Even though this is a function that comes with WordPress I still see so many websites and blogs that use the ID format ( http://example.com/blog/?p=21 ).
It’s not hard at all to set up “Pretty URLS” and you can have Pretty URLS in no time. In addition to the URL look downright sexy, search engines consider the path of these link’s relevant which can lead to better search engine results.
So How Does It Work?
The answer is Permalinks. Permalinks can be found under the setting tab from your WordPress admin interface. Permalinks make all of the magic happen with the way your URLS get displayed. It does this by creating virtual URLS on the server and then handles directing those URLS to your actual pages.
So let’s get started!
Log into your WordPress admin interface. You can find this interface at http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin. Once you have logged in click on settings and then click on Permalinks (WordPress 3.3.1).
Here is a screenshot of how that page looks.
We have chosen the custom option which is generally the best for SEO. Click on “Custom Structure” and insert:
/%category%/%postname%
We don’t include the trailing slash by preference. Click here to see googles view on the trailing slash.
After you have picked your Permalink setting click the “Save Changes” button on the screen and Voila!
ATTENTION:
If WordPress gives you an error saying it does not have access to update the Permalink structure then you need fix the permissions on a file called “.htaccess”.
To do this, log in to your website via FTP or SSH and first check to see if the .htaccess even exists in your web root. You should see other files like wp-config.php here. If the file is already there you’ll need to set its permissiton to 666 through the context menu of your ftp client with an option called “permissions” or “chmod”. If the file is not there , no worries — you need to create a blank version of the file using a text editor and upload that to your main web directory also making sure the permissions are 666.
After this is finished refresh your WordPress admin page.
Related posts:
