed previously, it may still appear in search results for a period of time. Search engines need to re-crawl the site before they recognise that the page is no longer available.

If you want to help speed up this process, you can resubmit your sitemap to Google.

Guide:
https://support.asp.events/hc/en-us/articles/4404277823761-How-to-Submit-Your-XML-Sitemap-to-Google

Consider Adding a 301 Redirect

If you are making a live page inactive permanently or for a long period, it is recommended that you set up a 301 redirect.

A redirect ensures that visitors who attempt to access the old page are automatically sent to a relevant alternative page, rather than landing on a 404 "Page Not Found" error.

This helps to:

• Maintain a good user experience

• Reduce bounce rates

• Preserve SEO value from any existing links pointing to that page

Guide:
https://support.asp.events/hc/en-us/articles/31328174199197-Understanding-Redirect-Types-301-302-and-More

Homepage Restrictions

The homepage cannot be made inactive.

This restriction is in place to prevent breaking the core user journey and navigation of the website. Every site must always have an active homepage.

If you need to remove the current homepage, you must first assign a new homepage. Once a new homepage is set, the previous one can then be made inactive if required.

Key Takeaways

• Pages can be made Inactive (Draft) without deleting them.

• You can make pages inactive in bulk using the page list checkboxes.

• Individual pages can be toggled Active / Inactive within the page editor.

• Inactive pages are removed from the sitemap, meaning search engines will eventually stop indexing them.

• Consider adding a 301 redirect if a live page is being permanently removed.

• Homepages cannot be made inactive unless a new homepage has first been assigned.