The default permalink structure of WordPress is very ugly, and is a pile of meaningless jumbo, like this – http://blogname.com/?p=xxx, where xxx is the number of post. It is obvious that it does not help the search rankings in anyway, as one of the most important values in SERPs is the keywords in URL. If your permalink is just the blog name+post ID, what does the search engine understand? Nothing.
“Pretty Permalinks”, as the WordPress codex calls it, is the permalink structure in which the permalink structure is something like http://blogname.com/2007/08/20/post-name/
The on-going debate is, whether this is really the best. There is no doubt that the post name should be part of the URL. With that established, let’s examine the three sides in the debate:
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Year, month, day, post-name
This format was used by all blogs until recently, when this debate sprang up. This side argues that apart from SEO, this structure helps the reader too. Strip out the post name, and you’ve got the month/day that it belongs to. Similarly, you can reach the yearly archive and the index.
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Category, post-name
This is one of the emerging formats, with many new blogs using it. Supporters argue that categories are relevant to the post, and hence improve SEO.
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Post-name
Yes, you’ve read it right. I meant just
http://blogname.com/postname/
This is the other emerging format, with many blogs like DailyBlogTips and John Chow using it. While the other two sides tout the reader+SEO benefits, this format relies on its superior SEO firepower. This blog(TechZilo) uses it too.ADVERTISEMENT
I do not want to drag this post endlessly, like many other SEO articles, but will get to the core of the matter immediately. The third format in the above list is the best. Blog readers rarely care what the URL is – they usually click through, and not type through.
So, the decision comes down to SEO alone. Now, in title SEO, there is a concept called relative weight of keywords. This essentially means that more words in the URL equate to less weightage for each word. Thus, if you have a long URL, you are losing the weightage to useless crap like archive/category part. However, in the third format, there is only post name. So, you end up giving maximum importance for the post name in the URL.
If you use the third format, the only words other than post title is the blog name, which cannot be avoided. Furthermore, blog name can be useful if it contains keywords.
For those of you who have already selected one of the faulty formats, you can use FUcoder’s Permalink Redirect plugin. In the options, you can redirect the old posts to newer format by using the instructions given in it. Instructions are given in the above link to plugin page.
However, be VERY careful not to mess things up, as one faulty move can lead you to a situation which is worse than what it was before. If you have multiple WordPress installs, use one of them as a demo blog and test if the plugin works properly. Sure, it takes time, but I can assure you that it is worth it. Remember what happened when John Chow tweaked his robots.txt? It was part of SEO, but he botched it, and ended up losing $2K that month.
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Just a quick question re: permalink
If I decide to use mysite/postID/post-name/
My site seems to be accessible on
1. mysite/postID/post-name/
2. mysite/postID/
I tried to access the post using mysite/postID/ and the post loads up without redirecting me mysite/postID/post-name/ url. Is this a duplicate content issue as the same post is accessible on two different url i.e 1 and 2?
@jim:
This is a known issue, I tested it on a local install and found the bug. It may be fixed in future versions of WordPress, and you could use .htaccess rules, but the best solution I’ve found is to use mysite.com/postID-postname/, for this permalink, using only the postID does not return the post. I use it on my tech opinion blog.
Thank you very much for such a prompt reply. I wish they’d be able to solve it. As i prefer the permalink postid/postname. It would be nice if users who enter mysite/postid gets redirected to postid/postname. Any solution on this?
@jim
Redirecting /postID/ to /postID/postname is possible with some regex and .htaccess rule (assuming you use Apache), just that I’ve been too lazy to brush up my regex skills for it. Will work out a solution and post it on this site, stay tuned.
This is excellent sumesh. Im looking forward to it. Many thanks indeed.
Question for the guru’s…
My current permalink structure is “http://blogname.com/postname/” just as this article suggests is the best way.
