Best WordPress Permalink Structure to Rule SEO – [Latest Update]

When it comes to SEO of any site, permalink structure [also known as URL Structure] plays a very important role. URL of a post is first thing that is crawled by Search Engines. So it becomes quite important to have a SEO-friendly URL structure. WordPress is most preferred blogging platform not only for other advantages it has, but also for the way it allows you to rule SEO world with best WordPress Permalink structure.

The default WordPress permalink structure is neither user friendly nor SEO friendly. It is something like this –

https://www.techreviewpro.com/?p=123

Usually the problem with newbie bloggers is that they don’t know much about SEO and after WordPress installation to their server, they just start publishing post. Thus they never think to optimize WordPress permalink for SEO and when they realize it…it is too late.

Though you are always free to change your WordPress permalink structure but doing so requires 301 redirection and some other technical steps. Therefore I recommend you to choose the best WordPress permalink structure before getting started to blogging.

What is Permalink Structure or URL structure ?

First of all, let me start by discussing this for my newbie blogger friends. Permalink structure is a puzzle for newbie bloggers. So, let us solve this puzzle in mathematical style.

Permalink = Perma + Link

Permalink = Permanent + Link

Permalink = No change + Link

Permalink = No change + URL

Hence, a permalink is a permanent link of your post, pages or categories, tags etc. of your site that never changes by time. Since it never changes by time so you must make sure you have a SEO friendly best WordPress permalink structure.

Why SEO Friendly Best WordPress Permalink Structure ?

As I discussed earlier in this post, URL is first thing that is crawled and indexed by search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc. So having a SEO-friendly permalink structure increases your chance to rank higher in search engines and thus there is every chance to get more organic and free visitors to your site.

Though Pagerank is no longer being updated but when it comes to pagerank, Google attach importance to permalink structure also.

Read : Top 7 Best WordPress SEO Plugins to Rank Higher in SERPs

Best WordPress Permalink Structure for SEO

Though by default WordPress permalink is not well optimize for SEO but happily, WordPress allow you to change the permalink structure as you wish under some allowed combination. To change the URL pattern, you have to go – Dashboard >> Settings >> Permalinks.

As you can see, by default WordPress permalink structure is – https://techreviewpro.com/?p=123 but there are some other combinations also which are allowed by WordPress.

Combination Allowed

1. %year% – This will show the year of publishing of post in URL [Four Digit Number] e.g 2014

2. %monthnum% – This will show month of publishing of post in URL e.g. 11

3. %day% – This shows date of publishing the post in URL e.g. 04

4. %hour% – This shows hour of the day of publishing post in URL e.g. 16

5 %minute% – This shows time of the day of publishing post in URL e.g. 24

6. %second% – This shows exact seconds of publishing post in URL e.g 33

7. %postname% – This shows slug of the post in URL for e.g Best WordPress Permalink Structure becomes best-wordpress-permalink-structure

8. %post_id% – This shows unique post id allotted by WordPress to your post in URL e.g. 2553

9. %category% – This shows the title slug of category of post in URL for e.g WordPress tips becomes wordpress-tips

10. %author% – This shows a sanitized version of author’s name in URL for e.g. Rahul

So out of these allowed combinations, you are free to use any of combination in URL as per your wish. But make sure your URL should not exceed 255 characters as any URL length greater than 255 characters is bad for SEO. So what is the best combination for SEO ?

Best URL Combination for SEO

If you are having a dynamic website that is updated daily like news website or any similar website then you need to have date and post name in URL as it is a good idea for user friendliness and SEO as well.

For e.g. – https://techreviewpro.com/%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/

But if you have a website that is not updated daily it is wise idea to remove year, date and time from your URL. So for such static websites my recommendation would be –

https://techreviewpro.com/%category%/%postname%.html

But as per latest Google news submission policy, your articles must have a unique 3 digit to make sure your URLs are unique. So a smart idea would be to include /%post_id% in the post URL.

So ideal URL combination would be : https://techreviewpro.com/%postname%-%post_id%/

Recommended Best WordPress Permalink Structure

Keeping every aspects in mind and trying not to make you confuse, here is my final verdict over the best WordPress permalink structure :

http://yoursite.com/%category%/%postname%/%post_id%/

or

http://yoursite.com/%category%/%postname%/%post_id%.ext

The .ext extension is replaced by file name extension like .html, .doc, .aspx etc.

The Science behind this to be best WordPress permalink structure

By using this documentation of URL structure, your URL would be keyword rich. Because it would contain category keyword as well as post title keywords. And I hope you know very well the importance of keywords in SEO. Also this contains unique post id that makes your URL unique as per Google’s news submission policy discussed above. So it meets every requirement and hence this is best WordPress permalink structure.

Must Read : Avoid 8 Basic SEO Mistakes to Boost Your Site’s SEO Dramatically Now !

Key Points to Note About Best WordPress Permalink Structure

1. Your keywords from post title should be there in URL.
2. Your URL should never exceed 255 characters.
3. Never change URL after publishing post. If you are required to do so…don’t forget to do 301 redirection to redirect old URL to new one.
4. Prefer dashes ( – ) over underscore ( _ ).
5. Using too much components in URL structure may slowdown your website’s loading time.

The Pro Review from TechReviewPro

WordPress is a very popular SEO friendly blogging platform which if used properly may help you to do magical things with search engine optimization. Also WordPress permalink structure is a crucial factor in optimizing your WordPress site for SEO. So choose the recommended one as per your site’s requirements keeping SEO friendliness in mind and put the first step in right way to rule the SEO world.

Don’t Miss – New SEO Techniques – How SEO has Changed in 2015 ?

I hope this tutorial about Best WordPress Permalink Structure helped you to set your permalink structure. However, if you found any problem while setting up best WordPress permalink structure for your site or anything needs to clarify, please don’t hesitate to ask me personally. I’m there to help you.

However share your views about your preferred WordPress permalink structure in comment section below.

Please share this with your friends if you found it useful.

Also Read :

1. How to Get Your Site Indexed in Search Engine Instantly ? – Proven SEO Guide for Fast Indexing
2. What is an XML Sitemap and How to Create an XML Sitemap of Your Site ?
3. How to Create WordPress Sitemap Easily Within 1 Minute ? – Beginner’s Guide
4. How to Enable Meta Description Tags in Blogger Blog ? – Beginner’s Guide to Blogger SEO
5. Know the SEO Algorithm of Google