Permalink
A permalink is the permanent URL of a post, page, or any content on your WordPress site. It’s what people bookmark, share, and search engines index. Permalink is short for permanent link — ideally, it should never change after a page is published.
Permalink Structures in WordPress
WordPress lets you choose how your URLs are structured. Go to Settings → Permalinks to pick one:
- Plain — yoursite.com/?p=123 (ugly, not recommended)
- Day and name — yoursite.com/2024/01/01/post-name/
- Month and name — yoursite.com/2024/01/post-name/
- Numeric — yoursite.com/archives/123
- Post name — yoursite.com/post-name/ (most popular for SEO)
- Custom — define your own structure
Best Permalink Structure for SEO
The Post name structure is generally recommended. It’s clean, readable, and keeps your URLs short. Avoid including dates unless your content is very time-sensitive (like news).
Changing Permalinks
Changing your permalink structure after your site is live can break links and hurt SEO. If you must change it, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. The Redirection plugin makes this manageable.
Related: URL Structure
A permalink is the permanent URL of a post, page, or any content on your WordPress site. It’s what people bookmark, share, and search engines index. Permalink is short for permanent link — ideally, it should never change after a page is published.
Permalink Structures in WordPress
WordPress lets you choose how your URLs are structured. Go to Settings → Permalinks to pick one:
- Plain — yoursite.com/?p=123 (ugly, not recommended)
- Day and name — yoursite.com/2024/01/01/post-name/
- Month and name — yoursite.com/2024/01/post-name/
- Numeric — yoursite.com/archives/123
- Post name — yoursite.com/post-name/ (most popular for SEO)
- Custom — define your own structure
Best Permalink Structure for SEO
The Post name structure is generally recommended. It’s clean, readable, and keeps your URLs short. Avoid including dates unless your content is very time-sensitive (like news).
Changing Permalinks
Changing your permalink structure after your site is live can break links and hurt SEO. If you must change it, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. The Redirection plugin makes this manageable.
Related: URL Structure
