How to Customize and Optimize URLs in WordPress

How to Customize and Manage URL Addresses in WordPress

In WordPress, the URL address of theendKnown as "slug", which is used to refer to a specific page, post, category or tag.Slug settings are crucial for SEO optimization and user experience. This article will detail how to customize and manage URL addresses in WordPress.

What is Slug?

A slug is the last part of the URL that identifies a specific page or post. WordPress automatically generates slugs when you add a title to a page, post, category, or tag.For media projects, slugs are generated based on your filename.

Example:

• Page URL:https://example.com/my-page
• Post URL:https://example.com/first-blog-post

Avoid duplicate links

No two pages, posts or media items can share the same permalink address. If WordPress detects that the same URL is being used multiple times, it willAdd a number to differentiateThe

Example:

• First post URL:https://example.com/happy-new-year
• The second one is similar to the post URL:https://example.com/happy-new-year-2

This ensures that each post has a unique address. The auto-generated numbers can be changed to something else by following the steps below.

Changing links to pages and posts

To change the last part of the URL for a specific page or post, follow these steps:

1. Navigating to a page or post: In the site's dashboard, navigate to "Pages" or "Posts".
2. Edit page or post: Click on the page or post you want to edit.
3. Open the Settings sidebar: If you don't see the sidebar on the right, click on the "Settings" icon in the upper right corner to bring up the settings. This icon looks like a square with two uneven columns.

4. Find the link option: in "summaries"Under the section, find "link (on a website)" option. Clicking on the link in this section will open a pop-up window where the last part of the URL can be changed.
5. Change slug: Enter the new text and click the "X" to close the pop-up window. The fixed link will be updated with the new text.
6. Save Changes: click on "update"button or"post" button to save the changes.

URL character limit

When changing URLs, note that URLs cannot accept certain characters such as spaces, punctuation marks, currency symbols, and any other characters other than letters or numbers. In these cases, the special character is either replaced with a hyphen (-) or omitted from the URL altogether.

Additionally, certain words cannot be used as permalinks because the path is reserved for folders on WordPress sites. These words include: avatar, bin, blog-search, forums, gadgets, i, login, m, wp-admin, wp-content, wp-includes, XML, and any 4-digit number (e.g. 2024).

Change links to categories and tags

The URL structure for category and tag pages is as follows:

• https://example.com/category/category-name

In the above example, "category-name" is the slug for the category named "category-name". you can change the slug for a category or tag page by changing the name of the category or tag.

Create a custom category or tag link

The slug used for URLs can be edited independently of the category or tag name in a slug-enabled plan.Follow the steps below to view the URL segments for category and tag pages:

1. Accessing the Dashboard: Access to the site's dashboard.
2. Navigate to categories or tags: Navigate to "card" → "form"or"card" → "tab (of a window) (computing)".

3. View Slug Column: The Slug column will display the last part of the URL used for category and tag pages.
4. Edit SlugHover over a category or tag and click the Edit link. Find the "Name" field, or just look for the "Slug" field in plugin-enabled plans.

5. Enter new text: Type new text for the URL.
6. Save Changes: click on "update"Button.

summarize

By customizing and managing URL addresses in WordPress, you can improve your website's SEO performance and user experience. Whether it's pages, posts or categories and tags, making sure each URL is unique and descriptive will help improve search engine rankings and ease of access for users.