Migrating an existing WordPress website towards SEO-friendly URLs
Migrate an existing non-SEO friendly URL structure on a WordPress website to an SEO-friendly one, while mitigating any potential damage and rank your site better
Migrating an existing non-SEO friendly URL structure on a WordPress website to an SEO-friendly one, while mitigating any potential damage (e.g. if your content is already indexed and ranked, you might notice organic traffic drops and 404 errors)
Ideal outcome
Your SEO-friendly URL structure will help Google index and rank your site better - and you will be able to achieve this while minimizing traffic drops
Why it matters
The more SEO-friendly your website is, the more likely it is that it will land in the first page of the Search Engine Results Pages
Before you start
This SOP applies only to WordPress websites. Also, you will need to have access to the Google Search Console. If you don’t know how to set up your Google Search console, you can check out SOP 020 (web version)
Key steps
22 steps
What is inside
32 headings
1Know the recommended URL structure1
There are two types of URL structure that typically offer the best results:
2Check your current URL structure2
Go to your WordPress Admin Panel → Settings → Permalinks;
See which of the options is checked.
3Decide whether you should migrate the URL structure or not2
Go to Google
Type “site:www.llmdecode.com
4Extract a list of your current URLs9
Go to your Wordpress Admin Panel → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
Upload the plugin from your computer.
Click on “Install Now”.
Click on “Activate”.
Go to Settings → Export All URLs.
Tick “All Types”, “URLs”, and “CSV”.
Click on “Export” → “Download Now”.
Select where to download the .csv file.
Rename it (for the purpose of this example, we used “Exported_Data_All_URLs”, but you can rename it any other way that makes it easy to recognize).
5Change the permalinks settings on WordPress2
Go to your WordPress Admin Panel → Permalinks
Follow these steps, according to the URL structure you want to follow:
6Test your old URLs, check 301 redirects and search for 404 errors2
If you have 10 pages or less on your website:
If you have more than 10 pages - Check 301 redirects in bulk using an automated tool:
7Set up 301 redirects for 404 pages
8Check and update your Robots.txt file2
Check your current robots.txt file by going to www.llmdecode.com/robots.txt (e.g.http://www.llmdecode.com/robots.txt)
If the rules described in your current robots.txt file are not congruent with the URL migration you have performed, make sure to update your robots.txt file.
9Check and update your sitemap
10Monitor Google Search Console2
On your browser open the Google Search Console’s crawl error report, by clicking here.
learn.llmdecode.com