Permalink is a blend of "permanent" and "link". Every post or page has a unique address that people and search engines use to reach it. In WordPress settings you choose what these addresses look like.

Example#

Instead of an unreadable address like example.com/?p=123, you can have a structure like example.com/laptop-buying-guide. It is more readable for people and better for SEO.

Common structures#

  • Plain, with the post ID
  • Day and name
  • Post name only
  • A custom structure that includes the category

Important notes#

  • Short, descriptive names without filler words are best
  • It is best to choose the structure when you first build the site
  • Changing it midway breaks old links unless you add 301 redirects
  • After a change, you sometimes need to click Save on the settings once so rewrite rules are regenerated

Common mistake#

Putting the date in the URL of "evergreen" articles. When you update the article later, the old URL makes it look outdated.

Non-English characters in URLs#

WordPress supports non-Latin characters in URLs, but when copied into messengers they appear encoded and very long. Many sites use a short Latin slug instead to keep addresses shorter and easier to share.