Do you want to know what the most SEO-friendly URL structure in WordPress is? At WPBeginner, we get this question a lot. Many users want to ensure that their URLs are search engine friendly, but they’re not sure which permalink (permanent link) structure is ideal for them.

In this article, we will discuss the most SEO-friendly URL structure and how to update your WordPress permalinks.

What are SEO-Friendly URLs?

SEO-friendly URLs include keywords that provide an overview of the website’s content. They are descriptive and simple to understand for both humans and search engine bots.

Here’s an SEO-friendly URL for a blog post describing how to install WordPress:

Here’s what a non-SEO-friendly URL looks like:

So, what connects the two? Here’s the explanation:

• The SEO-friendly URL includes the article’s goal keyword or the search query for which the material desires to rank.
• It divides words with ends or dashes rather than special characters such as underscores.
• It uses HTTPS rather than HTTP, indicating that the website is employing an SSL certificate to protect user data.
• The URL slug, which identifies the web page, appears immediately after the domain name, with no more words or numbers in between.

While web page URL structures are not a key ranking impact, they are an important technical SEO issue to focus on.

This is because they help search engines grasp the content of the sites. They also contribute to a better overall user experience. A readable URL gives consumers an indication of what they’ll find on the page or post.

What Permalink Structure Is Best for WordPress SEO?
In WordPress, links are known as permalinks (short for permanent links). You’ll see the terms permalink structure and URL structure used frequently.

By default, WordPress now uses the post name permalink structure in the URL, such as

This is currently the most SEO-friendly URL layout.

Even though WordPress already has an SEO-friendly structure, many individuals continue to ask us what the optimum structure is.

They’re wondering if they need to change their old, non-SEO-friendly URL structure, even though they’ve had their website for quite some time. Previously, WordPress used the post name permalink format, however this was changed in WordPress 4.2.

Or possibly they have a lot of material and want to know if the post name structure works for them.

To help you out, we’ll start with the first question.

Should You Change Your Old URL Structure?

If your site has been running for more than 6 months, please do not change its permalink structure. In reality, you don’t have to use the post name format we just showed.

One exception to this rule is if your present URL structure is simply permalinks. We strongly advise you to change it to the post name or other readable formats for improved SEO.

If you have an established site and choose to change the permalink format, you should be aware of the potential concerns, which include:

• Losing your current search engine ranks.
• Your internal links and backlinks will become broken.
• Losing your whole social media sharing count.

That is why we suggest employing an expert to implement suitable redirects. Users will be instantly directed to the new web page URL when you alter the permalink structure.

How to Set up an SEO-Friendly Permalink Structure

Now, if you have a fresh WordPress website and want to create an SEO-friendly URL structure, here’s how.

The first step is to go to Settings » Permalinks in your WordPress admin area. This takes you to a page that looks like this:

As you can see, there are many permalink structures to pick from, so let’s look at each one.

• Plain (https://www.wpdruggy.com/?p=123) – This was the default WordPress URL structure and is not SEO-friendly.
• Day and name (https://www.wpdruggy.com/2024/03/21/sample-post/) – This option is somewhat more SEO-friendly because it includes the post name. However, with dates, the URL becomes too long. More significantly, your content may become outdated over time.
• Month and name (https://www.wpdruggy.com/2024/03/sample-post/) – This format, like the previous one, has the risk of becoming dated. But if you’re a news publication, including dates is great because they show when the story was published.
• Numerical (https://www.wpdruggy.com/archives/123) – Similar to plain, but contains the archive page and post ID. We also reject this solution.
• Post name (https://www.wpdruggy.com/sample-post/) – This option is the most SEO-friendly because it is descriptive and brief. This makes it ideal for commercial websites that provide evergreen content that consistently ranks in search engine results pages (SERPs).
• Custom Structure – This allows you to create your URL structure with the available tags. We recommend this option if you have a larger publication but think that the post name isn’t user-friendly.

Once you’ve decided on a permalink structure, scroll down and click ‘Save Changes.’

WordPress will then instantly change your site’s .htaccess file, allowing you to use the new URL structure immediately.

How to Create a Custom URL Structure in WordPress

At WPDrugguy, we use a customized permalink structure that includes both the category name and the article name in the URL.

Because our site is vast and contains thousands of articles, it works great for us. Larger periodicals and eCommerce sites that offer multiple product categories use a similar URL structure.

For using a custom URL structure, enter special tags into the custom structure box. As an example, we use:

Take note of how each tag fits between percent marks. Also, note the trailing slashes / before, after, and between the tags.

This approach works best for us because it summarizes the material and indicates which category it belongs to without being overly extensive.

However, tags can be used to construct a wide range of alternative combinations. Here’s a list of tags you can use to make your unique URL structure:

• %year% – The year of the post in four digits, like 2024.
• %monthnum% – Month number of the year, like 07.
• %day% – Day of the month, like 17.
• %hour% – Hour of the day, like 17 (for 5 PM).
• %minute% – Minute of the hour, like 35.
• %second% – Second of the minute, like 23.
• %postname% – A simplified version of the post title. For example, if your article title says “This Is A Great Post!” It would be this-is-a-great-post in the URL.
• %post_id% – The unique ID # of the post.
• %category% – A simplified form of the category name. For example, if the category name is “WordPress Tutorials,” the URL will be “wordpress-tutorials”. Nested sub-categories are represented as nested directories in the URI.
• %author% – A simplified version of the author’s name.

Once you have built up your custom permalink structure, remember to click the ‘Save Changes’ button as previously.

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The Final Line

An SEO-friendly URL structure in WordPress is crucial to improving your website’s search engine contact and usability. By including important keywords, keeping URLs brief, and ordering them hierarchically, you can develop URLs that are simple for search engines to comprehend and users to recall. Additionally, using hyphens to separate words, removing special characters, and ensuring URLs are descriptive of the page content improves SEO friendliness. Finally, installing an SEO-friendly URL structure in WordPress improves not only your site’s rankings but also general user engagement and navigation, all of which contribute to the success of your online presence.