What are Permalinks?
Permalinks (permanent links) are the permanent URLs that point to individual pages, posts, or content on your WordPress website. They form the web addresses visitors and search engines use to access your content, and they remain constant even as your site evolves.
Common permalink structures:
- Plain:
yoursite.com/?p=123 - Post name:
yoursite.com/product-launch-guide - Day and name:
yoursite.com/2024/03/15/product-launch-guide - Category and name:
yoursite.com/marketing/product-launch-guide
Business value: Well-structured permalinks are crucial for SEO, user experience, and brand credibility. Descriptive URLs help search engines understand your content and improve rankings. Clean, readable links are more trustworthy and shareable, increasing click-through rates and social media engagement.
Best practices:
- Use descriptive, keyword-rich URLs
- Keep them short and readable
- Avoid special characters and unnecessary words
- Set your permalink structure early (changing later can break existing links)
- Use hyphens to separate words
Important: Once published and indexed, permalinks should remain unchanged to avoid broken links and lost SEO value. If changes are necessary, implement proper redirects to maintain traffic and search rankings.