Is there a way of changing the Permalink without getting the 404 Error?
-
Hi, I am new to this all..
Is there a way of changing the permalink for example from:
domain/content/ to domain/profile/ without receiving the 404 error message. It's just that since my website has been developed, some pages and their content have changed but the permalink still shows the name of the old page which may be confusing.
Ps. Please use most simple language for explanations as I am really new to it.
Thank you!
Ve
-
Wow - looks like folks kinda missed the part where you asked to keep it simple, Ve
Because you site is built using WordPress software, it's actually simple and straightforward to do what you're asking. All it requires is the installation of a small plugin called "Redirection" to your website to automatically handle what needs to be done anytime you wish to change a page or post's permalink. (just to be sure - this is all assuming you're talking about changing the permalink right on the edit page for a post, not changing the permalink structure on the settings page for your whole blog)
In case you haven't installed plugins before, here's the step-by-step process. Don't be intimidated - it only looks long because I've made every step it's own bullet point for clarity
- log into your WordPress as if you were going to create a new post, but instead, look for the button called Plugins on the left sidebar
- hover your cursor over the Plugins button, and click on the Add New link that shows up
- on the new page, type Redirection into the search box and click the Search Plugins button beside it
- the plugin you want should be right at the top of the list - called Redirection (no other words) and in the description you'll see it is written by John Godley
- click the link for Install Now located under the name of the plugin
- you'll be taken to a page that tells you it's installing the plugin. (If WordPress gives you empty boxes to fill ion this new page, post back here. Depending on your site's configuration, sometimes WordPress needs a little help at this point.)
- Once WordPress has done it's thing, you should see a successful install notification on that page.
- click on the Activate Plugin link that now appears at the bottom of the "successfully installed" page you're on
- WordPress will again do it's thing and then take you to the page listing all your installed plugins. The plugin is now installed and activated!
- now go the post or page you want to change, and edit its permalink, republishing the post when you're done.
- go to your live site and click on one of the links to the page you just changed, to confirm that you end up on the correct new page at it's new address
- DONE! Go have a glass of wine (or other celebratory beverage.)
The background (if you want to know the "Why" as well as the "how")
When you change the permalink of a page in WordPress, you are changing its actual web address (also know as its URL). Even though you know you've done this, the rest of the web (and even your own website) don't know about the change so they're still looking for that page at it's old address.When your site's server gets a request to display that page, it can't find it so it sends back a 404 error, which basically says "there's no page at the address you're asking for and I have no idea where it might be".
To fix this, you need to teach the server where it should send everybody who's looking for the old address. You do this by writing what's called a 301 Redirect into the server so that when it gets a request for that old address, it can say "there's no page at that old address anymore - it's now moved permanently to this new address and I'm going to automatically send you there."
This all happens instantaneously in the background so the visitor never sees it - they just end up on the new address. In addition, this redirect tells the search engines to give the ranking value of the old address to the new address so it doesn't look like a brand new page starting from scratch. (helps keep your page showing up well in the search results)
The Redirection plugin automatically notices whenever you change the permalink of a page and automatically writes the code necessary to give the server the 301 redirect it needs, instead of you having to muck about with all the coding the other answers were talking about. YAY for WordPress! (Still, best to change the permalinks as seldom as possible though)
The method I gave you installs the plugin directly from the WordPress parent site , meaning they've checked and approved it so you know it's safe. The plugin can also do many other powerful things, but those are for another post
Do let me know if anything's not clearly-enough explained, or if you run into any problems
Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
Paul
-
Hi Ve, just as a further clarification, remember that when you use the 301 redirection you're passing that value to the new page although you lose something of that value (further reading here) that's why you should schoose wisely whenever perform a redirect or not.
In the case you need to do that consider that you won't be starting from 0 but not even from the same point you were with the other page which was ranking.
-
Thank you!
I didn't think there was sooo much work involved. I will look into it. Cause at the moment my site is ranking not badly, so making changes to my URL would mean losing those ranking positions and starting from new. It may be worth long term doing anyway, so I just have to see.
Thank you!
Ve
-
MissVe,
you can change your permalinks. You just need to set up 301 redirects from the old permalinks to the new. This not only forwards users to the new location but tells google that you've moved the page as well. This is the best way to handle your situation!
Hope that helps!
-
Hi Ve. A 404 is generated when someone reach a page which doesn't exist, so to have someone reaching such a page you need to give them a path to it. There may be two different paths:
- internal. You can remove this internal path changing all the links pointing to the old url to the new one.
