Changing the permalink structure in WordPress is a crucial step for optimizing your website’s SEO and ensuring that your URLs are user-friendly. Whether you’re using the default WordPress editor or a page builder like Elementor, the process is straightforward but requires careful consideration to avoid breaking links or impacting your site’s traffic. In this guide, we’ll explore the steps to change and edit permalinks in WordPress, along with some tips for managing these changes effectively.
What Are Permalinks?
Permalinks are the permanent URLs that point to your blog posts, pages, categories, and tags on your WordPress site. They play a significant role in how both users and search engines understand the structure of your site. By default, WordPress generates permalinks based on the post or page ID, which may not be user-friendly or SEO-optimized. Changing this structure to something more descriptive can enhance your site’s visibility and user experience.
How to Change Permalink in WordPress
The process for changing permalink structure for your website is easy and straightforward. You can do this directly through your WordPress. Let’s have a look at how you can achieve it:
1: Access Permalink Settings
First of all, login to your WordPress admin dashboard. There in the settings, you’ll find the Permalinks option. There you’ll find different permalink options to select from. Some of them are:
- Plain:
http://yoursite.com/?p=123 - Day and Name:
http://yoursite.com/2024/08/29/sample-post/ - Month and Name:
http://yoursite.com/2024/08/sample-post/ - Post Name:
http://yoursite.com/sample-post/
From all these options, select the link structure that suits you the best. For example, if you’re changing links for the blogs, the Post Name option is best for simplicity and for SEO purposes.
2: Save Changes
Once you have selected the structure that you’ll want to use, click on the Save Changes button. After that, WordPress will automatically update the URLs for all the posts and pages for your website.
3: Custom Permalink Structures
There might be a case where the extensive permalink options might not be enough for you. In cases like that, WordPress also has options for custom permalink structures to suit unique needs. Using tags like %postname%, %category%, %author%, etc., you can create a custom structure of your own. This way, you can build a URL pattern that reflects your content strategy.
How to Edit Individual Permalinks in WordPress
WordPress is known for its easy and extensive customisation options, which is why if you only want to change the permalink of a specific post or page, WordPress also provides an option for that. This comes in handy when you’ve updated the title of a post or if the original URL is too long. Let’s have a look at how to change the permalink of individual pages or posts.
1. Edit Permalink in the Classic Editor
The Classic Editor or the default WordPress editor is one of the most easy and basic environments to edit permalinks. Below we have discussed the complete process:
- First of all, you’ll have to open the post page for which you want to edit the permalink.
- Below the title of your WordPress page or post, you’ll find the permalink. Next to the link, there is an Edit button. Click on it.
- Modify the slug as per your preferred URL and then submit it.
- Save the permalink changes and update it.
2. Edit Permalink in Gutenberg Editor
Gutenberg Editor is new and focuses on content more. If you have it already installed on your WordPress, you can also use it to edit your permalinks. Here’s how:
- First, open the post or page in the Gutenberg editor.
- In the right sidebar of the editor, you’ll find the Permalink option. From there, edit the slug as per your requirements.
- Once you’re done with changes, click on Update to save it.
3. Edit Permalink in Elementor
Even though Elementor is a powerful visual editor to edit the themes and pages of the website, you can also edit the permalinks here. Here’s how:
- Edit the page using Elementor, then navigate to the Settings gear icon at the bottom left.
- Open the Elementor edit window for the page that you want to edit.
- At the bottom left, you’ll find the Settings icon. Click on that.
- There you can find the Permalink option. Edit the slug and update changes once you’re done.
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Best Practices for Changing Permalinks
Below are some of the best practices that you should follow while editing your permalinks:
1. Redirect Old URLs
While changing the permalink structure of your existing website, it is important that you set up necessary redirects from the old URLs to the new ones. This way, you can ensure that the search engines and your viewers are pointed towards the right pages. This way, you can also preserve your SEO rankings. You can use WordPress plugins such as Redirection to manage 301 redirects efficiently.
2. Avoid Changing Permalinks Frequently
You should avoid frequent permalink changes, as this can confuse your audience and negatively impact your SEO strategy. To avoid this, you should ensure that there’s a robust permalink structure from the beginning.
3. Test Your Changes
Once you have changed the permalinks, make sure to test your website thoroughly. Check that all internal links, menus, and widgets are pointing to the correct URLs.
We believe that you might have understood the whole process of how to change permalinks on WordPress. Changing permalinks is an essential activity to improve your website’s SEO and user experience. By following the steps that we have provided, you can change both permalink structure or the links for individual posts and pages easily. You can ensure that your URLs are both user-friendly and search engine optimized.
