Are Your Blog Posts’s Permalinks (URLs) Losing You Traffic? - DailyBlogTips

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Are Your Blog Posts’s Permalinks (URLs) Losing You Traffic? Posted: 28 Nov 2013 04:53 AM PST One frequent mistake bloggers make is to leave their post permalinks (URLs) as the WordPress default. This is actually becoming less common, as WordPress now prompts you to change the permalink structure … but if your blog's been running for a while, you may be missing out on traffic due to poor permalinks. The two most common problems that come up are: Permalinks with just a number Permalinks with dates Permalinks with Just a Number The default WordPress permalinks look like this: www.dailyblogtips.com/?p=123 This does nothing for your readers or for your SEO. There's really no reason at all to use numerical permalinks like this. If a reader comes across the URL out of context (e.g. without the post title) they'll have no idea what it's linking to, plus you want to have keywords in your permalinks to help your posts rank well in search engines. Also, permalinks like this brand you as a "newbie" and can make your blog look less professional. Permalinks With Dates Often, you'll see links that look like this: www.dailyblogtips.com/2013/11/28/sample-post As Joost de Valk of Yoast explains: Having a date in your permalink structure has proven to diminish the CTR from the search results for older posts. People are just not likely to click on a result that's two years old, even though it might very well be that your post has the answer they seek. While this isn't a total disaster – ProBlogger seem to be doing OK, despite having the date in their permalinks – it can put readers off your older posts. It also makes for long and unwieldy URLs if you want to include them in a newsletter or even on a printed brochure or business card. Changing Your Permalinks It's incredibly easy to change your permalink structure. Just log into your WordPress dashboard and go to Settings –> Permalinks. Click on the "Post name" radio button, then click "Save Changes" (both are shown in a red box below). That's it! Note that WordPress should redirect your old permalinks (so that links don’t break) but if you do find that you have broken links, the WordPress SEO Plugin from Yoast can sort them out for you. Customising Your Post Slugs The final part of your post – the "post name" – is also called the slug. When you add a new post, the slug defaults to be your whole title. You may want to shorten it and make it more concise. This is optional – but it's something that many big blogs do. Copyblogger and Zen Habits, for instance, often cut the post slug to a single word: Are You Too Lazy to Write Less? – copyblogger.com/brevity How Creativity Works, & How to Do it – zenhabits.net/creativity (This option has been around in WordPress for ages – just take a look at this post by Daniel back in 2007 – but a lot of bloggers don't know about it.) So – over to you! What do your post permalinks currently look like, and will you be changing them?   Wanna learn how to make more money with your website? Check the Online Profits training program!

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