undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • MozCon
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Digital Marketers
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research
    Moz Pro

    Track AI Overviews in Keyword Research

    Try it free!
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • MozCon

      Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Digital Marketers

      Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. SEO Tactics
  3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
  4. /%category%/%postname%/ Permalink structure

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

/%category%/%postname%/ Permalink structure

Intermediate & Advanced SEO
3
9
17.9k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • UnderRugSwept
    UnderRugSwept last edited by Feb 9, 2012, 7:35 PM

    Mostly everyone seems to agree that /%category%/%postname%/ is the best blog structure.

    I'm thinking of changing my structure to that because now it's structured by date which is bad. But almost all of my posts are assigned to more than one category. Won't this create duplicate pages?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • UnderRugSwept
      UnderRugSwept @mad2k last edited by Feb 27, 2012, 11:37 AM Feb 27, 2012, 11:37 AM

      http://www.stadriemblems.com/

      Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • mad2k
        mad2k @mad2k last edited by Feb 26, 2012, 8:27 PM Feb 26, 2012, 8:27 PM

        Did you find any reason of site declining?

        Send me an url, I will take a look 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • UnderRugSwept
          UnderRugSwept @mad2k last edited by Feb 23, 2012, 4:47 PM Feb 23, 2012, 4:47 PM

          Yes, our positions are gradually declining, and I'm trying everything I can, no matter how seemingly small, until I can figure out why.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mad2k
            mad2k @UnderRugSwept last edited by Feb 23, 2012, 4:39 PM Feb 23, 2012, 4:39 PM

            Hi again 🙂

            I think that depends on what is the position of your site now. If it's good there is no pressure to do changes in other case you can take a risk. In my opinion good structure of content help in SEO an if I were in your situation i would take a risk of change.

            UnderRugSwept mad2k 3 Replies Last reply Feb 27, 2012, 11:37 AM Reply Quote 0
            • topic:timeago_earlier,13 days
            • UnderRugSwept
              UnderRugSwept last edited by Feb 10, 2012, 7:01 PM Feb 10, 2012, 7:01 PM

              Another question is which would be worse for SEO: leaving it the way it is, categorized by month and date, or changing the whole structure when I have dozens of posts?

              mad2k 1 Reply Last reply Feb 23, 2012, 4:39 PM Reply Quote 0
              • UnderRugSwept
                UnderRugSwept @NakulGoyal last edited by Feb 10, 2012, 12:00 PM Feb 10, 2012, 11:42 AM

                Thanks for the input. The reason I'm worried about duplicate pages is because what i temporarily switched everything to category/postname, I could access pages many different ways.

                category1/postname/page

                category2/postname/page

                anothercategory/postname/page

                Were all the same page. Duplicate content?

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • NakulGoyal
                  NakulGoyal last edited by Feb 9, 2012, 9:14 PM Feb 9, 2012, 9:14 PM

                  I agree with Marek. However, there's value in having the Category in there specially if your categories are keyword rich. Don't worry about duplicate pages. One post will only have one default category in the Slug (Most of the times, its the 1st one you selected in Wordpress). I also sometimes like to use /%category%/%postname%.html or /%category%/%postname%.php which gives the effect of pages under a folder, vs folder inside a folder. Just my 2c.

                  UnderRugSwept 1 Reply Last reply Feb 10, 2012, 11:42 AM Reply Quote 0
                  • mad2k
                    mad2k last edited by Apr 2, 2012, 4:24 PM Feb 9, 2012, 8:04 PM

                    Hi Marisa,

                    I'm using /%postname% and in my opinion it is a best structure ... but ... in that kind of structure is important to care about slug and to prevent creation of duplicated titles.

                    /the-best-solution  is a good slug

                    //the-best-solution-2  is not a good slug

                    I don't have duplicated pages cos WordPress has mechanism which check the slug in real time when you creating a post.

                    I think that  /%postname% is the most friendly link structure.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • 1 / 1
                    1 out of 9
                    • First post
                      1/9
                      Last post

                    Got a burning SEO question?

                    Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                    Start my free trial


                    Browse Questions

                    Explore more categories

                    • Moz Tools

                      Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                    • SEO Tactics

                      Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                    • Community

                      Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                    • Digital Marketing

                      Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                    • Research & Trends

                      Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                    • Support

                      Connect on product support and feature requests.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • RawkingOut

                      Best Permalinks for SEO - Custom structure vs Postname

                      Good Morning Moz peeps, I am new to this but intending on starting off right! I have heard a wealth of advice that the "post name" permalink structure is the best one to go with however... i am wondering about a "custom structure" combing the "post name" following the below example structure: Www.professionalwarrior.com/bodybuilding/%postname/ Where "professional" and "bodybuilding" is my focus/theme/keywords of my blog that i want ranked. Thanks a mill, RO

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Jun 30, 2017, 10:11 AM | RawkingOut
                      0
                    • HashtagJeff

                      Looking to remove dates from URL permalink structure. What do you think of this idea?

