One of the most asked question in WordPress SEO optimization is which is the best WordPress permalink structure for SEO point of view.
Today in this article, we are going to talk about the best optimized WordPress permalink structure. And how to change permalink structure in WordPress.
You may have seen many big old blogs are still using default permalink structures or date/months structure which looks very ugly and not at all optimized to me.
For Example:
- Sitename.com/?p=123
- Sitename.com/2017/04/25/post-name
More...
We normally don’t have any clue why are they still using dates in their site URLs. But the answer to this question is that in past years people don’t recommend to change their site permalink structure. Or some of the sites you saw with date/months in their URLs must be a news site or somehow related to events.
Yes! For a news site having date/months in their URLs are good for them and it totally makes sense for readers. But having dates in your content blog which is nowhere related to any news or events are not at all cool. It could also affect your site's ranking as the outdated content has no value for visitors.
You may have assumed this by now. A search result with years ago date may not provide you what you are looking for. Means the content could be outdated or everyone wants to get latest information about it or the latest version of that topic.
If I tell you that Google uses this CTR for page ranking. Now will you think to change your permalink structure?
Watch this video to know what Matt Cutts says about having an optimized permalink structure for your blog or default permalink structure.
These days everyone trying their best to publish an evergreen content, for which their content will always stay on a ranking position to receive more visitors. So no one wants to get skipped by visitors just for having an old date in their URLs.
Recommended permalink structures are:
- Sitename.com/Category/Post-name
- Sitename.com/Postname (/%postname%/)
Let's find out how to do it.
Steps to Change permalink Structure in WordPress:
If you are just getting started with your WordPress blog. Below are the steps you need to follow to get best optimized WordPress permalink structure:
#1. Login to your WordPress dashboard.
#2. In your left side menu. Go to Settings » Permalinks. Now select post name.
Yes, that is all you need to do.
But what if you have an old site with date format in its permalink structure URLs? For that kind of issue, only the redirection process is recommended.
There are many tools for this purpose. One of the trusted tools I recommend to redirect your old permalink structure to a new one is “Yoast Redirection Tool”. It will generate a redirect for you to place it in your .htaccess file. And all your old URLs posts will be auto-redirected to your new link.
Note: But there are few limitations to this tool as it only supports Apache-based servers and not Nginx for now.
Before copying it into your .htaccess file, make a backup copy of your .htaccess file. After you done copying this redirection into your .htaccess file. Now you can test it if it's working properly.
If it is fine then good, but if the redirection is not working, there could be a reason that your hosting providers do not allow you to use RedirectMatch on your Apache server. You can try contacting your hosting providers or you can also give it a try Yoast SEO Premium plugin.
If you have any questions regarding permalink structure you can always ask us using below comment section.
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