Search Enging Rankings, Wordpress

How To Change Permalinks In WordPress For Increased SEO Traffic

Whenever I install a WordPress blog, one of the first things I do is change the permalink settings. Let’s talk about what they are, why I change them and then I’ll show you how you can easily change them yourself in your WordPress blog.

Note - this applies only on self-hosted sites that use the free software from WordPress.org. It does not apply to WordPress.come blogs.

What Are Permalinks?

Permalinks – which is actually short for permanent links are the links that point to your individual blog posts and pages. By default, these links looks something like affiliatenichepacks.com/?p=213.

We can however easily change the structure of these permalinks via the WordPress admin interface to look a little nicer likehttp://www.affiliatenichepacks.com/474/how-to-change-permalinks/

Why Should We Change Them?

There are two reasons why you should change your permalinks. The first one is that they simply look better and make your site look more trustworthy. It’s a bit of a vanity thing.

The second reason is keyword and SEO related. Having your main keyword as part of your url will help you rank better. It’s a minor factor, but every little bit helps.

How Do We Change Them?

Last but not least, let me show you how easy it is to change your permalinks.

Log into your wordpess admin area. In the sidebar on the left you will see an option for “Settings“. Once you click on it, the following menu options will appear.

You will see a link or option called “Permalinks“. Click on it and you will be taken to a section of your blog that will allow you to change your permalink settings.

You will see a default option that’s selected right now as well as several other common options. All of these options are usually popular with bloggers, but not often a good choice for a content site.

I prefer to have the title of my post be part of the link. I either use it by itself like I am doing on this blog here (not that the file name is simply “/how-to-change-permalinks/” or with an html extension (in which case my url would become /how-to-change-permalinks.html ).

Either option is fine and I use them interchangeably.

Here’s what the permalink settings area looks like when you first log in:

Instead of the default, click on the radio button next to “custom” and use one of the two following settings.

/%postname%

/%postname%.html

Here’s what that’ll look like.

Last but not least, click on “Save changes and you’re all done.

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