Guide for WordPress Permalinks to Enhance your Website Structure

Have you ever scrolled past the first page of search results? Rarely, right. Same is the case with 75% of internet users. A well-structured website along with a focus on WordPress permalinks play a crucial role in ranking. The permanent URLs assigned to your pages, posts, and custom post types are the Permalinks. The name might suggest a technical aspect that your developer would worry about, but no. You, as a blogger, website owner, must be equally invested in Permalink settings. Why? Well, they can make or break all your SEO efforts.

If you’re new in the tech domain, don’t worry. We shall break down the concept of permalinks and what you need to consider in a very easy language. You shall also learn to optimize these links for better visibility and usability.

What is a Permalink?

The complete URLs that address your web pages are the ‘permanent links’ or permalinks. They are crucial for enhancing user experience and SEO, both. Let us take an example for instance,

1) www.demo.com/Page/1

2) www.demo.com/Blog/ Guide to WordPress Permalinks

This example shows two different permalinks. Which one is more clear to you? The second one, right. It is clear and you know what to expect out of the page. Whereas, the first permalink is not a user-friendly URL. Thus, a clear, to the point, and SEO-friendly URL gives clarity to visitors and also helps search engines index your content more effectively.

In WordPress, you can create your own custom permalinks or select a format in which the CMS creates your link. As these are what people and search engines use to find and navigate your content, they are important. Let us now dive deeper into this idea.

Permalinks are the permanent URLs for your WordPress website’s pages, posts, and custom post types. They are what people and search engines use to find and navigate your content. In WordPress, you can customize these URLs, known as “slugs,” to make them more descriptive and SEO-friendly.

Breaking Down the Permalink Structure

Let us break down the entire permalink into two major parts.

The first one being the domain, and the second known as a Slug.

www.example.com/category/post name

Here, www.example.com will reflect your domain name, while the remaining part that reflects the post or page name is called the URL Slug. In making permalinks SEO friendly, we focus on optimizing the Slug as the domain name remains constant.

Basics of Permalink Structure WordPress

There are two main types of Permalinks in WordPress, Default and Custom. Let us understand each individually.

Default Permalinks

On setting up your WordPress site, it creates a default permalink on its own which is not SEO-friendly. It looks something like this.

www.example.com/?p=123.

Now this kind of a default permalink does not indicate your page content and thus, you must change it immediately after creation of your site. It is not useful for visitors as well as web crawlers for indexing and ranking your page.

Custom Permalinks

Custom permalinks give you flexibility to create descriptive and user-friendly URLs. www.example.com/guide-to-wordpress-permalinks.

This is a clearer and more informative permalink. Thus, you must change your permalink structure from the permalink settings on your WordPress. There are a variety of structures like Basic, Post Name, Day and Name, Month and Name, Numeric, and Custom Structure.

How to Create Custom Permalinks in WordPress

At this point, you might be wondering about how to change WordPress permalinks or where to find permalinks in WordPress. Well, it is a very easy and straightforward process. Let us go through it step-by-step.

Log into Your WordPress Dashboard: After logging in to your WordPress Dashboard, go to the WordPress Admin Panel.

Go to Permalink Settings: Go to the Settings Menu and click on the Permalink Settings.

Choose a Permalink Structure

As discussed earlier, you will see several options for a Permalink Structure like Plain, Day and Name, Month and Name, Numeric, Post Name, Custom Structure. Select the one that suits your Content and SEO planning the best.

For instance, if you are running a news based membership site, then the Day and Name or Month and Name would be a beneficial structure for you. This will help you index the news date wise and reflect it in the link, making it SEO-friendly.

Save Changes: Click on Save Changes to update your permalink structure.

Common Permalink Structures

Let us understand the structure of common permalinks with an example. This will help you visualize how you can create SEO-friendly URLs.

1. Basic: www.example.com/?p=123

This is the default structure of WordPress URL which should be avoided as it does not support your SEO goals.

2. Day and Name: www.example.com/2024/08/15/sample-post

Helpful for time-sensitive content like news articles, research papers. 

3. Month and Name: www.example.com/2024/08/sample-post

It offers a general timeline for bloggers who post frequently throughout the month.

4. Numeric: www.example.com/archives/123

It is almost similar to the basic structure, however, gives the posts a specific category of being archives with a numeric identity.

5. Post Name: www.example.com/sample-post

This is one of the most popular options in the SEO tips for WordPress Permalinks. It directly suggests the blog/page content. It is clear, concise, and to the point.

