A permalink is a permanent URL used for every piece of content within your WordPress website. Permalinks are used by both your sites visitors as well as search engines to reach your content, and each permalink typically involves your domain name, for example: www.bigscoots.com, with the addition of a slug that follows, www.bigscoots.com/wordpress-optimized-hosting.
The slug is unique to each page or post within your site, and your domain name in addition to the slug are what form the permalink.
As you may know, WordPress automatically generates a permalink for each of your posts and by default, uses the date option. In many cases, site owners will choose to remove the dates from their permalinks and change the structure to the designated posts name, category, keyword, etc.
Removing the date option and using an alternative structure of your choice will provide a brief understanding of what each piece of content is about and will also help to improve SEO while enhancing user experience.
How to Change Permalink Structure in WordPress
The process of removing the default date option from your permalinks and adjusting it to a format of your choice can be done within a matter of a few clicks inside your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Sign into your WordPress admin dashboard via yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
- Click Settings.
- Click Permalinks.
Here you will find a series of settings in which you can choose from. Simply select the permalink structure you would prefer, and you’re all set!
Why BigScoots Recommends Removing The Dates
We recommend having the dates removed from your WordPress permalinks for many reasons.
- User experience. Having long, unreadable or non-specific URL’s may create confusion for your sites visitors and a decrease in overall end-user experience.
- Click-through rate. Using dates in your permalinks can lead to a lower click-through rate for any of your older posts that may still be considered relevant. If a blog post with a date from several years ago appears in a Google search, an end-user is much less likely to click that result than they are to click a result containing a more recent date, or a permalink that contains a structure more pertinent to their search.
- Search Engine Optimization. Removing the dates from your permalinks and replacing them with a specific post name, category or keyword creates a higher chance of appearing in Google’s search results when a user is searching for a specific topic. For example, if an end-user is searching for a chocolate chip cookie recipe and your URL structure involves the word “cookie” or “recipe” your post will have much higher chance of appearing in search results than if your URL structure was: www.bigscoots.com/2002/10/08.
The Process of Removing The Dates
The process of removing the dates from your permalinks is extremely common but can be detrimental if done incorrectly. It can negatively impact both SEO and Google search rankings for your WordPress website.
permaIf you are keen to have the dates removed from your permalinks, we recommend allowing our support technicians to do this for you. You can simply submit a support ticket through your WordPress Optimized Portal (WPO), and our team will happily take care of it for you. 🙂
To read more about what it’s like to have BigScoots remove the dates from your permalinks on your behalf, check out our case study with The Black Peppercorn.
Written by Katie
Marketing and Client Success Manager
