Have you ever wondered what friendly URL structure is in WordPress? This question is often asked by new users of WordPress. That's because in the past, the default WordPress URL structure was completely unfriendly to SEO. However, that has changed. In this article, HOSTVN will explain SEO friendly URL structures and how you can customize your WordPress permalinks.
SEO friendly URLs contain keywords that explain the article and are easy to read by humans and search engines. It also helps improve the ranking of websites in search engines.
Example of SEO friendly URL:
So what does an unfriendly SEO URL look like?
Previously, WordPress did not use friendly URLs or permalinks. The default URL will be the SEO unfriendly URL we have for example above.
This has been changed in WordPress 4.2. If you have recently installed WordPress, then your website URL is SEO friendly.
You can easily verify your permalink settings in your WordPress admin area.
The first thing you need to do is visit the settings page Static links (Permalinks) in your WordPress admin area.
Here you can see there are several options available.
Option Day and name (Day and name) somewhat SEO friendly as it has the post name in it. However, with this structure, the URL becomes too long. But more importantly after a while your content seems outdated, even if you regularly update it. Similarly, optional Month and name (Month and name) also at risk of being outdated.
However, if your website is a news publication, you may want to include a date in your URL to display your visit and improve the user experience.
In our opinion, those two structures are only good for news websites. Business websites should not use it.
Option Post name is the most SEO friendly as it is short and beautiful.
Also you can use struct Custom Structure to customize the URL as you like.
To use the URL structure Custom Structure, you will need to add special tags to the custom structure box. For example, we use:
However, there are many other combinations you can create with tags. Here is a list of tags you can use to create your own custom URL structure:
If you have to change your permalink structure, use 301 redirects to redirect old links to new links and not affect SEO rankings. If you are not familiar with 301 redirects, please seek the help of experts.
If your website is using simple URLs that are not SEO friendly, no matter how old it is, you should update the URL structure for better SEO. Yes, you will still lose the amount of social sharing, but the benefits will far outweigh that.
What is URL friendly in WordPress?
Before diving into WordPress-friendly URLs, it's important to identify what SEO-friendly URLs are.SEO friendly URLs contain keywords that explain the article and are easy to read by humans and search engines. It also helps improve the ranking of websites in search engines.
Example of SEO friendly URL:
https://blog.hostvn.net/wordpress/top-5-plugin-tao-website-thuong-mai-dien-tu-wordpress-tot-nhat.html
|
https://blog.hostvn.net//?p=10467
|
This has been changed in WordPress 4.2. If you have recently installed WordPress, then your website URL is SEO friendly.
You can easily verify your permalink settings in your WordPress admin area.
Install Permalink
In WordPress, the link is called Permalinks (Static paths). You will see that the term permalink structure and URL structure are used interchangeably.The first thing you need to do is visit the settings page Static links (Permalinks) in your WordPress admin area.
Here you can see there are several options available.
- Plain (Default)
https://blog.hostvn.net/?p=123 - Day and name (Day and name)
https://blog.hostvn.net/2020/01/20/sample-post/ - Month and name (Month and name)
https://blog.hostvn.net/2020/01/sample-post/ - Numeric (Postcode)
https://blog.hostvn.net/archives/123 - Post name
https://blog.hostvn.net/sample-post/ - Custom Structure
Choose your own URL structure using the available tags.
Option Day and name (Day and name) somewhat SEO friendly as it has the post name in it. However, with this structure, the URL becomes too long. But more importantly after a while your content seems outdated, even if you regularly update it. Similarly, optional Month and name (Month and name) also at risk of being outdated.
However, if your website is a news publication, you may want to include a date in your URL to display your visit and improve the user experience.
In our opinion, those two structures are only good for news websites. Business websites should not use it.
Option Post name is the most SEO friendly as it is short and beautiful.
Also you can use struct Custom Structure to customize the URL as you like.
To use the URL structure Custom Structure, you will need to add special tags to the custom structure box. For example, we use:
/%category%/%postname%.html
|
Create custom URL structures with available tags
For best results, we recommend using the options we mentioned above. You can copy the URL structure that we use on Blog's HOSTVN or choose the post name as your URL structure.However, there are many other combinations you can create with tags. Here is a list of tags you can use to create your own custom URL structure:
- % year% - The year of the article, four digits, for example 2020.
- % monthnum% - Month of the year, for example 01
- % day% - Day of the month, eg 21
- % hour% - Hour, for example 09
- % minute% - Minutes, for example 30
- % second% - Seconds
- % postname% - The title of the article
- % post_id% - ID of the article, for example 423
- % category% - Name list
- % author% - The writer's name.
Important note for active websites
Changing your permalink structure on a site that has been operating for a long time makes all your old links will not be found and risk losing the current SEO rankings.If you have to change your permalink structure, use 301 redirects to redirect old links to new links and not affect SEO rankings. If you are not familiar with 301 redirects, please seek the help of experts.
If your website is using simple URLs that are not SEO friendly, no matter how old it is, you should update the URL structure for better SEO. Yes, you will still lose the amount of social sharing, but the benefits will far outweigh that.
Conclude
HOSTVN Hopefully this article has helped you create an SEO friendly URL structure for your WordPress site. You may also want to see 11 more SEO optimization tips on your wordpress blog posts.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment