As a blogger or website owner, you want your content to be found and read by as many people as possible. One of the ways to make this happen is by optimizing your website for search engines. One aspect of this optimization is your website’s URL structure. When it comes to the permalinks for your blog posts, there are two main options: pretty permalinks and date-based permalinks. In this article, we’ll explain why pretty permalinks are better than date-based permalinks for SEO purposes.
First, let’s define what we mean by pretty and date-based permalinks. A pretty permalink is a URL structure that includes a descriptive slug of the content, usually the post title, and excludes any dates or numbers. For example, a pretty permalink for a blog post titled “10 Tips for Better Sleep” might look like this:
https://www.example.com/tips-better-sleep/
On the other hand, a date-based permalink includes the date and possibly other numbers in the URL. For example, a date-based permalink for the same blog post might look like this:
https://www.example.com/2023/03/06/10-tips-for-better-sleep
Now that we understand the difference between the two permalink structures let’s dive into why pretty permalinks are better for SEO.
Pretty permalinks are more user-friendly
One of the main benefits of pretty permalinks is that they are more user-friendly. They are easier to read and remember, which means that users are more likely to share them on social media or link to them from other websites. This can lead to more traffic to your website and higher search engine rankings.
Pretty permalinks are more evergreen
Another advantage of pretty permalinks is that they are more evergreen. By excluding dates and other time-based information from the URL, you are creating a URL that is not tied to a specific time period. This means that your content can be relevant and useful to readers for a longer period of time. As a result, your content is more likely to be linked to and shared, which can improve your search engine rankings.
Pretty permalinks are more flexible
With pretty permalinks, you have more flexibility to change the title of your blog post without changing the URL. This is because the URL slug is based on the title of the post, which you can change without affecting the URL. With date-based permalinks, changing the post’s title would mean changing the URL as well. This can create broken links and other issues that can hurt your SEO.
Pretty permalinks are shorter
Finally, pretty permalinks are often shorter than date-based permalinks, which can improve your search engine rankings. Search engines like Google consider the URL length as a ranking factor, and shorter URLs are generally seen as more user-friendly and trustworthy.
In conclusion, when it comes to permalinks for your blog posts, pretty permalinks are the better option for SEO. They are more user-friendly, more evergreen, more flexible, and shorter. By optimizing your permalinks for SEO, you can improve your website’s visibility and attract more traffic to your blog.
