When I started SEO, I didn’t know what a Permalink was or what role it played.

But Permalinks and SEO have a lot in common and aid in improving your website’s ranking. 

They might sound complicated but they are simple to master.

This post will teach you:

  • how Permalinks work
  • how to create Permalinks
  • How to set Permalinks on WordPress

For example, look at the following permalink:

First is your domain, where your website stays:

  • https://yourwebsite.co.uk/marketing/what-is-a-permalink

Some URLs have subdomains such as “blog.” before their domain.

So that would look like this:

  • https://blog.yourwebsite.co.uk/marketing/what-is-a-permalink

Then, you have the path, which shows where the page is located.

Under the “Marketing” category:

  • https://yourwebsite.co.uk/marketing/what-is-a-permalink

And finally it’s the slug, which indicates to search engines how to index your website:

  • https://yourwebsite.co.uk/marketing/what-is-a-permalink

Permalink is short for permanent link.

Because every part leads to a specific page on your website that won’t change.

URLs that aren’t customised use random IDs, which is not optimised for search engines and isn’t attractive to your website visitors.

For example, if you are blogging about social media marketing.

The URL which would be easier to understand and look better would be:

  • yourwebsite.com/social-media-marketing

Compared to:

  • yourwebsite.com/post-id?=5626fjwbngkd

Your slugs should include the keywords you want to target in your post.

From the example above: social-media-marketing.

The search engine and website visitors know the page is about social media marketing and is targeting the same keyword “social media marketing.”

And it’s easier for your website visitors to find and share your content.

You can increase your rankings by adding keywords in your slugs that have high monthly search volume (MSV).

So, think about your permalink structure early on in your website building process, when using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress.

What’s the difference between a permalink and a URL?

The difference between a permalink and a URL is that a URL is a web address that takes internet users to a page or file.

A URL can include:

  • Domain name only
  • Path
  • Slug
  • Other information depending on the page you are accessing

But, a permalink is a specific URL structure.

Permalinks are tools that bloggers have made popular for SEO and for sharing their content.

Basically, every permalink is a URL, but not every URL is a permalink.

The Best Permalink Structures

There are different permalink structures.

But your content and audience should influence the format which works best.

For example, news websites benefit from slugs that include a date and title.

So, their readers quickly know what the post is about and when it was written.

But, for blogs that have evergreen content and pages constantly being updated, then avoid dates in your titles.

Because your readers will see your content as old and irrelevant.

Just use a simple slug with only your article’s title.

Basically, use a permalink structure that benefits your users.

And, after picking your permalink structure then implement it in your CMS.

How to Make a Permalink

To make a permalink you need:

  • A domain name
  • A slug
  • A path, for organising several topic categories

When deciding on your permalink structure make sure you:

  • Keep it short: Don’t use “the,” “a,” “an” and make it a shorter version of your title. For example, an article titled, “How to create a blog post,” your slug can be, /blog-post.
  • Include main keywords – Include your keywords in your slug. Use keywords that relate to your page’s content.

You create your permalink on your CMS or Website Builder like WordPress, Wix, and Drupal.

Ideally, do this after building your website and before posting anything.

Creating permalinks after publishing blog posts means:

  • Changing all your old URLs
  • Updating all backlinks
  • Or setting up redirects for those pages

Using Permalinks with WordPress

On WordPress you have to set the permalink structure if you want it to be optimised when you create a post, or it will look like a random ID.

When editing your post, you see the permalink structure on the settings sections on the right of the screen.

You don’t need to install plugins to change your website’s permalinks.

On WordPress you can choose from a few permalink structures or you can customise your own:

  • Open ‘Settings’ and click ‘Permalinks.’
  • Pick a permalink structure.
  • Or create a custom permalink structure.

Open “Settings” and click ‘Permalinks.”

Go to your WordPress dashboard and open the “Settings” options.

Now, you should be presented with a list of options.

Then you will have to click on the Permalinks option.

And, you’ll be presented with a screen that has a few permalink options to pick.

Pick a permalink structure.

The permalink options you will be presented with and what they mean are:

  • Default: The default option does not maximise SEO value. It’s just a post identification number, nothing else.
  • Day and name: This option will show the day the post was published and name of the post. Use this if you have a lot of posts with the same name but posted on different dates.
  • Month and name: The same as day and name, but instead of day, the month will be displayed. Use it if you have monthly columns, like “Favourites” or “Best Of.”
  • Numeric: Another choice that gives little SEO value. It’s just all numbers. Use for archiving posts numerically, to look back and see previous posts.
  • Post name: Not the best for SEO but better than the others. Google focuses on keywords when ranking posts.

Or create a custom permalink structure.

WordPress allows you to quickly create your own permalink structure.

To do this you will create a formula for your permalink structure.

Then, whenever you publish a blog post, it will use that exact formula.

For example, if you have a marketing blog and the subject of SEO is one of the categories, and you post about different types of SEO marketing advice.

The structure would be the category followed by the post name, here what you would type in the custom entry field:

  • /%category%/%postname%/

But, if you have a lifestyle blog with a travel category (i.e., path) where you post about your recent holiday trips.

The structure would be the category followed by the year and post name, like this:

  • /%category%/%year%postname%/

A backslash separates each custom structure:

  • /%category%/%postname%/

And, each tag starts with the percent sign:

  • /%category%/%postname%/

All the permalink structure tag options are on WordPress here.

Change a Permalink Without Hurting SEO

Changing permalinks affects internal and external links to the page.

To let your website visitors and search engines know your page has changed locations, set up a 301 redirect. 

Google tracks where you are redirecting from (the redirect source) and where you are redirecting to (the new redirect target).

Basically, the old permalink and the new permalink, Google then updates the new permalink in the search results.

Without a 301 redirect, your website will have broken permalinks and missing URLs — which may create a negative user experience.

Search engines, like Google, reduce your organic search rankings if you don’t have a 301 redirect.

Because your website now has broken permalinks and missing URLs.

Search engines do this because you have created a negative user experience and don’t want to send website visitors to broken pages.

So, when you create permalinks, focus on SEO, which means keywords and user experience.