6. Custom Structure: www.example.com/category/postname

Custom structure provides all the flexibility to include elements like categories, tags, or post IDs.

SEO Tips for WordPress Permalinks and Best Practices

1. Use Descriptive Keywords

Just like you include keywords for your posts and pages, a relevant keyword must be added to your link. This helps search engines to understand your content better and rank you for those keywords.

• Good Example: www.example.com/keto-diet-recipes
• Bad Example: www.example.com/?p=123

2. Keep URLs Short and Simple

The URLs should be short, simple, and must read like a sentence or phrase. Such links look cleaner and are more readable.

• Good Example: www.example.com/SEO-best-practices
• Bad Example: www.example.com/this-is-a-blog-post-about-the-SEO-Best-Practices

3. Avoid Special Characters

Use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens in the URL Slugs. Avoid the use of spaces, underscores, or any special characters like @, &, #, %. The hyphen is the most used word separator as it makes your title more readable.

• Good Example: www.example.com/best-membership-site-examples
• Bad Example: www.example.com/best_membership_site_examples & Tips

4. Avoid Using Stop Words

There are certain stop words like and, or, but, the that are usually ignored by search engines. These words do not harm SEO but make the WordPress permalinks unnecessarily long.

• Good Example: www.example.com/best-seo-practices-tips
• Bad Example: www.example.com/the-best-seo-practices-and-tips

5. Be Consistent

Keep your permalink structure consistent throughout your site. The pages must follow a similar structure. Further, set a fixed structure for WordPress blog post URLs as well. This will create a positive image for search engines to locate you easily.

6. Avoid Changing URLs Frequently

Avoid frequent changes of WordPress Permalinks URL structure. This will lead to broken links and you will lose a lot of traffic. If it is crucial to change a URL, set up  301 redirects for WordPress from the old URL to the new one to maintain your SEO standards.

7. Use Lowercase Letters

You would be surprised to know that URLs are case-sensitive. Thus, focus on using lowercase letters only as the uppercase can lead to potential errors.

• Good Example: www.example.com/quick-fitness-routine-daily
• Bad Example: www.example.com/Quick-Fitness-Routine-Daily

8. Include Categories or Context Where Relevant

If you are writing on various topics, categorizing them would help index your Website structure more efficiently. Such a structure organizes your content and improves user experience. For instance, if you are running a restaurant business, you can have different categories like starters, main course, desserts, beverages. This helps users locate what they want quickly, thus enhancing their experience.

• Good Example: www.example.com/recipes/starters/lettuce wraps
• Bad Example: www.example.com/lettuce wraps

Common Mistakes to Avoid for SEO-friendly URLs

• Avoid using the default permalink structure completely as it is very vague and not optimized for your site.
• If you change the permalink structure, do not forget to set up 301 redirects to avoid broken link errors.
• Use one targeted keyword in the slug and avoid overstuffing it. It must be short, thus, one focus keyword is enough.
• Internal Links must be updated when you change the permalink structure.
• Do not ignore analytics and monitor your URLs, especially after redirects. Take help of various WordPress Plugins or Google Analytics for the same.

Wrapping Up the Permalink Guide

Permalinks are not just a technical part of your site. It affects your SEO and digital marketing efforts. Thus, you must dip your feet in understanding the basics of creating custom permalinks. It is a very easy to understand concept. You just have to select a permalink structure in the beginning, after that, it becomes simpler. Make sure you consider the following three things,

1) Importance of Permalinks and its impact on SEO

2) How to Set Up Custom Links

3) The Best Practices of setting up URL Slugs

With these three major points in mind, you can easily conquer the world of WordPress Permalinks.

FAQs to Understand Permalinks

1) What is the Purpose of Permalinks in WordPress?

Just like your residence address, Permalinks act like your site address. If it is clear, then it would be easy to locate you and find you. Otherwise, a visitor can get lost. It also aids search engines to index your page and rank it well.

2) What to do if WordPress permalinks are not working?

Check your permalink structure for any recent changes or errors. If you have set a 301 redirect path, check all the redirect links for any errors. Take help of an expert if you are unable to pinpoint the error.

3) Suggest tools that help create SEO-optimized permalinks

WordPress SEO Plugins will help you in generating a healthy permalink. Check out tools like Yoast SEO or All in One SEO. Tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and screaming frog will also help you analyze your URLs.

Read also:

• Avoiding Plugin Bloat with ARMember’s On/Off Feature
• The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Plugins for E-commerce Sites
• How to start a Gardening Membership Site with WordPress?