Having better permalink structure not only good for SEO but also good for user experience. In early days many people started their blogs with permalink structure /year/month/post-name or so. Some of them wants to change WordPress permalink structure. it is not good to change permalink frequently or even a few times in the blog’s life. Lets discuss what can be secured and can’t be secured while changing WordPress permalink.
What can be preserved while changing WordPress permalink?
We can secure almost all SERP in Google. However we may see some downfall in SERP just after changing permalink structure but it will for one or 2 days, if everything goes fine. Here I am considering Google as only Search Engine.
What can’t be preserved after changing WordPress permalink?
Social Stats: We can’t keep any social stats after changing WordPress permalink structure. We will loose all stats if we touch old permalink.
Google Page Rank: Changing permalinks will loose page rank if a page have any. and possibly we will have to wait for a long time to get it back.
Why to change WordPress permalink structure as soon as possible?
Changing permalink structure should be made as soon as possible. And the decision should be made wisely. We should think seriously about changing permalink structure.
How to change WordPress permalink Structure for new posts only. Without affecting existing posts?
It could be best solution who do not want to loose anything even Social Stats. However their is a big downside of this method. We will always need a Plugin and it will eat a lot of server resources. The only thing you will need to install a plugin called “Advance Permalinks“. This plugin works with existing version of WordPress but developer is no longer supporting this plugin.
How to change WordPress permalink structure for all existing and new posts?
It will be best option if you have limited server resources like a shared hosting. However we will loose all social stats, a lots of backlinks and page rank. But we will preserve Google SERP.
For this method we will need a plugin or .htaccess to redirect old URLs to new one. This is very essential to redirect all URLs with 301 (permanently moved) header response.
Using .htaccess:
If your site has Apache Web-server then this is perfect way to go. Use this link to generate .htaccess code which should be placed before the WordPress permalink rewrite.
Using Plugin:
It is another easier way to change WordPress permalink safely. However this plugin is also not supported and not available in WordPress but thank god I have saved a copy of the plugin. You may download this plugin and use. This plugin can be downloaded from WordPress trunk (and upload the file to the WordPress plugin directory).
Consider following steps:
- Step 1: Change the wordpress permalink from WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> Permalinks
- Step 2: Install Dean’s permalink migration plugin and activate
- Step 3: Go to WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> PermalinkMigration insert your old permalink structure and hit “Update Options”
- Step 4: Go back to permalink setting (Dashboard -> Settings -> Permalinks) and hit “Save Changes”. Do not modify anything, just save it.
Screenshot of Dean's permalink plugin
How to check if permalink migration is successful?
It is really important to redirect old urls to new urls with 301 (permanently moved) header response. However it is easy to check this if you are familiar with Firebug for Mozilla Firefox or alternatively check it on seobook if the header has 301 redirection or webpagetest.org for through scan.
If anything go wrong, don’t hesitate to ask me a question by commenting here.
