WordPress Postname and Custom URL

A Friendly WordPress Postname URL will make Mr Google like you more!

By default WordPress gives you  ugly, unfriendly URLs for your posts/pages.  You will want a betterURL via WordPress postname for better SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

What does an ugly URL look like?

An ugly URL has lots of numbers, question mark and is not easy on the eye.

• http://www.netwebbing.com/?123
• http://www.netwebbing.com/2013/08/samplepost

What does a pretty SEO URL look like?

Google, for SEO purposes, prefers URLs with words in them, preferably if it also includes your page’s main keyword.  It is not only more human-readable but it also serves to let Google know immediately what  your post or page is about.

For example, if the main keyword for your page is “wordpress postname“, then something like:

• http://www.yourdomain.com/wordpress-postname-custom-url

would be a good permalink to have.

How would you get a SEO pretyy permalink in WordPress?

Customize Permalink with WordPress Postname

Thank goodness WP (WordPress) allows you to customize your URLs.

WP admin >> Settings >> Permalinks

Select “Custom Structure” >> and type in /%postname%/ >> Save Changes

WordPress Postname customise for SEO

Note: You may notice that after you Save Changes, the selected bullet pops back up to “Post name”.  Don’t worry.  You have now configured WordPress to create permalinks so that instead of ugly numbers and question marks, it will show:

http://www.yourdomain.com/postname

Tip: Will Google Love Your Title?

Which brings us to the importance of your page/post title.  Make sure you incorporate your main keyword into the title because:

• now, after you have customized your WordPress permalinks, the title becomes part of the page’s permanent URL
• your title helps inform Google as to what your page contents are about
• your title is what users see when they do a search

Tip: Edit Permalink to get rid of Stop Words

When you write your post’s Title, you want to include your page’s main keyword.  You also want to make it sensible and readable.  You do not want to just stuff keywords into your title. You want your title to let humans know what your page is about when it comes up on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

However, while it reads better with stop words in the Title, you don’t necessarily want those stop words in your permalink.

In your Edit Page, you can easily change the permalink.

How to Edit Permalink

Tip: When to edit your page’s permalink?

The best time is when you are still in Draft Status.  As much as possible, do not edit the permalink once the article has been published, especially if it has been published a while ago.  Otherwise you could have a broken permalink that leads to nowhere.

Reference for those who want more:

• Settings for Permalinks from WordPress.org