                      I know most people who remove dates from their URL structure usually do so and then setup a 301 redirect. I believe that's the right way to go about this typically. My biggest fear with doing a global 301 redirect implementation like that across an entire site is that I've seen cases where this has sort of shocked Google and the site took a hit in organic traffic pretty bad. Heres what I'm thinking a safer approach would be and I'd like to hear others thoughts. What if... Changed permalink structure moving forward to remove the date in future posts. All current URLs stay as is with their dates Moving forward we would go back and optimize past posts in waves (including proper 301 redirects and better URL structure). This way we avoid potentially shocking Google with a global change across all URLs. Do you know of a way this is possible with a large Wordpress website? Do you see any conplications that could come about in this process? I'd like to hear any other thoughts about this please. Thanks!

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Mar 8, 2019, 2:30 PM | HashtagJeff
                      0
                    • McTaggart

                      What does Disallow: /french-wines/?* actually do - robots.txt

                      Hello Mozzers - Just wondering what this robots.txt instruction means: Disallow: /french-wines/?* Does it stop Googlebot crawling and indexing URLs in that "French Wines" folder - specifically the URLs that include a question mark? Would it stop the crawling of deeper folders - e.g. /french-wines/rhone-region/ that include a question mark in their URL? I think this has been done to block URLs containing query strings. Thanks, Luke

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Mar 21, 2017, 10:39 AM | McTaggart
                      0
                    • the-gate-films

                      When is Too Many Categories Too Many on a eCommerce site?

                      We all know that more and more people are increasing the amount of different categories that eCommerce sites have. Say for example, you have over 3,000 different products, all categories contain unique text at the top of each, all of the categories link to each other (so loads on internal linking) and no two categories contain the exact same products. My question is this, is there ever a stage that you could create too many categories? Alternatively, do you think you should just keep creating categories based on what our customers search for?

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | May 11, 2016, 4:01 AM | the-gate-films
                      1
                    • EileenCleary

                      Javascript onclick redirects / porn sites...

                      We noticed around 7 websites which with domains that were just recently registered (with privacy protection). They are using our website keywords/titles and brand name and the sites are mostly porn / junk sites. They don't link to our website directly but use a javascript onclick redirect which is why we think we aren't seeing them in our backlinks report.  We've been in business for over 12 years and haven't come across sites like this before.  We recently lost our first page rankings for a few of our highest converting key phrases and have been digging in to possible causes. Just wondering if these sites could be impacting our results, and how to figure out if there are more like this? Examples: nesat.net
                      flowmeterdirectory.biz
                      finnsat.net
                      dotsjobs.net

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Apr 20, 2015, 5:35 PM | EileenCleary
                      0
                    • webestate

                      Yoast SEO Plugin: To Index or Not to index Categories?

                      Taking a poll out there......In most cases would you want to index or NOT index your category pages using the Yoast SEO plugin?

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Feb 22, 2013, 5:52 PM | webestate
                      0
                    • wtfi

                      Keyphrase / Keyword arrangement

                      Hi all, What are your thoughts on the arrangement of keyphrases / words? For example, does it make a difference if the words are arranged in the following way: "Keyword 1 Keyword 2" or "Keyword 2 Keyword 1" Both ways make a phrases which is favourable in the search engines. Can I stick with 1 way or should I be going with both arrangements. Hope that is clear 🙂

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Oct 23, 2012, 7:42 PM | wtfi
                      0
                    • BeytzNet

                      How to properly link to products from category pages?

                      Hi All, We have an e-commerce website and the category pages are built so that there is a product image and below it there is the title. Both the image and the title are in a href (each on its own). I encountered the following unfinished discussion here at MOZ:
                      http://www.seomoz.org/q/how-to-optimize-achor-text-links-on-ecommerce-category-page#post-93758 The discussion states that its improper. The question is - if it is wrong then why? (maybe because Google will give its weight to the image anchor instead of the text anchor since it is higher in the page). The other question is how to resolve the matter?
                      Should I add nofollow to the image href? Thanks

                      Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Jun 17, 2012, 1:08 AM | BeytzNet
                      0

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    • Digital Marketers
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • Local Citation Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.