How to improve the structure of WordPress permalinks

But before you start, take the time to take a look at How to install a WordPress theme, How many plugins to install on WordPress.

Then find out together our list.

What is a permalink?

Before we begin - let's take a look at what permalinks are and aren't: 

• Permalinks are the Full urls used on your website and which have structure defined according to your website's needs (such as your domain name + blog category + post title).
• Although linked, permalinks are different from slugs (which are shortcuts or the names of the pages at the end of the URL), although slugs are often part of a website's permalink structure.
• The permalink is a key element of performance SEO because it is used by search engines to locate and index your articles or pages.

See also Some WordPress Tips to Improve Your Blog's Indexing

The permalink tells readers and search engines what your posts and pages are. And they're unique - a URL can only match one post or page on your website. Now we are going to throw specifically a look at WordPress permalinks.

WordPress permalink structures

WordPress makes it easy to edit and optimize your website permalinks. From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Settings> Permalinks. Here you will find the 5 predefined permalink formats as well as the custom structure that can be used to create your own permalink.

Simple

https://blogpascher.com/?p=123

When you install WordPress, the default permalink structure is simple. This format displays a query string with the page or post ID. Even though this is the default format, it is not very user friendly or SEO friendly.

Date and title

https://blogpascher.com/2020/08/05/exemple-article/

An extension of sorts for the Post Name, Day, and Title tag is typically used on blogs where great specificity is required in terms of post time. This permalink structure includes the day, month, and year the piece of content was posted. Date and Title is the most used one on news websites that publish several articles per day.

Month and title

https://www.blogpascher.com/2020/08/exemple-article/

Month and Title is another widely used permalink structure, similar to Date and Title in SEO terms. The two share similar advantages and pitfalls. As with the Date and Title permalink, the Month and Title permalink displays the title and publication date (this time, the month) in the URL, but the generated URLs are shorter than the Date and Title permalink by a few characters.

Digital

https://www.blogpascher.com/archives/123

Similar to the Simple format, the Digital permalink displays the ID of your post in the archive. So if you have a news blog post in your category News may appear like this: your-url / news / 456. Although technically user-friendly for search engines, this format can still be confusing in humans.

Title of the publication

https://www.blogpascher.com/exemple-article/

Post title is arguably the most popular structure used by a majority of WordPress blogs. It provides clear and short URLs that are easy to read and remember. Many blogs use this because of its simplicity.

Additionally, the Post Title permalink does not specify the date of publication, making it ideal for evergreen content that will remain relevant (or continually updated) for a long time.

Custom structure

https://www.blogpascher.com/%postname%/%year%/

The custom permalink allows you to customize the structure of your permalink however you see fit. Some common custom structures that you may have seen on blogging are: /% postname% /% post_id% / et /% category% /% postname% /.

WordPress offers up to ten permalink structure tags that you can use to create unique permalinks. This option allows you to insert the most keywords in your URLs. However, if you choose this structure, try not to go too crazy. Remember to keep the ensemble short and expressive.

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WordPress users are widely divided over custom permalinks. For one thing, some people swear that the custom permalink structure is best for SEO, when used correctly. Meanwhile, others claim that there is no significant difference in terms of SEO. The best way to find out is to try it out for yourself, ideally on a new blog. 

Which permalink structure is best for SEO?

With the exception of the default structure, all of the WordPress permalink structures are all SEO friendly. It really comes down to personal preference and the purpose or type of blog that you have.

We use a personalized structure Article /Category/ Title at BlogPasCher. We are a blog and we like to keep our articles up to date. Using the month or day in the permalinks didn't make sense to us, and using our custom structure was a better fit than using post IDs. And in general, the title of the post is what we recommend.

See also: How to measure the success of your SEO strategy?

If you need a structure custom more advanced of the permalink, you may need to make changes to use custom values ​​in your URLs. This could lead to slightly improved SEO. And for WordPress websites with a considerable amount of content, a URL structure containing the date may improve slightly. page load speed when searching for specific content. 

Ultimately, whatever permalink structure you choose, make sure it's human-readable and your main keywords are as close to the top-level domain as possible.

WordPress Permalink: SEO TIPS

While there isn't necessarily a king of all permalink structures, you can make an effort to optimize your website's permalink to ultimately improve your SEO. Here are some tips on permalink SEO to implement when creating your WordPress website.

1. Use any permalink structure other than Simple

We've covered this topic before, but any built-in WordPress permalink structures are good Options EXCEPT for the structure Simple by default. Make sure that when you first build your website that you select a format that works for you.

If you are already blogging and forgot to change your permalink structure (or if you need to use a new structure) don't worry, there is still time. As long as your traffic is low and you don't have a lot of pages feel free to change your permalinks. It is very unlikely that this will harm your SEO.

But if you've already amassed a significant amount of content, you need to weigh the pros and cons of changing your permalinks. If you decide to go ahead with this change make sure you redirect your pages correctly. Use a plugin like Yoast SEO Premium Redirect Manager or WordPress Plugin free Redirection to redirect your old URLs to your new ones.

2. Keep it in focus

When you focus on the SEO and permalinks, you need to make an effort to keep them manageable. When your post appears in search engine results, you shouldn't have a cut URL. Especially since your " slug Is where you will most likely add the keywords to your post or page.

While it's tempting to create a custom permalink structure using all of the options, don't overdo it. URLs should be descriptive, but to the point. Use only relevant values ​​from your website.

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For example, at BlogPasCher, we stick to using the post category and title. Our content is not tied to a specific day or event. CNN, on the other hand, uses a combination of date, category, and post title. They post a lot of daily content that is often time sensitive, which is why they add extra values ​​to make it clear to readers (and search engines).

3. Small tweaks that could make a difference

We mentioned that choosing a specific built-in structure for your permalinks won't necessarily yield meaningful SEO results. They are all roughly equal. However, you can use the available variables to create any structure you choose. And for custom permalinks, you can take it a step further by using custom values.

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What are custom values ​​you may be wondering? If you really want to get the benefits of your permalink structure, you need to consider an advanced URL structure. More precisely the one that will allow you to add custom values ​​to permalinks via posts and custom fields.

However, this will require changes to the internal functions of WordPress, which ultimately means spending money to hire a developer or using an advanced plugin like Permalinks Manager. The free version of this plugin offers support for custom post types and custom permalinks, but taxonomies and custom fields are only available in the Pro version.

Read also: How to customize the admin area of ​​your WordPress blog

Here ! We hope you now understand what permalinks are, and we hope you have an idea of ​​what structure is right for you. When it comes to SEO, as long as you choose a format that is relevant to your website, you will be fine!

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