WordPress Permalinks: How to Manage Your Website’s URL Structure.
This article will define URL structure and walk you through every basic permalink structure that WordPress provides. Finally, you’ll discover two methods for making unique ones.
Every page on your website has a distinct URL that lets users find and access it easily. These URLs should ideally be as simple to read and enter as feasible. The distinctive URLs are known as permalinks in technical terminology.
The URLs for your webpages and posts are automatically generated by Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress based on the permalink structure you select. Nonetheless, it’s crucial to keep in mind that some choices are better suited for readability and SEO.
What WordPress Permalinks Are
In a word, permalinks in WordPress are the one-of-a-kind URLs that the software generates and assigns to each of your posts and pages. Consider the following two permalinks as an example.
Both of these examples show off different permalink architectures. The first one utilizes the title of the blog post, which is the section of the URL that specifies the particular page being referred to. In the second case, the post’s identification serves as the title. Both URLs have the same level of functionality from a technical point of view. Yet, it is not hard to see that the first strategy is a great deal more friendly to users. It is not only simpler to remember, but it also provides site visitors with information regarding the purpose of the page.
Including keywords that indicate what your page is about will help search engines capture the page’s goal, which is of the utmost importance. In other words, they are superior from a search engine optimization point of view. You are passing up opportunities to increase your website’s organic traffic if you do not use a permalink structure that has been optimized.
The 6 Types of Permalink Structures in WordPress (And Which One You Should Use)
Before we get started, it’s vital to point out that if you’re creating a new webpage with WordPress, you should always set your preferred permalink structure as early as possible. This is especially true if you want to avoid having to make changes later on. Since your search engine optimization efforts are still in the growth stage, conventional wisdom advises that you should lock down your relevant strategies within the first six months.
You are able to make adjustments to the structure of your permalinks even if your website has been existing for longer than that. But, if you do not create redirects to your new URLs, it is possible that your search rankings will suffer as a result. With this in mind, let’s work together to figure out what kind of structure will work best for your WordPress website.
Plain:
This structure of permalinks has been presented to you before. The name of this structure gives away the fact that it is really basic. The title is the same thing as the page ID that was designed for your database. It does not offer you any information about the website that you are currently viewing in any way.
Day and Name:
This type of permalink structure incorporates both the name of the page or post you are linking to as well as the date that the page or post was initially published into the URL. One of the advantages of using this structure is that it provides your users with information regarding the age of the article. Without having to look for a date hidden somewhere in the text, this can, in some instances, help people determine whether or not it is still relevant. This format can frequently be found on news or magazine websites, but it can really be applied to any website that creates information that is time-sensitive.
There is also a disadvantage to dating your posts. Take, as an illustration, the scenario in which you have amazing content that was written two years ago and is regarded as the most authoritative source of knowledge on a specific issue. It is possible that some readers will just look at the date and conclude that the advice is no longer applicable, regardless of whether or not this is actually the case. To clarify, it is usually a good idea to include the date that the post was published somewhere inside the post itself, but there is no compelling reason to include the date as part of the URL.
Month and Name:
The structure of this permalink is extremely similar to the one that we have just gone over. The only difference is that the day of publication is not included in the URL of your post, as this option does not include it. When it comes to functionality, we face the exact same set of advantages and disadvantages as we do when working with the Day and Name structure. It is helpful for site users to be able to quickly determine the age of a page or post, but this feature may cause some of your content to appear to be out of date.
Numeric:
The structure of the Numeric permalink is quite comparable to that of the Plain option in many respects. This option, just like the Simple permalinks option, uses the ID of your post as the title for the URL, and it does not offer users any further information. In this scenario, you will also receive a short permalink. However, as it does not come with any additional benefits, it should not be your primary choice.
Post Name:
This particular default WordPress permalink structure is our top pick out of the many available options. It assigns an identifier to each of your articles and pages based on their name, which results in URLs that are more organized & simpler to keep in mind. The wonderful thing about naming your posts and pages is that you may do so in any way you choose, and you can even customize the slugs if the titles get too long. Your slugs should remain around three and five words in length at all times, as a general rule of thumb. In this manner, it will be simple enough for your readers to recall, and search engines will also have an easier time understanding what the information is about.
Custom Structure:
If you’re not satisfied with any of the structures that we’ve discussed so far, WordPress also provides you with the ability to create your very own website from the base. For instance, if you have a blog, you may create separate categories for each of your roundups and articles and then include those categories in your links. In practice, WordPress gives you access to 10 different structure tags that you can use to create permalinks that are unique to your site.
2 Ways to Create Custom Permalinks:
You can generate custom permalinks with WordPress thanks to the built-in functionality that the platform provides, as was just described. On the other hand, if you want a little bit more control over the process, you can also use plugins to accomplish the same things and get similar results. Let’s talk about the two different approaches.
Use WordPress’ Custom Structure Tags
List:
To generate permalinks that are unique to your website, WordPress gives you access to distinct types of structure tags. First, let’s take a moment to get acquainted with them, and then we’ll look at how they work in practice:
Date Tags:
This category contains the %year%, %month%, %day%, %hour%, %minute%, and %second% variables, and they all operate just as you would anticipate them to. When you add any of these tags to your permalink structure, the corresponding numbers will be included in the URL.
These tags are referred to as the post ID and name, respectively, and they are %post id% and %Postname%. The first one gives the specific ID for any of your posts or pages, while the second one displays the complete name of those posts or pages. You could add these options by using the %category% and %author% tags, respectively, for the category and author, respectively.
You will need to visit your dashboard, then navigate to the tab labeled Settings > Permalinks in order to use any of these tags. Once you have logged in, you will be able to select the permalink structure that best suits your needs from the options that we discussed before.
Use the “Custom Structure” option, which may be found at the very bottom of the list, if you wish to make your own. Now, all that is required of you is to combine and recombine the structure tags that we discussed previously.
While creating a custom permalink structure, you are free to use whatever number of tags you choose. Avoiding the use of dates is another content of advice.
Use the Custom Permalinks Plugin:
If you’ve been using WordPress for a while, you’re probably aware that there’s a plugin for practically any circumstance you can think of. If you haven’t been using WordPress for very long, you might not know this. There is no exception to this regulation regarding the customization of permalinks. There are a few different options available, one of which is the Permalink Manager plugin. You will be able to edit the permalink structure of your posts and pages, as well as the URLs of any individual posts, all from within a single screen when you make use of this tool. You may also modify the URLs of any individual articles. The initial steps in getting started are to download and install the plugin, then activate it by clicking its toggle switch, and lastly, navigate to the Tools > Permalink Manager page. You will find a list of all of your posts within, in addition to the option to edit the permalinks for each of them.
Conclusion
It is a common investigation among webmasters to provide little consideration to the organization of the URLs associated with their websites. The usage of the appropriate permalink structure can boost your website’s search engine rankings and make it easier for users to navigate. This may appear to be a trivial point.
You should, as a general rule of thumb, avoid using URLs that contain long strings of numbers or sentences that are difficult to manage. Using the names of your posts as the default format for your permalinks and then manually condensing them when necessary is frequently the most effective strategy. You may always create custom permalink structures for your website by utilizing WordPress tags or a plugin. This is an option if the previous one does not work well for your page.