How to Set Up Permalinks: A Visual Guide from Initial Setup to Launch
"I just started using WordPress and don't really understand what permalinks are" or "I've been running my site on the default settings and I'm worried about changing them later." If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Permalinks are the portion of a URL assigned to each web page, and they form a foundation of site operations that affects SEO performance, usability, and even shareability on social media.
This article systematically covers everything from the basics of permalinks to step-by-step setup instructions using the WordPress admin panel, with screenshots. It also walks through key points to check after launching, and how to manage the risks of changing permalinks later. Whether you are an absolute beginner about to launch a new site or an operations manager wanting to review the settings on an existing site, this is a complete guide you can put to use starting tomorrow.
A permalink (short for "permanent link") is the fixed URL assigned individually to each page within a website. It is also sometimes called a "static link." For example, in the URL "https://example.com/blog/permalink-guide/", the "/blog/permalink-guide/" portion is the permalink.
A URL is broadly composed of two parts: the "domain" and the "permalink." The domain is a common address shared across the entire site, while the permalink is more like a room number that indicates the location of each individual page within that site.
One thing often confused in practice is the difference between a "permalink" and a "slug." The slug refers to the tail end of the permalink — the string that identifies the individual article. For example, while "/blog/permalink-guide/" as a whole is the permalink, the "permalink-guide" portion within it is the slug. What WordPress calls the "URL slug" in the post editor is exactly this tail portion.
According to Google's official statements, URL structure itself is not a heavy factor in determining search rankings directly. However, when a URL concisely represents the content, it gives search engines an additional clue for understanding the page's theme, contributing indirectly to SEO. Furthermore, the more readable a URL displayed on the SERP is, the higher the click-through rate (CTR) tends to be — which ultimately benefits SEO as well.
Users feel safer clicking a URL like "/blog/permalink-guide" — where they can guess the content — than an opaque URL like "/2026/02/15/?p=123." URLs themselves function as information for bookmarks and social media shares, so designing readable permalinks also enhances overall site credibility.
If you leave permalinks in non-ASCII characters (such as Japanese), copy-pasting the URL results in long encoded strings like "%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC...". This makes URLs look long and messy when shared on social media or other sites, damaging the impression of credibility. Sticking to alphanumeric slugs is the realistic best practice.
WordPress comes with the following six standard permalink structures, switchable from the admin panel under Settings → Permalinks. Understand the characteristics of each, then choose the one that best fits your site's purpose.
[Image: Screenshot of the WordPress admin panel "Settings → Permalinks" page, showing the six options listed as radio buttons.]
This is the WordPress default, in which an auto-numbered post ID is appended to the URL. The result looks like "example.com/?p=123" — the content is completely unrecognizable from the URL. From both SEO and usability perspectives, this is a setting you should change to another format as soon as you start operating the site.
A format in which the publish date and post name are included in the URL. It suits news sites and trend-oriented media where the freshness of information matters. On the other hand, if you may want to change the publish date later, or you operate "evergreen content" that is read over a long time, having the date in the URL makes content look dated quickly — a clear drawback.
This format removes the "day" from the previous option. URLs become slightly shorter than "Day and Name," but since the year and month are still included, the same incompatibility with evergreen content applies.
A format combining the directory name "archives" with the post ID. Like "Plain," the content cannot be inferred from the URL, so it is not recommended from a modern SEO standpoint.
A format where the article's slug becomes the URL as-is — simple and the most commonly recommended option. It concisely represents the content, keeps URLs short and memorable, and is resilient to site structure changes. Many SEO guides list "Post Name" as their recommended setting.
You can freely define the URL format by combining available structure tags, such as "/%category%/%postname%/". It is useful when you want to include the category name, or to separate blog posts and announcements under directories like "/blog/" or "/news/". However, changing the category structure later carries the risk of URL changes, so this requires careful consideration at the design stage.
If you're wondering "OK, which one should I actually pick?", the top candidates — balancing simplicity and versatility — are "Post Name" or "Custom Structure with /%postname%/". The reasons are as follows.
On the other hand, if your site is a news or breaking-news site where "when the information was published" matters, there is room to choose "Day and Name." Select the option that fits the character of your site.
From here, we'll walk through the actual steps for configuring permalinks in the WordPress admin panel, with screen images. The whole process takes about five minutes.
In your browser, go to "https://(your-domain)/wp-admin/", enter your username and password, and log in to the WordPress admin panel.
[Image: The WordPress login screen, showing the username/password input fields and the "Log In" button.]
From the left sidebar of the admin panel, hover over "Settings" and click "Permalinks" in the submenu that appears.
[Image: The WordPress admin sidebar with the "Settings" menu hovered, and the "Permalinks" submenu item highlighted.]
Once the "Permalink Settings" page opens, choose the structure you want to use from the prepared options. Following the recommendation from the previous section, this article proceeds with selecting "Post Name" as the example.
[Image: The "Permalink Settings" screen with the "Post Name" radio button selected. The "/%postname%/" structure is also visible at the bottom.]
If you want a more flexible structure, select "Custom Structure" and enter tags directly into the input field. For example, specifying "/blog/%postname%/" will place every article URL under "/blog/".
[Image: The "Permalink Settings" screen with "/blog/%postname%/" entered in the Custom Structure field, and the tag candidate buttons lined up below.]
