Using A Custom Permalink Structure For Better SEO Results

If you are serious about getting traffic to your WordPress blog…

I am going to highly recommend that you use a custom permalink structure in order to maximize your search engine visibility. This is another important aspect of SEO.

Your permalink structure involves how the link (url) to a single blog post is created when you publish a post.

NOTE: Please read this entire post if you already have a number of blog posts using the default blog permalink structure on your blog!

I’m going to recommend that you use one of two custom permalink structures on your WordPress blog:

/%postname%

or

/%category%/%postname%

The reason is simple…

When you publish a post, the permalink settings determine how the permalink (permanent link or url) to your blog post urls are formed.

If you use one of the custom permalink structures above, your permalinks will be formed using the title of your blog post (which should contain keywords you want to rank for in the search engines.

This is a big deal because you simply CANNOT get the maximum search engine visibility you want using the default setting, which produces blog posts with a permalink like this:

http://YourBlog.com/?p=123

But when you adjust the permalink structure to the custom structure above, your blog post permalinks can look like this:

http://YourBlog.com/how-to-grow-tomatoes (no category)

http://YourBlog.com/gardening/how-to-grow-tomatoes (with example category)

If you already have a number of posts in using the default permalink structure, you will need this plugin to take your blog visitors to the correct link with the new permalink structure:

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Here’s the bottom line:

- You should be using keywords and keyword phrases in the title of your blog posts.

- Using a custom permalink structure, your keywords and keyword phrases will appear in the permanent link to the blog post, giving your blog posts more search engine mojo.

- You still want to use the All in One SEO Pack plugin to optimize the title and description of your blog posts (what the search engines see).

Here’s the way I look at it:

If you are going to blog, then you blog to get the most traffic you possibly can.

Cheers,
Steve Roye
Online Business Consultant

About the Author/Founder of the IMS Blog

This former Navy Senior Chief (ret.) and professional entertainer didn't stop when he retired from the military...

Steve Roye is also an author who has also been an online business owner and consultant for almost a decade.

Now Steve focuses on helping others start or expand their online businesses.

Please check out the Featured Articles page for direct links to articles on this blog.

Last 5 posts by Steve Roye

• Entertainers Have The Edge When Building An Online Fan Club - March 11th, 2010
• 7 Secrets For Getting More Hits And More Traffic To Your WordPress Blog Now - March 8th, 2010
• The Lies About Making Money Online With Google Adsense - March 5th, 2010
• The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Wealth Strategies - March 2nd, 2010
• If You Don’t Understand Keyword Research, You’re Kinda Screwed - February 28th, 2010

Tagged with: custom permalink • seo • wordpress blog • wordpress plugin

Filed under: Advanced Users

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