How URL Patterns Work in Predictive Content

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Image: Step Flow for Predictive Content for Web and Email

What are Content URL Patterns?

This post explains the first part of the flow image above: the discovery and tracking of content for the Predictive Content app. During the setup phase, the marketer defines their content URL patterns (See Create Content Patterns for more information), in order for Marketo to discover HTML content (e.g., blog posts, press release, news articles) across a domain. Setting URL patterns allows Marketo to auto-discover content when a web visitor clicks on the HTML web page within the content pattern. This content is then added to the All Content page in Predictive Content.

Setting up URL Patterns

1. Go to User Profile > Content Settings > URL Patterns. (For more information, see the Getting Started doc: Getting Started with Predictive Content)

Image: URL Patterns Page

Rules for Content URL Patterns

1. Use of a wildcard (*) is permitted throughout the expression.
   • e.g., domain.com/*  or  domain.com/*blog*
2. It's recommended to use /* at end of the expression to continue pattern discovery.
   • e.g., domain.com/blog/* to discover all your blog posts in the blog folder
3. Content Patterns are not case sensitive.
   • URL Pattern: "domain.com/Blog/*" will discover all HTML pages on "domain.com/Blog" and "domain.com/blog"
4. Parameters in URLs are not discovered.
   • Auto-content discovery removes the URL parameters in order to avoid discovering the same content URL multiple time with different parameters.

Examples of Content URL Patterns

Domain	URL Pattern	Type	Result
domain.com	blog/*	Pattern	Discovers all your content that matches the pattern domain.com/blog/. Example: domain.com/blog/5-top-tricks domain.com/blog/2017/new-year-solutions domain.com/Blog/3-best-recipes
domain.com	article/2017/*	Pattern	Discovers all your content that matches the pattern domain.com/article/2017/ Example: domain.com/article/2017/5-top-tricks
domain.com	*datasheets*	Contains	Discovers any URL that contains the word "datasheets" Example: domain.com/datasheets/5-top-tricks domain.com/blog/5-top-datasheets
domain.com	press-release	Exact	Only one HTML page is discovered: Example: domain.com/press-release
domain.com		Exact	If the domain is selected and the URL expression left empty, the URL pattern will discover only the home page Example: domain.com
sub.domain.com	blog/*	Pattern	Discovers all your html pages in the folder blog only on the sub domain sub.domain.com