Change the Default Permalinks Structure for Your WP-Run Church Website or Blog

This post is another in the Using WordPress to Run Church Websites series on changing the post URL structure — called peramalinks — in WordPress.

Although this post is really for the series, it could also apply as a blogging tip as I use this philosophy of changing the default permalink structure for all the new blogs I set up.

To access the permalink options, log in to your WP Dashboard, click on “Options” then “Permalinks.”

As you probably know, the default permalink structure — aka the “Ugly” type — in WordPress is set to display individual posts like this:

http://www.yourchurchwebsite.com/?p=123

Boring!

I think if you leave the default as is, you’re missing out on potential search engine love.

So here’s how I set my custom permalinks …

For church websites, I’ll often use the “Date and Name Based Option.”

Why? Because I suggest using Pages (different from a typical Post) for static content, which defaults to a different root-level type link anyway (http://yourchurchwebsite.com/pageneame/), and maximizing WP’s blog features and using it to announce your church’s upcoming news and events. So posts have a date-type individual link … like http://yourchurchwebsite.com/2007/11/5/fall-festival-for-children/

For blogs, I’ll typically use a custom structure like this string:

/%category%/%postname%/

Why? Although I don’t promote categories on my blogs too much and haven’t seen a lot of stats to reflect their big value, they are useful for putting keywords in your link structures and I’ve read it helps in search engines and such. This is something I wish I would have done here at CCP in the beginning!

OK, go have fun!

Learn more about Permalinks in WP here.

February 12, 2007 · Filed Under Rockin' Web Sites, Web Site Design, WordPress

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Comments

4 Responses to “Change the Default Permalinks Structure for Your WP-Run Church Website or Blog”

micah on February 12th, 2007 9:03 pm

Cory, I have a problem changing my permalinks. When I do so it renders all my links useless. Any idea why?
Cory Miller on February 12th, 2007 9:35 pm

Micah, in your case I wouldn’t change it … you’ve got inbound links coming and it would mess up your SE juice. :-)

This is the same problem I have here with changing my permalink structure …

I have an idea of how to get around that but it’s untested. Basically, start a new MySQL database (and thus) blog … leave the old … but with start new with the new permalinks. I have no clue if this would work or not poise problems.

–Cory
Nathan Rice on February 13th, 2007 5:35 am

Cory and Micah,

You could change it, but it would take a whole lot of work. While it’s true that if your site is popular (I’ve worked with websites that were quite popular in my day job) the search engines reindex you within a week. Less popular sites would take longer, but you’d eventually get reindexed. If you change your permalink structure, count on losing about 3-6 months or so while the search guys try to find you again.

Cory,
I’m in the same boat you are. I’d love to change my permalink structure to /category/post-name/ but I’d hate to lose the SE, digg, del.icio.us traffic.
Servant on February 13th, 2007 8:00 am

Good tips. I believe this also helps to optimize for search engines. They do not like dynamic content so much as these static mocking links. Thanks for the tips!