Key takeaways
- Use “Post name” permalinks (
/%postname%/) for most sites. - Keep slugs short, descriptive and lowercase, with hyphens between words.
- Changing permalinks on an existing site requires 301 redirects — otherwise you lose rankings and links.
Permalinks are the permanent URLs of your posts and pages. WordPress lets you choose their structure, and the choice affects usability, sharing and SEO for the life of the site. Get it right before you publish.
Permalink structures compared#
| Setting | Example | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Plain | /?p=123 |
Avoid — meaningless URLs |
| Day and name | /2026/10/19/wordpress-redirects/ |
Only for news sites; dates make evergreen content look old |
| Month and name | /2026/10/wordpress-redirects/ |
Same issue |
| Numeric | /archives/123 |
Avoid |
| Post name | /wordpress-redirects/ |
Best for most sites |
| Custom: category + name | /wordpress/wordpress-redirects/ |
OK for large, well-structured sites, but moving posts between categories changes URLs |
Writing good slugs#
- Include the main keyword:
/wordpress-redirects/. - Remove filler words: “how-to-set-up-redirects-in-wordpress-the-easy-way” → “wordpress-redirects”.
- No dates or numbers that will change (“best-plugins-2026”, “top-7-…”).
- Lowercase, hyphens, ASCII characters.
- Edit the slug before publishing — WordPress auto-generates it from the title.
See URL structure for general principles.
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Category base and tag base#
By default, category archives live at /category/seo/. You can change the base in Settings → Permalinks (this site uses /topics/). Some SEO plugins can remove the base entirely. Choose once and keep it.
Changing permalinks on an existing site#
- Ask whether it’s worth it. Changing working URLs carries risk; only do it for a clear benefit (e.g. moving from plain
?p=URLs). - Back up and crawl the site to export all current URLs.
- Change the structure in Settings → Permalinks.
- Add 301 redirects from old patterns to new ones (often one regex rule) — see WordPress redirects.
- Update internal links, menus and the sitemap.
- Monitor Search Console for 404s and ranking changes.
Trailing slashes#
WordPress adds trailing slashes by default (/post/) and redirects the non-slash version. Keep it consistent; mixing both creates duplicate URL variants.
Permalinks FAQ#
Do keywords in URLs help rankings?#
Slightly, and mainly by making URLs clearer to users. Don’t stuff keywords or change established URLs just to add them.
Should I include categories in URLs?#
For most blogs, no. It makes URLs longer and fragile if you reorganise categories.
How long should a slug be?#
Three to five words is a good target.