Say you have a couple hundred (or thousand) pages indexed in Google and you decide to change how the link structure of the site will be handled. How do you do this?

The best way is to 301 (permanent) redirect the old URLs to the new ones but this can get tricky. There are tutorials (Apache | IIS). But if you aren’t familiar with your web server and are not a programmer (like me) you may be in over your head (again, like me).

The 301 redirect is important because it lets the search engines know that the same page has been “moved” to a new location. This helps you avoid duplicate content penalties and keep the link juice, or PR, that you already accumulated for those pages. It also prevents viewers from clicking links to your website that turn into “404 - page not found” errors.

Put simply, a 301 redirect helps you keep the rankings you already earned.

It also keeps your pages in the index and lets the search engines transition to the new structure without dropping your whole site and re-indexing it from scratch.

At least, that’s the theory.

I’ve been working on a redesign for 14th Colony and part of the redesign is to make the site more search-engine friendly. I’ve learned a lot since this site was launched and want to put that knowledge into practice here like I already do on my client sites. One of the changes I want to implement is the link structure because having keyword in your URL (instead of a generic post number) helps with rankings. And on the advice of ex-Googler Vanessa Fox, I’ve decided to do the link structure update before I push the redesign.

But this site is a WordPress blog and WordPress offers something called “permalinks” that will automatically change your link structure for you. Permalinks are a type of URL designed to refer to a specific information item and to remain unchanged permanently, or at least for a lengthy period of time to prevent link rot.

At least that’s the definition I got from Google which pulled it from Wikipedia… and don’t get me started on Wikipedia again!

The way permalinks work in WordPress is you go into your admin panel, select Options > Permalinks and set the structure how you want. Easy, right?

Almost too easy.

I was getting ready to change the permalink structure when this little voice in the back of my head asked if permalinks 301 the “old” pages to the new. I asked around and didn’t get a clear answer. I did some research and saw a few posts about how long it would take Google to reindex a WordPress site that changed the permalink structure.

I sensed danger.

Sure enough WordPress will change the link structure but that does not include the very important 301 redirects needed to keep your link juice and prevent duplicate content penalties!

After more research (and trying to decide if there was enough value in what I’d learn by just flipping the switch to see what happens) I found a couple WordPress plug-ins that 301 redirect your site to the structure you want. The plug-in I decided to implement is by fucoder.com tittled Permalink Redirect WordPress Plugin.

I picked this particular plug-in because it was recently updated, easy to implement and also supports redirecting to FeedBurner which is an added bonus. It also had the best “total coverage” of what the 301 would do.

How easy is it to use?

Upload the file, activate it and if you use FeedBurner plug in your URL for that and you are done. This plug-in automates whatever the WordPress permalink setting is into a 301 - how cool is that?

It is important to note there will be a period of fluctuation while Google and the other search engines update their index to replace the URLs. Sometimes this process runs smoothly sometimes not. There is always risk when it comes to making major changes to your website but by using 301 redirects you can minimize that risk.

To speed the process along I suggest using this Google Sitemap Generator and then rebuild and resubmit the map after you change your permalink structure.

For the record, changing an existing site structure should really be avoided and if you can set the link structure up correctly to begin with you’ll avoid these headaches all together. The format I suggest is: http://www.domain.com/catagory/posttittle

If you are concerned that post titles may duplicate add a date function at the beginning like: http://www.domain.com/date/catagory/posttittle

Finally, another advantage of fucoder’s plug-in is that is makes sure a trailing slash gets removed and redirected. This is a small thing but I often see duplicate pages in my logs - one with the slash the other without, and this plug-in will clear that up. So even if you have an existing WordPress site with permalinks this plug-in can help you out.

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