Your permalinks (or “permanent links”) determine how the URLs are structured on your pages and posts.

How to set Your permalinks

In your WordPress dashboard hover over ‘Settings’, then click ‘Permalinks’.

From there select the appropriate setting and press ‘Save Changes’.

What permalink setting should I use?

WordPress gives you several options on how to set your permalinks:

• Plain
• Day and name
• Month and name
• Numeric
• Post name
• Custom structure

In most cases, the “Post Name” option is most appropriate, which will put the name of your page or post in the URL (this can be overridden on a case-by-case basis within an individual post page or post under the “Permalink” option).

Using “Post Name” is good for both humans, and SEO, as it will more clearly state what the URL is. 

For example, if your about us page is called “About Us”, a typical URL for that would be www.yourdomain.com/about-us/.

Warning about permalinks

You’ll want to decide on your permalink structure before your website is live. Once your URLs are indexed, changing your permalinks could severely damage your SEO and break links pointing to your website. 

Want to know more about Permalinks?

The purpose of this article was to give you a general understanding of permalinks. If you want to learn more, visit WordPress.org’s article: Using Permalinks.