A permalink is nothing but the full URL you use for a particular blog, page or any other content on your website. This link is a permanent one and is known as the permalink. These links don’t change for the entire lifetime of your website and its pages. In general, a permalink consists of your domain name (www.tej9.com) and also something known as a slug. A slug is the part of the URL that comes after the domain name. Having a permalink makes a URL easy to understand and share. Here is some detailed information on what is a permalink and other related things to it.
How to create SEO Friendly Permalinks?
A permalink must have all the attributes of an SEO friendly URL.
Here are some of the best executions,
Beginning with HTTPS
If a permalink starts with HTTPS, then it means the webpage is secured. Any information transferred between the web browser and a web server is encrypted.
Short and Descriptive
A permalink must always be short without any additional information, but it should also be able to describe what your website and page is about.
Always use lowercase letters
To stay out of trouble, you must always use lowercase letters in a permalink. Suppose, you opt for uppercase letters, then the web servers will treat you differently.
Separate words by dashes
All words that make up a permalink must be set apart by a dash (-) and not any other characters.
Don’t forget to cover SEO keywords
SEO keywords are the terms people type in a search engines search box. Incorporating SEO keywords in your permalinks will help search engines to know the content of your page. It will also give your users a clue about what to expect from your website or page. Apart from this, it also escalates your chances of ranking higher for those keywords.
Must not have any stop words
Generally, common words aren’t worthy enough. They also make it difficult to understand the actual content of a page. Some words like “of”, “you”, “a”, “the”, “on”, and various other words must be avoided.
How to change permalink without losing SEO?
As mentioned above the permalink is meant to be permanent, but there are some instances where you’ll have to alter it. If you need some help with it, you can also reach out to a digital marketing consultancy. They have a better understanding of performing it.
While you’re performing an SEO audit, you should make your URLs shorter by detaching the date information.
If you want your SEO to be on point, then you’ll have to notify your search engines about changing the URL. Once this is done, they can update their index.
Initiating changes without informing the search engines will make them think it to be a brand new page. It will lead your backlinks to be lost. Anyone who tries bookmarking this page will receive a 404 error.
For solving all these problems and sustaining your SEO rankings, you must add a 301 redirection to your .htaccess file. Once you do this, your search engine crawlers will get the information about this change.
Permalinks in WordPress
WordPress is one of the most desired CMS platforms among people. Not only that, but it is also one of the first platforms to make use of the term ‘Permalink’.
WordPress provides you with several options to set up the structure of your blogs or page. One of the best settings to pick is the ‘Post Name’.
After Choosing ‘Post Name’, your permalinks will not have any worthless information. When you’re publishing a new page, WordPress will grasp whatever you type in the page title and split it by dashes ‘-‘.
Here is a visual representation of where you find ‘Permalinks Settings’ under SETTINGS.
Conclusion
A permalink is simply a term that represents the URL of a page. It is utterly essential to have a unique permalink for any published page on an online platform. Always choose your permalink structure carefully.
Don’t change the permalink structure just for the sake of doing it. Redirecting your old URLs to new URLs incorrectly will lead you to problems and also drop your rankings. Before launching your website, you must always check your permalink structure.
We hope this blog might have given you a clear understanding of what is permalink. If you have any query, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
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