Customize WordPress Permalink Structure

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 | WordPress Blog with 3 Comments

Using a custom permalink structure for your WordPress blog not only enhance the look of your posts URL but will also help search engine rankings.

One of the first things to do after installing your WordPress blog should be to customize permalink structure.
Follow these steps for a more SEO friendly WordPress blog URL structure.

Default
» http://www.esmartjob.com/blog/?p=123

Date and name based
» http://www.esmartjob.com/blog/2007/05/29/sample-post/

Numeric
» http://www.esmartjob.com/blog/archives/123

Custom, specify below
Custom structure /%category%/%postname%

If you noticed I use and recommend the custom structure /%category%/%postname% this will change the URL to http://www.esmartjob.com/category/titleOfPost

With a good SEO friendly category and post title your chances of ranking higher in the search engines will increase.

If the title of your post is too long you can shorten it in the write post screen using a shorter but relevent Post Slug found on the right side just under the Post Password box.

What if you have an existing WordPress blog and changing the URL structure will lose many of your incoming links? There is a WordPress plugin for this called Permalink Redirect.

The Search Engine Journal has a recent post describing how they implemented a custom permalinks structure to their existing blog. Check out the post here: SEO Friendly URL Structure for Wordpress Blogs

Don’t like or agree with my recommended permalinks structure? Check out more permalinks customization options at Wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks

About the Author:
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Jeff Houdyschell provides proven income opportunities, ideas and information for the best work at home jobs, visit: http://www.eSmartJob.com

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Comments

2
Stephen Cronin // July 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm

I agree, changing your permalink structure should be one of the first things you do.

However, if you’re just starting, be careful about using /%category%/%postname%/. Using %category% isn’t sensible, unless you are very sure that your categories won’t change.

I fell into this trap – as my blog matures, I need to tweak the categories, which would break my permalinks.
3
Jeff Houdyschell // July 9th, 2007 at 3:20 pm

Stephen, you make a truly valid point about the future changing of the categories. In fact I faced that same issue on this very blog not that long ago.

While I do believe that getting that added keyword in the URL from the category is a a good SEO tactic and I will continue to use the /%category%/%postname%/ permalink structure, your point is well taken.

You can however change the category name and still maintain the category slug, which should maintain the URL.

However in the future I will caution on the pitfalls of using categories in the permalink structure and the importance of planning or choosing ones categories carefully with the future in mind if using, /%category%/%postname%/.

Thanks Stephen!

Jeff