What is a Permalink? All you need to know

Permalink is another name for the URL of an individual blog post or web page. This is what you type into the address bar of a web browser if you want to visit a particular article.

Short for permanent link, permalink also means a web address that is expected to stay the same. It is usually readable and easy to understand not only for the target audience, but also for search engines.

If your website’s permalinks aren’t working or aren’t set up correctly, it can cause a number of issues, including broken links and a high bounce rate. Therefore, this article will explain the permalink structure, its importance, and how you can optimize it.

Permalink structure and examples

The structure of a permalink consists mainly of two parts: the domain of the website and the . Here is an example permalink:

http://www.yourdomain.com/website-ideas/

This is the breakdown of the permalink structure:

• The one on the website – https://www.yourdomain.com
• The page slug – /website-ideas/

A good permalink should be clear and direct. Some examples of bad permalinks would be:

• https://www.yourdomain.com/how-to-start-a-successful-online-business-for-beginners-in-2021/
• https://www.yourdomain.com/article183

These permalinks are either long or don’t give any clues about the topic of the post or page.

How important is a Permalink?

The permalink is a crucial part of your checklist when it comes to blogging or managing website content in general.

This is because it affects the usability of your site. Clean, readable permalinks are more attractive and more likely to be clicked than long or spammy-looking ones.

Just from your permalink, readers can figure out what the general content of your page is about. It also shows that your blog posts are trustworthy. Also, because the URL is permanent, it allows people to bookmark your content.

Other than that, permalinks are important for building a strong website structure and improving search engine optimization ().

Having a natural page hierarchy as part of your site architecture will make it easier for the user to navigate and the search engine crawl process.

Also, URLs are a ranking factor for Google. The way you structure permalinks will increase the chances of your content ranking high in search engine results.

How to Create a Custom Permalink in WordPress

WordPress has a default permalink structure that is not SEO friendly. Use your website’s database entry number with the URL structure:

https://www.yourdomain.com/?p=164.

If you want to have a custom permalink structure, you have to change the permalink settings. Follow the guide below to do so:

1. Access your .
2. Hover over Settings in the sidebar menu and click Permalinks.

3. In Common SettingsChoose custom structure and activate the labels %category% Y %postname%. Feel free to choose other options based on your type of website.

4. Scroll down and tap Save Changes.

Your permalinks will now show the category and post name instead of just the file number. For example:

https://www.yourdomain.com/tutorials/how-to-install-wordpress/

How to Optimize Permalinks for SEO

The first step in creating an SEO-optimized permalink is choosing the best structure tag for your website. This ensures that your new permalink is consistent throughout the site. Here are some common structure tags to choose from:

input name: It is suitable for sites that have a blog that publishes unique or timeless articles. It also generates simple and easy-to-remember URLs, making it a popular choice among website owners. This tag has the following structure:

https://www.yourdomain.com/wordpress-post/

Category and name: create the hierarchical structure of your website. It’s perfect for content-based websites that post articles under various topics and categories. This new permalink includes the category under which the article will be published (blog, WordPress, technical or news site, etc.) and the name of the article. This is what the permalink will look like with this tag:

https://www.yourdomain.com/blog/what-is-a-blog/

Day and name: preferable for high-traffic news websites that publish multiple articles daily. The structure includes the complete date (year, month and day), separated by a slash, and followed by the name of the article. An example of permalink with this structure:

https://www.yourdomain.com/2021/05/17/news-of-the-day/

month and name: an option for sites that publish content that may need to be updated in the future. With this tag, the permalink will look like this

https://www.yourdomain.com/2021/05/statistics-website/

When it comes to typing a URL slug, there are some SEO-friendly permalinks and best practices to follow:

• It should describe what the particular page or post is about.
• Keep it short and memorable.
• Include SEO keywords or words related to the post or page that people often search for.
• If the slug has more than one word, separate them with hyphens. For example, /what-is-a-permalink/.
• Avoid using too many stop words, such as “the”, “a”, “but”, “is”, “and”, “my”, “your”.

The permalink SEO purposes and tips above are just one part of a website’s overall SEO strategy. For more information on SEO, check out our .

How to Change a Permalink in the WordPress Editor

Another method to edit a permalink in WordPress is through its editor. Tickets either pages. This applies to content that is saved as a draft and not published yet.

For those who use the , click on the button Settings in the upper right corner of the post to open the sidebar menu. Scroll down to the section Permalink to edit the old URL slug.

If you use the classic editor, the permalink preview is located above the visual and text editor or below the post or page title. To customize it, just click the button Edittype the new slug and press okay.

You may not need to manually change all permalinks if you have configured WordPress permalink settings. However, remember to double check your URL before publishing the post in case you need to make additional adjustments.

Should you change a Permalink?

The permalink of a published blog post or article should always remain the same. This is because it will affect internal or external links pointing to the page.

However, there are cases where it is necessary to edit permalinks, such as when:

• The default structure of a permalink is not SEO friendly, or does not represent the information in the blog post or article.
• You’ve bought or taken over ownership of someone else’s website and need to rebrand it.
• You want to change the general orientation of the site. For example, from a blog to a news-oriented site.

Still, changing published permalinks should be done with care.

Tips for changing a permalink without hurting SEO

If you decide to modify a permalink, be sure to set a 301 redirect. This is to notify search engines that the page or blog post has been moved to a new URL.

If 301 redirects are not configured, your website will have missing URLs and broken permalinks. People will automatically leave your site when they see that the link doesn’t work, leading to a high bounce rate.

Search engines will also lower your site’s organic rankings, as they don’t want to lead people to an error message or a blank page. Therefore, by harming your SEO, and also the .

Also, there is a chance that your site will be penalized if you have too many broken links.

specific to help you create 301 redirects, like , and .

conclusion

The Permalink is basically a hard link to an individual web page or post. During the crawling process, search engines will read the URLs of the pages on your site. Visitors will also look at the permalink to see if the post is trustworthy and has the information they are looking for.

Therefore, a permalink has to be user friendly and SEO friendly. Since it is called a permanent link, it should not be changed without thought and consideration. Even if you have to change the old permalink, remember to set 301 redirects to avoid problems.

By applying proper SEO permalink practices, you can increase your site’s traffic and improve your search engine ranking.

Carolina is a digital marketing enthusiast with experience in content creation, SEO, and social media management. In her free time she likes to read, watch movies and bake.