Permalinks: What They Are & How They Help Your SEO

If you're relatively new to the world of online publishing and SEO, you may have no idea what a permalink is or how it fits into your SEO strategy.

Don't worry—in this post, we plan to help you understand what they are and how to use them.

As listed on Wikipedia, "a permalink—or permanent link—is a URL intended to remain unchanged." 

What does that mean? A permalink is useful for SEO in that it tells search engines what people can expect by clicking on your URL.

Permalinks come in a variety of formats. You may recognize the following:

• Plain - company.com/?p=123

• Day and Name - company.com/2020/03/16/post-name

• Month and Name - company.com/2020/03/post-name

• Numeric - company.com/archives/123

• Post Name - company.com/post-name

• Custom Structure - company.com/%postname%

So, why would you pick one format over the other? It depends on what your goals are for your content.

For example, if your content is news-based and updated regularly, you may want to use a Date and Name methodology for your naming convention. If your content is more cornerstone in nature, you may want to stick with the Post Name method.

Now that we know what permalinks ARE, let's go over how they can help with your SEO strategy.

Utilize Keywords in the URL

Saying that, don't keyword overload the URL, because for 1 - it's obnoxious and 2 - it won't help you with search engines.

When creating your permalink, most people use the title of their blog post/page as the title—which is a perfectly fine strategy. However, if the keyword you're targeting is NOT part of your URL, then you may want to change your approach.

Example: if you are writing a post about, say, the best time to blog, and the title of the article is "Publishing Primer: Best Time to Post," then you may want to change the URL to say something like: /best-time-to-post-blog-content instead.

Shorter is Better

If you're looking to potentially utilize your URLs as part of a digital ad campaign or printed marketing piece, having a shorter URL is essential.

Create permalinks as friendly URLs, so it's easy for people to type and remember.

Instead of: /increase-your-site-traffic-with-these-steps, have it read perhaps as /traffic-boosting-tips.

You Can Still Fix It

If you're concerned that you've picked the wrong slug set-up, don't worry—you can still change it.

There are several ways to edit a permalink—but be aware that if you are backlinking to existing content, those links will no longer work. 

Before making any major permalink shifts, it would be a good idea to do an audit of your content and the traffic sources so you can catch these types of errors before someone ELSE points them out to you.

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