WordPress Custom Permalink Structure
The very first thing to do after installing WordPress is to create a custom Permalink structure. A custom Permalink structure will make your blog more SEO friendly and turn those ugly URL’s into Google bait!
Follow these very simple steps for a more SEO friendly WordPress blog URL structure.
From within the WordPress dashboard, click on Options, then Permalinks.
You will then see the following options:
Default
» http://www.wordpressmax.com/?p=123
Date and name based
» http://www.wordpressmax.com/2007/05/29/sample-post/
Numeric
» http://www.wordpressmax.com/archives/123
Custom, specify below
» Custom structure
Paste the following code in the Custom structure box:
/%category%/%postname%
This is the custom Permalink structure I use and recommend. It will change the post page URL to http://www.wordpressmax.com/category/PostTitle
If your post title is too long another you should create a post slug when writing your post
If the title of your post is too long you can shorten it in the write post screen using a shorter but relevant Post Slug found on the right side of the Write Post box just under the Post Password box.
Warning - If you have an existing WordPress blog changing the URL structure will lose many of your incoming links. If you want to change your Permalink structure on an existing blog there are plugins that will help like Permalink Redirect.
Check out more about custom Permalink structure here: Wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks
With a good SEO friendly category and post title your chances of ranking higher in the search engines will increase.
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Comments
Good advice, but just a note about using /%category%/%postname%/:
If you’re just starting out, <a href=”http://www.scratch99.com/2007/06/wordpress-permalink-customisation-caution-for-beginners/” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>be careful</a> about using /%category%/%postname%/, 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.
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[...] Really the most important box on the right side is the Post Slug box. If you are using custom permalinks that include the postname, which is the title of the post. You should shorten the URL of your post in the Post Slug box. For example if the Post title is “Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates”. Without using a post slug the postname part of the URL will show that whole title in it. To shorten the URL use maybe two key words form the title. For the example above I would maybe use life-chocolate in the Post Slug box. Read more about Custom Permalink structure. [...]
[...] Using the keyword rich title of your post in the URL will also help with SEO and search engine rankings. This can be done using a custom Permalink structure. Read more about custom Permalinks here: WordPress Custom Permalink Structure [...]
I’ve been running my blog with default (Ugly) permalink for quite sometime now. Could it be possible for me to migrate or change my permalink structure to a custom structure without losing my posts (having 404)?
Thanks.
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valQ, look at the bottom part of the post and click the Permalink Redirect text it’s a link-
“Warning – If you have an existing WordPress blog changing the URL structure will lose many of your incoming links. If you want to change your Permalink structure on an existing blog there are plugins that will help like Permalink Redirect .”
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how can i remove the category from the base,
i mean if i want my website to show example.com/category/news to example.com/news
is this possible ???
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Suresh take this part out of the permalink structure: /%category%
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hi friends..
can we show extension of the file like
wordpressmax.com/customize-wordpress/custom-permalinks.html
is it possible..
Thanks
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Jeff Replied:
April 15th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Yes just use this – /%postname%.html
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manish Replied:
April 15th, 2009 at 8:39 am
thanks jeff…
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Hi Jeff: I really like the knowledge in your posts and tips on wordpress blogs, I have my hands full with a few of them. Thanks for the great information and I signed up for your newsletter too. Well, that was my 2 cents
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I use “/%category%/%postname%.html” on one site.
By doing this, when i browse categories, the URL doesn’t end with a backslash “/”
How can i modify .htaccess file so that my single post url ends with .html and when category URL ends with “/”
Help!
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Jeff Replied:
August 31st, 2009 at 8:07 am
I don’t know if that is possible. I only know how to set one permalink structure for the entire blog. Search the Codex: http://wordpress.org/search/permalinks
Reply
Thank you. I was finally able to get the structure I was looking for. Keep up the great work. I certainly appreciate your knowledge.
Reply
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