Basic WordPress SEO – Permalink structure
This is a very basic SEO tip for WordPress – but it’s something that a lot of people who are new to WordPress seem to overlook – and it’s REALLY important that this be set up prior to getting your content up.
First things first- what is your permalink structure?
Your permalink structure is what appears in the title bar and your browser. Here’s what that looks like:
The title bar is the first thing the search engines see when visiting your site. This is set so your post title shows up in the title bar- you can add your site title after your post title if you want (you’ll need to do this with a plugin like All in One SEO or Headspace), but for now, we’re just going to set your ‘Custom Permalink Structure’.
Here’s what your browser looks like:
Here’s how to change your permalink structure:
In your Dashboard- go into ‘Settings’
-then click on ‘Permalinks’
When your Permalinks page opens, you want to click the little radio button next to ‘Custom Structure’. Now you need to paste this code into the box: /%category%/%postname%/
(it’s not going to be red- that’s just to differentiate from the text in the post).
***By the way*** If your category name IS NOT a good keyword (ex: one of my categories is ‘Recent Posts’- just remove the /%category%/ and ONLY use the /%postname%/.
Now click ‘Save Changes’ and you’re done!
Hi,
1. I\’m totally new to WordPress but I\’m creating blogs in a frenzy.
2. Why don\’t I even have a titlebar?
3. How can I change the heading of my main page?
Cheers
Richard
Kim, I never thought about using the category/post-title custom format. I’ve been using the Month and Name setting.
My logic is that I will still gain the SEO effect of have my post-title in the permalink setting, plus, I run less of a risk of having conflicts over time with the same path/title-name at some point in the future.
What are your thoughts on this?
Rick
Hi Rick,
Thanks for the comment.
While it’s true that the month setting will prevent you from having conflicting post titles/paths- it won’t do anything for you
as far as seo. More important than the permalink structure is the title bar though- so as long as you’re making the most of
that (using Headspace or All in One SEO)- it won’t make a huge difference.
And you don’t want to change it now if you have a lot of pages or posts indexed- you’d have to set up a redirect- otherwise people will
receive an error message if they try to use links from older posts or pages.
Thanks,
Kim
The structure of the domain link is very important. You are right that most beginners overlook the importance of permalinks. It definitely needs to be keyword friendly for SEO purposes.
Thanks-
I couldn’t agree more! It’s one of those things that is easily overlooked when first getting started.
Great tips Kim, could have done with seeing this when I was starting out with WordPress. You mention two plugins (all in one SEO and headpsace) – maybe you should do a post about the best SEO plugins for WordPress?
Hi Richard,
Thanks! I know….I’ve done a report on Headspace and will be adding it to the site and have an hour long video training I did with a business partner on WP seo.
Looks like you know a little about SEO? (Just checked out your site – nice!). Maybe we could do a webinar/podcast?
Hope you’re having a great day!
Kim
Wow this is simply great. You had provided very good and easy explanation for changing the permalink structure. I was having some problem in that but know I had done that correctly. Thanks a lot for the post.
yes I am agree with you. If we follow your instructions then it will be helpful in getting good ranking in search engine. Thanks a lot for this amazing write up. It will be very helpful for SEO Guys. Keep up the good work.
yes I am agree with you. If we follow your instructions then it will be helpful in getting good ranking in search engine. Thanks a lot for this amazing write up. It will be very helpful for SEO Guys. Keep up the good work.
Hey these is great you've posted here. I often forget many of the basics of SEO (title, meta, headers ) and have to go back to sorting it all out afterwards. Thanks for sharing.
It's easy to forget some of the basics when you get caught up in other aspects! I have a checklist I use when I go through setting up new sites so I don't forget (although I still seem to forget something!).
Thanks for the comment.
Kim
It's easy to forget some of the basics when you get caught up in other aspects! I have a checklist I use when I go through setting up new sites so I don't forget (although I still seem to forget something!).
Thanks for the comment.
Kim
Great article. This is basic stuff but many people still does not know how to do things like this. Thanks for sharing.
Great article. This is basic stuff but many people still does not know how to do things like this. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much for this seo information.
Nice post Word Press Chick.
Its important to set up your permalinks to include your keywords.
Thanks for the instruction although before I don't care about permanent link but now I understand the real important of it for my website.