- external. This may be trickier. There may be:
- external sites pointing with links to the old page. In this case you need to think if it's really worth to change the url. If it is, get in touch with those websites and ask them to change the link.
- Google having indexed that page and make it rank. That cannot be changed by YOU.
So make all the internal and external possible fixes
change your sitemap and submit that to google webmaster tools
and then you'll need to modify your htaccess (if your server is driven by apache, which 90% normally do) and create a rule which redirects from the old page to the new one. In that way even if the external site doesn't change the old link the user won't receive a 404 but will be redirected to the new page, and google will drop the old url (in a week or so it depends on the crawling rate) and then index instead the new one.
For the htaccess rule if you're not experienced with that kind of file leave that to your it guys, because a wrong comma there, may brake the whole site.
Hope this is clear
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
How to get the most value out of an additional domain?
Hi, My company domain is wire.com. We recently also acquired wire.chat domain What's the best way to get value out of that additional domain? Wire is a messaging platform so "chat" is relevant but "wire chat" is not really a high volume term We don't have a whole lot of content, certainly no resources to build out additional valuable website Is simply redirecting traffic the only sensible to thing given the above restriction? Any technical issues to be mindful of? Thanks, Siim
Technical SEO | | Siim-at-Wire0 -
When Should I Ignore the Error Crawl Report
I have a handful of pages listed in the Error Crawl Report, but the report isn't actually showing anything wrong with these pages. I am double checking the code on the site and also can't find anything. Should I just move on and ignore the Error Crawl Report for these few pages?
Technical SEO | | ChristinaRadisic0 -
Changing images on site without losing ranking
A number of images on my site rank very well under google image search but need to be replaced with updated versions. If I keep the file name and pixel dimensions identical will switching the image effect my rankings? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | Justin450 -
Page URL Change
We're planning on rolling out a redesign of an existing page, and at the same time, we're looking to possibly changing the URL of the page. Currently, the URL is www.blah.com/phraseword1-phraseword2-phraseword3-phraseword4 and we're ranking top 3 in Google SERP for that 4-word phrase. The keyword phrase is something we have in our Page Title, Site Copy and the URL. Now, we are planning on simplifying the URL to below.. www.blah.com/phraseword1-phraseword2 The plan is to 301 redirect the original URL to this new URL and actually work the exact phrase into the copy a few more times. My understanding is that URL doesn't get as much weight as it does in the past, but it's still important. So my question is... How important is the URL in this case where we will continue to have it in our page title and also we'll be working more copy on to the page with the appropriate keyword? Will 301 redirect from the old URL address the issue of passing SEO value for that keyword phrase? Thanks,
Technical SEO | | JoeLin
Joe0 -
How to get rid of back links?
I would like to clear all of the links linking to us to start over fresh? Our site has become non existent on Google with no messages or warning from them through webmaster tools. From tools on here and other sources it indicates that we should be ranked ahead of our competitors or atleast comparable. We are not found under the keywords that we use to be...."parts washers" "part washer" industrial cleaning systems etc.. our site is www.vortexpartswashers.com. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Technical SEO | | mhart0 -
Why would SEOMoz and GWT report 404 errors for pages that are not 404ing?
Recently, I've noticed that nearly all of the 404 errors (not soft 404) reported in GWT actually resolve to a legitimate page. This was weird, but I thought it might just be old info, so I would go through the process of checking and "mark as fixed" as necessary. However, I noticed that SEOMoz is picking up on these 404 errors in the diagnostics of the site as well, and now I'm concerned with what the problem could be. Anyone have any insight into this? Rich
Technical SEO | | secretstache0 -
Best Way to change domain name
Hi, I have a driving instructor wordpress website called www.drivnglessonsbrightonandhove.co.uk, done a little link building. But before I start this properly, I want to change it to www.drivingbrighton.co.uk (as the first is too long to fit on the car etc!!!!) Whats the best way to do this? Is there a way to help keep its position in google as just got into top10 for different keywords?
Technical SEO | | Ant710 -
Is this 404 page indexed?
I have a URL that when searched for shows up in the Google index as the first result but does not have any title or description attached to it. When you click on the link it goes to a 404 page. Is it simply that Google is removing it from the index and is in some sort of transitional phase or could there be another reason.
Technical SEO | | bfinternet0