What is the best wordpress permalink structure?

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hmeister

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I have mine set to /%postname%.html as this was something I read about ages ago, can't remember where but it was from a 'guru' or similar.

I get ranked on the 1st page in Google for about half of my targeted posts and keywords but I am wondering if my posts would perform better with a different structure?
 
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I'm a big fan of just /%postname% myself for aesthetic reasons, but I think that as long as you have non-date elements and your URLs are keyword rich, you're probably fine.
 
I use /%postname%.html --- BUt %category%/%postname% also sounds good with possibility of more rich keywords in the URL
 
Thanks everyone. I think I will give %category%/%postname% a go but I only came across this structure on BHW today, completely new to me.

Just wondering what the .html part does for my posts, if anything?
 
Almost every wp site uses .html.. also that html has seo benefits :) Go with %category%/%postname%
 
I now use /%postname%/ and dropped using %category% as I have in the past needed to move the category around and having the category in the url for me is a little restricting.
 
I use /%postname%.html and find that's the best way to rank for long-tails, a lot of my higher PR competition uses a poor link structure so I get the traffic instead :)
 
%category%/%postname%.html is best
 
Is there any reason why you guys are convinced that the .html file extension helps? I took a quick look at the top 10 for a few competitive keywords and I'm not seeing any with a .html extension.
 
i agree, i just use /%postname% and it has been fine, why do you need to add the .html?
 
The /%category/%postname%/ is more keywords rich

.html or .php does not make any difference, Ok give this a read guys and make sure you check the video, featuring Matt Cutts from google :
Code: 
http://tomuse.com/optimal-wp-url-organize-structure-seo/

Around 20 min he will talk about permalink structure .
 
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I'm now convinced after reading the comments and seeing Matt Cutt's video that the .html extension doesn't add anything.

I've changed two of my newer sites to /%category/%postname%/ and then I will compare their performance to my more established sites which just use the /%postname%/ extension and I will see how they compare (they are alll in the same niche)
 
I use /%postname%.html --- BUt %category%/%postname% also sounds good with possibility of more rich keywords in the URL
 
It really depends on what you're trying to accomplish...

If you want a keyword rich site and you're aiming for natural search engine traffic then use: %category%/%postname% format where %category% = your main keyword and %postname% = secondary keyword

ie: make-money/how-i-make-$x-per-month or forex/forex-trading-secrets

get the idea?

If your doing other forms of traffic (web 2.0) then just using %postname% will work great.

If your serious about wordpress seo, I found this to be a very good startng point:

Code: 
http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/

Cheers

ps: For the record - I use both formats
 
hmeister said:
I'm now convinced after reading the comments and seeing Matt Cutt's video that the .html extension doesn't add anything.

I've changed two of my newer sites to /%category/%postname%/ and then I will compare their performance to my more established sites which just use the /%postname%/ extension and I will see how they compare (they are alll in the same niche)
Click to expand...

ok bro
please make some riset from your another site to use
different setting

and share here what will be happend :)
 
Quick update...launched a brand new site on Thursday morning and G has listed all 5 pages already.
I am trying the new /%category/%postname%/ permalink structure for the first time and combining it with Headspace instead of All in one SEO and I've also noticed that for the first time ever, G has listed 2 of my categories and they haven't even got any posts in them!
I am very, very impressed.
 
I use /%postname%/ cos there's a limit to the number of characters that Google will pick up...think it may be 65 (??).

Hence, if you constantly have the category in there and are using long tailed keywords then these may get truncated and you lose the effect.
 
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