Once you've made your selection, click the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the screen to confirm the setting. After clicking, a message reading "Permalink structure updated." appears at the top of the screen — setup is then complete.
[Image: Screenshot showing the "Save Changes" button and the green notification bar at the top reading "Permalink structure updated." after saving.]
After configuring the permalink structure, the next step is to edit each article's slug (the URL tail). Open a post's editing screen, click the "Post" tab on the right, then click the "URL" item to open the slug editing field.
[Image: Right sidebar of the WordPress post editor. The "URL" item is expanded, with the cursor placed in the slug input field.]
Here, enter an English word or phrase that concisely represents the article content. For an article on "How to Set Up Permalinks," something like "permalink-setup-guide" works well. If you leave the slug in Japanese or other non-ASCII characters, it will be URL-encoded and become unwieldy — so always rewrite it in alphanumeric characters.
Non-ASCII slugs become long once URL-encoded, so alphanumeric characters (lowercase) are the baseline. Aim for about three to five words — neither too long nor too short, keeping the balance in mind.
Being able to infer the page content from the URL is important for both SEO and usability. Make a habit of including the article's target keyword.
When concatenating multiple words, Google's official recommendation is to separate them with hyphens (-), not underscores (_). "permalink-setup" is easier for search engines to interpret as separate words than "permalink_setup".
Words with weak meaning — such as "a," "the," "and," or "of" — can be omitted from the slug to make the URL more concise and readable. For example, "permalink-guide" is sleeker than "the-guide-to-permalink."
As a rule of thumb, design your permalinks on the assumption that you will never change them once published. As discussed later, changing a URL carries the risk of losing search evaluation and backlinks, so we recommend taking a calm second look before publishing.
There are unavoidable cases where you have to change permalinks during operation. In such cases, you need to understand the following risks and take appropriate countermeasures.
When a URL changes, Google treats it as "a different page even if the content is the same," potentially resetting the search evaluation you've built up. Re-evaluation can take weeks to months, so the risk of a drop in traffic cannot be ignored.
Backlinks pointing from other sites to your old URLs all become broken links once the URL changes. Losing backlinks — an important SEO asset — also affects your overall domain evaluation.
Accesses from old URLs shared on social media or bookmarked individually by users will all return 404 errors. The diffusion assets you've previously gained will be severed at once.
To minimize the risks above, always set up a "301 redirect" (permanent redirect) from old URLs to new ones. A 301 redirect tells Google "this page has been permanently moved," allowing most search evaluation and backlinks to carry over to the new URL.
If you miss any redirects, the traffic loss can be significant — so before making changes, prepare a list of all old URLs and ensure every article is covered.
Once permalink setup is complete, check the following items before going live. This is an initial inspection to catch problems before they surface later.
Resubmitting the sitemap to Google Search Console is especially easy to forget, but it's an important step for getting Google to recognize the new URL structure as quickly as possible.
A typical failure pattern is increasing the number of articles while leaving the setting on "Plain (?p=123)" — by the time you notice, there are too many articles to easily change. This is one of the settings that should be addressed with the highest priority at site launch.
Leaving the slug in non-ASCII characters causes it to become long once URL-encoded, damaging the appearance of social shares and external links. Make it a strict practice to rewrite slugs into alphanumeric characters before publishing.
Choosing a structure like "/%category%/%postname%/" means that moving an article between categories later will change its URL. While your category design is still in flux, simply using "/%postname%/" is the safer choice.
If one article uses "permalink-setup-guide" and another uses "How_To_Permalink," the lack of consistency damages the integrity of the site as a whole. Establish in-house rules such as "lowercase alphanumeric, hyphen-separated" and stick to them.
This is the case of changing the permalink structure without understanding the risks, causing search traffic to plummet. The mindset that "changing permalinks always comes paired with setting up 301 redirects" is essential.
Permalinks aren't just URL settings — they also affect the quality of access analytics and marketing measurement. In tools like GA4, URLs are frequently used as a dimension for reports, so a consistent URL structure significantly improves analytical granularity.
Additionally, traffic from SEO often cannot be captured fully by last-click measurement alone — it frequently acts as a first touch that later leads to branded searches or direct visits. To properly evaluate the ROI of content SEO investment, the Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) approach — which statistically models the interaction across channels rather than relying on last click alone — is highly effective. Distinguishing paths by channel at the URL design stage also improves the accuracy of later MMM and attribution analysis.
This article covered the basics of permalinks, the six structures available in WordPress and the recommended setting, step-by-step setup instructions with screenshots, how to decide a slug, risks and countermeasures when changing permalinks, a checklist for after launch, and the marketing measurement perspective. While permalinks aren't a flashy initiative, they form the foundation for SEO, usability, and measurement accuracy alike — one of the most important settings in site operations.
The basic principle is: "At site launch, set up a simple 'Post Name' format, operate with alphanumeric, hyphen-separated slugs, and avoid changes in principle." Following this fundamental approach prevents most permalink-related failures. If you're about to launch a new site, be sure to complete the initial setup using the steps in this article before you start writing content.
NeX-Ray provides a Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) platform that evaluates marketing efforts — including SEO, advertising, PR, and social media — in an integrated way. If you want to properly evaluate how much SEO content investment ultimately contributes to revenue, please also check out our related articles.
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