Beginner’s Guide: How to Change WordPress Website URLs

Using WordPress is one of the brilliant ways of creating a website or a blog. It doesn’t take a lot of time to master the art of creating websites with WordPress. It has been packed with features for all sorts of website development. The most important thing that makes WordPress so popular is the array of customization that it provides. You can customize each and everything. Let us get to learn more about the WordPress URL customization and why is it better to convert your website to WordPress.
WordPress URLs/Permalinks:

Permalinks or WordPress URLs are simply the URLs that are used to uniformly locate each WordPress page or blog post. The permalinks can also be used to locate the categories and tags that have been specified on your website. These are permanent links. However, WordPress gives you an option to change it as per your needs to score better on SEO.
Top-notch SEO demands attractive URLs. If your website has got properly organized URLs uniquely then it is obvious for visitors to get attracted. Good URLs not only attract visitors but also make the process of navigation from one page to other quite easier.
It is a general thumb rule in WordPress development that the URLs that use long strings of numbers and phrases need to be avoided. You need to provide a shorter and meaningful URL to each of your blog posts as well as your pages. This is one of the major benefits that you get when you migrate your website to the WordPress platform.
Customizing WordPress URLs
When you create a page or a blog post, WordPress makes use of its default parameters to allocate a URL. If you want to change how WordPress allocates a URL, then you can do so from the backend of your website. You need to navigate to the WordPress settings and then click on permalinks tab to open WordPress default settings for Permalinks. When you make any changes in the default settings, all the URLs used in your website will be affected as the new set parameters take effect. You need to educate your WordPress developer about how things need to be done.
Customizing URLs of a Particular Page or Blog Post
It is not at all times required to manipulate URLs of the entire website. In most of the cases, it is required to make changes to a certain webpage or blog post. If you want to change a particular URL, then you have to follow another approach.
Once you have completed adding a new page, WordPress will automatically generate a URL based on the title of the page. You can change the allocated URL by clicking on the edit button that is present next to the URL. You can edit the URL as per your wish and this will not affect any other pages.
Customizing URLs of Categories and Tags
The URLs for categories and tags can also be edited similarly. You can open the category page and edit the slug of the category for which you want to change the URL. Once you click on the save button, the newly filled slug will the saved and the URL for that will be changed. However, this change will not affect any other URL of the website or the by default permalink structure of the website. One more thing that you should keep in mind is that you also update the URL of the category wherever used.
Customizing the Permalink Structure for a Single URL
If you wish to change the permalink structure of a single URL then you would require installing a plugin to take charge. This plugin will help you to change the structure of URL for an individual page, category, blog post, tags and many more. You need to download the plugin from the WordPress plugin gallery. Once you have downloaded the plugin, you need to install it and then activate it.
When the plugin is activated, you can be able to edit any page or blog post. You need to click on the edit button next tot eh URL, and then you will be allowed to add the custom permalink structure the entity you want to customize.
Similarly, if you want to modify any category then you have to go to the category page and then customize the category you want. You will find a custom field available to make the necessary changes. Similarly, you can change and edit the URL of any tag, custom post types, etc.
Hopefully, this article would have given you enough information on WordPress permalinks and what are the available ways to modify and customize it as per the needs. It is a matter of fact that most of the WordPress developers and site owners do not pay enough attention to the URL structure of their website. They create this blunder with developing a website or a blog. This can be very helpful in improving your website score as well as making your website more attractive by making navigation easier. WordPress is just a land of customization. So take advantage of this opportunity to customize all that you can.