BUT, after reading http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks, it says that using this structure is BAAAAAAAAD. Read the quote:
“A sanitized version of the title of the post (post slug field on Edit Post/Page panel). So “This Is A Great Post!” becomes this-is-a-great-post in the URI (see Using only %postname%). Starting Permalinks with %postname% is strongly not recommended for performance reasons.”
Whats a fella supposed to do???
@ Sumesh – i see your answer but how did you come to the conclusion that the wordpress codex article (mentioned above) is in reference to the robots ability to crawl? And how would/did you fix it in your robots.txt file?
Paul
@vitamin: The performance reason that WordPress codex refers to, is that WordPress has to spend a few milliseconds figuring out the post from its post name slug. If you use /postID/post-name, then it can recognize the post easier.
However, such performance gains are negligible, and if you have (or will eventually have) a high-traffic blog, you’re going to use caching plugins and such. So, this minor gain is minimal, and I would say /postname/ is still the best – reason being clean, concise URL (that bots like).
It might be a good idea to leave a unique number in your permalinks. I often have posts with the same name and it can be troublesome unless you leave in date or post_id information. I currently use: /%category%/%post_id%/%postname%.html
@V.C: Multiple posts with same title is not a problem. WordPress simply appends -1, -2 etc. to the end of the permalink.WordPress is very smart in that regard, I actually read a post where someone experimented with trying to duplicate titles. The only case when things would be messed up is if you have a post and a page with same permalink.
I mostly use /%category%/%postname%/ for my permalink structure. I have noticed that many A list bloggers are changing over to /%postname%/ which has me thinking a bit.
Some say that you get better hierarchy with a permalink structure such as /%category%/%postname%/ but I haven’t seen anything that proves that.
@MPB: I’ve been using /postname/ for a year and have no problems. Besides, that tip on Codex.wordpress.org is about search robots having problems (if I remember it right), and that can be solved by robots.txt.
I agree, post titles is best… but wordpress documentation seems to give a warning that it’s not the best idea. They say to include something numeric. I don’t want to, but I am curious if anyone has problems with this method?
is there is any plugin that make those links SEs friendly??
@Truden: Meta tags was important for the ages bygone. Now, Google doesn’t care about meta tags, and Yahoo gives importance, but hey, it is not as big as Google. Also, hand-crafting the meta is not worth the effort.
And I use a plugin, which automatically adds meta tag with the first few lines of the post. Since I don’t have any control over it other than to write it with the tags in mind. I do write brief intro with the keywords included, though. Thanks for your tip.
@TechnoJuice: Thanks, you saved me some effort
And yes, Blogger is SEO friendly in that aspect. This theme is just the bare bones now, I have to add backrounds and a better colour scheme. Hope that solves your dilemma.
@Benedict: It will not matter whether the reader knows the dates, as you and I(and a lot more others) write timeless content. And timeless content stands better chance of good SERPs than news posts – so no concern about dates there. As for user experience, most blog readers will not care to look at the URL(at least I don’t!)
IMO, I prefer to use Year/ Month / Post Name and not the later. Just for a simple reason, it will let my users know the time line of my post. So it won’t compromise on users search experience. I don’t want a user searching in for some latest stuff and land in a post which is out dated!
@ Truden
Which seo dark age do you live in ? Key words in URL is one the most important factor in seo.
I guess blogger is doing alright when it comes to post page URL !
@ sumesh
Why this theme ….last theme was better !
Good Post!
Amit Agarwal in his labnol.org use the format category / Post Name / Post Id
I think, by giving that Post ID number in the last part, he wants to attract News Portal site like Google News where it is required certain numerical figure in the URL.
I recommend the category / Post Name format.
From my experience I know that the URL does not count anymore for the search engines.
What counts is the information which you give with your <meta>
As I see you use it to help the robots and to help yourself
But I don’t think that it needs such a long meta description:
<meta name="description" content="WordPress is touted to be one of the most SEO-friendly platforms. Some folk go as far as to say that it is the best. However, ..."/>The article name would be pretty good information for the search robot.
The think is to carefully chose the title of the article, because it will bring you the visitors.
Just my humble opinion