What Are WordPress Permalinks and Which to Use?
The Available Structures
WordPress offers several built-in permalink formats: Plain (a query-string based URL with no real structure, and specifically incompatible with the REST API and several core features), Day and name, Month and name, Numeric, Post name, and a fully custom structure. Of these, "Post name" is the widely recommended default — clean, descriptive, and stable regardless of when a post was published.
Why the Choice Matters
- Plain permalinks should essentially never be used on a modern WordPress site, since they break REST API routing (needed by the block editor itself) and several other core features that depend on proper rewrite rules.
- Date-based structures (Day and name, Month and name) embed the publish date directly in the URL, which can look outdated for evergreen content and means the URL needs updating if the content is later moved to a different post or date.
- "Post name" avoids this entirely, keeping the URL stable and focused on what the content actually is, which also tends to read better to both humans and search engines.
- Changing permalink structure on an established site breaks every existing URL unless proper 301 redirects are set up, which is a serious SEO consideration — this isn't something to change casually on a site that's already indexed and receiving traffic.
Setting This Up
- Choose "Post name" under Settings → Permalinks for a new site.
- If changing structure on an established site, set up proper 301 redirects from the old URL format to the new one before making the change live.
- Save the Permalinks settings page after any related change (installing certain plugins, a server migration) to force a rewrite-rule refresh.
Need help changing permalink structure safely on an established site? See WordPress bug fix.