How to Solve Permalink Problems
One of the biggest issues with blog setup is permalinks. Why?
Permalinks is one of the handiest things you can do for search engine optimization (SEO), so EVERYONE recommends using it.
But it’s possible to get it wrong - very wrong.
I once read a post on a forum where someone has links that don’t work - blog is fine, but links to articles are not working.
In this case, it’s likely the permalinks are not in sync with the blog.
Blogs require the permalinks setting in WordPress AND the external .htaccess file to work. Without both working together, then no linking properly.
To solve this, WordPress offers the default setting, where your post looks like this:
http://egwebsite.com?p=123
This should work on all normal servers, Windows or Linux.
So here’s the steps to troubleshoot permalinks:
- Turn off permalinks (that is, use the default setting and save, as found in Option;Permalinks;Common Options;Default)
- Refresh your home page and confirm your links now work
- Test out different permalinks settings. Make a change in WordPress, save, refresh your home page, and confirm links work. Keep doing this until you get a permalink you are satisfied with - and that works.
If you get error messages, it likely will tell you the problem. Most likely it’s one of two things:
- Your permalinks db setting and .htaccess weren’t in sync. Saving the new setting should clear that.
- Your host doesn’t offer the option of enhanced permalinks. Consider changing hosts.
The good news? In any case, permalinks are a great way to add more keywords to your URL, but they aren’t the whole story - good content does far more, so even if you can’t change them the way you like - it’s fine!
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