Do you want to know what is the most SEO-friendly persistent link structure in WordPress? We are often asked this question by new users. That’s because in the past, the default WordPress URL structure was not SEO-friendly at all. But now things have changed.
In this article, we will explain WordPress SEO-friendly URL and how to customize WordPress persistent links.
What is SEO friendly URL?
Before we delve into WordPress persistent links, it is important to define what SEO-friendly URL is.
SEO-friendly URL contains keywords that explain articles, and they are easy to read by humans and search engines. They can also improve your chances of ranking higher in search engines.
SEO friendly URL example:
https://www.example.com/how-to-install-wordpress/
So what is a non-SEO-friendly URL like?
https://www.example.com/?p=10467
By default, WordPress now uses the post name in URL, which is the most SEO-friendly URL structure.
So why do beginners still ask us about the best permanent link structure?
That’s because in the past, WordPress didn’t use the beautiful URL, also known as permanent links. The default value used to be the non-SEO-friendly example we shared above.
This has changed in WordPress 4.2. If you recently installed WordPress, your site URL is SEO-friendly.
You can easily verify persistent link settings in the WordPress management area.
Permanent link settings page explanation
In WordPress, links are called permanent links (abbreviations for permanent links). You will see that the terms persistent link structure and URL structure can be used interchangeably.
The first thing you need to do is visit the permanent link settings page in the WordPress management area.
Simply click the Settings link in the Administration menu, and then click the permanent link. This will take you to the page shown below:
As you can see, there are many options available.
- Clear
https://www.example.com/?p=123 - Date and name
https://www.example.com/2016/01/22/sample-post/ - Month and name
https://www.example.com/2016/01/sample-post/ - Figures
https://www.example.com/archives/123 - Job title
https://www.example.com/sample-post/ - Custom structures use available tags to select your own URL structure.
Let’s explain a little bit about these options and how useful they are to users and SEO.
The first option called plain used to be the default WordPress URL structure. This is not an SEO-friendly option.
The date and name option is somewhat SEO-friendly because it contains the name of the post. However, the URL becomes too long for the date. But more importantly, your content seems to be out of date after a while, even if you update it regularly.
Similarly, month and name options are also at risk of becoming obsolete.
However, if you are a news publication, you want to include dates in your URL to show new proximity and improve the user experience.
We believe that these two structures are only applicable to news websites. Commercial sites that want to create evergreen content should avoid using it.
The post name option is the most SEO-friendly because it is short and beautiful.
If you are running a larger publication, you can use SEO-friendly custom structures.
At WPBeginner, we use a custom persistent link structure to add category names and post names to the URL. Because our site is large and contains thousands of articles, it is very suitable for us. You will see that larger publications follow a similar URL structure.
In order to use a custom URL structure, you need to add special tags to the custom structure box. For example, we use:
/%category%/%postname%/
Notice how each label is wrapped between the percent sign. Also notice the trailing slash / before, after, and between the marks.
Create a custom URL structure with available tags
For best results, we recommend using the options mentioned above. You can copy the URL structure we use on WPBeginner or select the post name as your URL structure.
However, you can use tags to create many other combinations. The following is a list of tags that can be used to create your own custom URL structure:
- % year%-year of the post, four digits, for example, 2016.
- % monthnum%-month of the year, for example 05
- % day%-the day ordinal of the month, for example, 28
- % hour%-hours of the day, for example, 15
- % minute%-minutes of the hour, for example, 43
- % second%-number of seconds in minutes, for example 33
- % postname%-A purified version of the post title (edit the post slug field on the post / page panel). For example, if your post title is This Is A Great Post! It becomes this-is-a-great-post in URL.
- % post_id%-unique ID # for the post, for example, 423
- % category%-purified version of the category name (new / edit category slug field on the categories panel). Nested subcategories are displayed as nested directories in URI.
- % author%-A purified version of the author’s name.
After selecting the permanent link structure, don’t forget to click the Save changes button.
As soon as you press the Save changes button, WordPress will automatically update your site’s .htaccess file, and your site will immediately start using the new URL structure.
Warning: important description of established site
If your site has been running for more than 6 months, please do not change your permanent link structure.
You don’t have to use the same structure we use.
By changing the permanent link structure on an established site, you will lose all social media shares and risk losing your existing SEO rankings.
If you must change the permanent link structure, hire professionals so that they can set the correct redirection. You’ll still lose the social share count on the page, but if you have to change the URL, it’s a price worth paying.
There is only one exception to this rule. If your site uses plain URL, no matter how old it is, you should update the URL structure to get a better SEO. Yes, you will still lose your social share, but the benefits are much more than that.
Extra hint: improve your WordPress SEO ranking
Now that you have set up a SEO-friendly URL structure, you may be looking for more tips to improve your site’s SEO ranking.
We recommend using the All in One SEO plug-in. It is the best WordPress SEO plug-in used by more than 3 million websites and the tool we use on WPBeginner.
It has all the powerful SEO features, such as site map, pattern generator, redirect manager, link assistant, etc., to help you improve your SEO rankings.
For more information, see our guide on how to set up AIOSEO correctly.
In addition, you may find the following guidelines useful:
- The Ultimate WordPress SEO Guide for beginners
- How to do keyword research in WordPress
- How to perform SEO audits in WordPress (11:00 list)
We hope this article will help you create an SEO-friendly URL structure for your WordPress site. You may also want to check out our Category and tagging Guide-SEO best practices for sorting content, as well as our comparison of the best email marketing services to increase traffic.
