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Changing permalink structure. How??

Discussion in 'WordPress' started by razz.jazz, Jan 20, 2011.

  1. #1
    So for Google to rank and index a website the permalink structure should be changed?

    Right now I have the default (p?=123) style and it should be modified to use the /post_title/ style so that INURL keywords can be used?

    In my Google.com/Webmaster account I get:

    http://[website name here].com/page/10/ 404 (Not found)

    So how do I change it and what to I change it to?
     
    razz.jazz, Jan 20, 2011 IP
  2. joshuthomas

    joshuthomas Well-Known Member

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    #2
    Hi Razz,

    Its simple:

    1. Log in to your wordpress admin
    2. Go to the options that says "Settings -> Permalinks and select custom"
    3. change it to /%postname%

    You are done. Make sure you do this as early as you start your blog, doing it midway might get your indexed links bounce.

    warm regards
    Joshu
     
    joshuthomas, Jan 20, 2011 IP
  3. Internet Marketing IQ

    Internet Marketing IQ Guest

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    #3
    I will typically use:

    /%postname%.html

    which is a variation of the above and doesn't change ranking but does help people who may choose to link back to your site. People are used to linking with .htm or .html so I give it to them.
     
    Internet Marketing IQ, Jan 20, 2011 IP
  4. razz.jazz

    razz.jazz Peon

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    #4
    Well I've already had my blog up for 6 months but it isn't indexed, I think, by Google. Hence this is why I am going to make the change...
     
    razz.jazz, Jan 20, 2011 IP
  5. razz.jazz

    razz.jazz Peon

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    #5
    So I did that and had to manually change my .htaccess file. When I did so it kinda messed up my pages. Like going to page 2, it couldn't find my header logo and some other lil quirps.
     
    razz.jazz, Jan 20, 2011 IP
  6. Dodger

    Dodger Peon

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    #6
    You did what to the permalink? You should not have to do anything to the .htaccess file, WordPress rewrites are handled internally.

    BTW, you have over 800 pages indexed with Google. Changing the permalinks structure is usually not a good thing this far along.
     
    Dodger, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  7. elixier

    elixier Member

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    #7
    Having a clean url is very much important for quick an easy indexing of your site. You can easily modify your Wordpress blog to have clean Url by editing the Permalinks.

    But you can do so if you can access and edit your .htaccess file using Mod_rewrite feature of your webhosting server. So before applying changes to your Permalinks in Wordpress check thi.

    For how to have a clean Url or what you have mentioned in the post visit http://www.livetechz.com/editing-permalinks-and-mod_rewrite-for-clean-urls-in-wordpress.html to learn step by step process of editing your Permalink in Wordpress.
     
    elixier, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  8. Dodger

    Dodger Peon

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    #8
    Where in that article does it explain how to edit your .htaccess file?

    Additionally, there is no need to add a file extension such as .html or .php to the end of the permalink. There are no advantages to adding an extension, contrary to lot of belief that there is around here.

    The addition of the extension would require an edit to .htaccess which complicates things more than necessary. If you want to know how complicated, review this thread How to include ".php" after post name in wordpress here at DP.

    And it is not true that it makes it easier to index. Maybe a couple of years ago, but that is just a bunch of poo-hucky that gets perpetuated by the copy-sayers who know not what of they speak.
     
    Dodger, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  9. razz.jazz

    razz.jazz Peon

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    #9
    It doesn't. But when I make the changes to select a custom structure, wordpress can't change the .htaccess for me (I think my site is 777 instead of 755). I have to go in and write the file myself.

    When I view my site on google.com/webmaster, I get:

    Crawl errors
    Not found 53
    Unreachable 41
    Updated Jan 21, 2011

    and

    hxxp://[the site].com/page/10/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Nov 18, 2010
    (and 40-50 similar for the pages)

    So it tells me that Google isn't able to crawl my page in its default state.

    So when I made the Custom Structure changes at Permalinks tab in Wordpress (it couldn't write to the .htaccess file, so I had to write to it for it).
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2011
    razz.jazz, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  10. WP Oasis

    WP Oasis Peon

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    #10
    Keep your permalinks simple...

    /%postname%/ you can always add a SEO plug-in to let you re-write your title tags.
     
    WP Oasis, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  11. Dodger

    Dodger Peon

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    #11
    The crawl date (Nov 18th) is an old error. It may not be an issue right now. If that page is accessible now, without error, then do not worry about it.

    Custom structure, not sure why the write error popped up. Usually that error happens if the directory does not have write privileges, but something tells me that is not the case (usually isn't). If you are able to upload images, then the directory is writable.

    Also, you will get more 404 not found errors after changing your permalink structure. Think about it. If your pages were accessible with certain permalink structure, and you change it, then the old structure is now unreachable. Any external links to those pages become broken also. This is why it is not good practice to change permalinks so far down the road ... it breaks things.

    There is a plugin that will redirect old links to the new structure however. I do not know the name of it offhand, but somebody here at DP does ... and I have seen it mentioned. If you are serious about changing the structure, then I would install it.
     
    Dodger, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  12. razz.jazz

    razz.jazz Peon

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    #12
    As always Dodger, thanks for your help. There are other errors associated such as January 11, 2011.. its got 40-50 crawl errors, but maybe they're all gone now. Or are old. Liek here's half the list:

    hxxp://site.com/page/10/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Nov 18, 2010
    hxxp://site.com/page/11/ 404 (Not found) 1 pages Nov 8, 2010
    hxxp://site.com/page/11/ 404 (Not found) 1 pages Jan 7, 2011
    hxxp://site.com/page/12/ 404 (Not found) 1 pages Jan 12, 2011
    hxxp://site.com/page/12/ 404 (Not found) 1 pages Nov 8, 2010
    hxxp://site.com/page/13/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Jan 14, 2011
    hxxp://site.com/page/14/ 404 (Not found) 1 pages Nov 15, 2010
    hxxp://site.com/page/15/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Jan 7, 2011
    hxxp://site.com/page/15/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Nov 10, 2010
    hxxp://site.com/page/16/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Jan 14, 2011
    hxxp://site.com/page/17/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Jan 14, 2011
    hxxp://site.com/page/18/ 404 (Not found) 3 pages Jan 11, 2011

    The custom structure can't write for some reason. I've bumped into this error before. I changed it to 777 from 755, I think. But anyways Wordpress doesn't have the writing privileges but it does have the uploading, reading, privileges.

    At this point, I'm not sure I want to change the directory, if its fine, I'd like to leave it. But I have so many 404 errors right now from Google Webmaster that I'm thinking it might be a better idea. THe only reason is to make sure my links are found in Google, otherwise I could care less about the cosmetics (next time around I'll correct this before the site goes live).

    But if you think its fine the way it is and shouldn't be trouble? Then I shouldn't change it?
     
    razz.jazz, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  13. Dodger

    Dodger Peon

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    #13
    Those errors came up when you had the permalinks changed to a custom structure, then changed back to the default. Right now you are using hxxp://site.com/?paged=x, but Googlebot had cached your page with the other link structure and is trying to follow them (but now they do not exist). If you change to the custom structure, you will end up generating another batch of errors for the hxxp://site.com/?paged=x links.

    Once it is set and left alone, those errors will expire with time and googlebot will stop looking for them. You can also submit that those old pages be dropped from the index altogether via GWT.

    There is nothing wrong with changing to the new permalinks that are human readable. Your current external links will probably not suffer from it, from what I can see. Just do it, stick with it afterward and avoid changing them again.

    BTW, I would go with %category%/%postname% without the extension. That is my personal preference. In your case, it would divide your site into three main categories, Video, Images, and Posts. Having that little category slug in your Url will give a little boost for the keywords video and images.

    Extra tip, you can change the post slug before you publish it. It should be right below the title of the post. If you cannot see it, then it is hidden, click on the screen tab to reveal it. Changing the slug will change the %postname% portion of the Url, so you can eliminate any garbage from it such as the words the, an, it, etc. Some weight, albeit little, is given to the keywords in the slug. A healthy slug is a happy slug.
     
    Dodger, Jan 21, 2011 IP
    joshuthomas likes this.
  14. razz.jazz

    razz.jazz Peon

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    #14
    Oh okay.

    Well, when I changed it, I had some problems with the site. I had to manually change the .htaccess (Wordpress generates the code and says to cut and paste it in, which I did otherwise my .htaccess is empty).

    Somehow the site couldn't read some of it. So when I would go to page 2, the header logo would be missing like it couldn't read it.

     
    razz.jazz, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  15. virs1989

    virs1989 Peon

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    #15
    Changing permalinks is as easy as turning on your computer. Go to "Settings >> Permalinks", then click "Custom Structure" and put "/%postname%.html". You're done
     
    virs1989, Jan 21, 2011 IP
  16. patamski9v

    patamski9v Peon

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    #16
    after changing the permalinks make sure to update you Sitemaps.
    I suggest a permalink /%category%/%postname%
     
    patamski9v, Jan 22, 2011 IP
  17. razz.jazz

    razz.jazz Peon

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    #17
    Read a bit earlier. After I change the permalinks to my site, my .htaccess isn't writable for Wordpress. So I just change the .htaccess myself (which is blank). Afterwards, my site is a bit funny. If I go to any links, I lose the header file, other links can't seem to communicate properly to the site. So I just changed it back.
     
    razz.jazz, Jan 23, 2011 IP
  18. Yuuko008

    Yuuko008 Member

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    #18
    Please be sure that your .htaccess is writable (chmod 777) . Then reupdate the permalinks settings.
     
    Yuuko008, Jan 24, 2011 IP
  19. Jalpari

    Jalpari Notable Member

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    #19
    your .htaccess file is not writable, go to ur public_html folder and set 755 permission for this file, so file will be updated automatically.

     
    Jalpari, Jan 26, 2011 IP