Permalink Manager mimics the core WordPress permalink system and does not automatically modify custom permalinks by default. In most circumstances, it is preferable not to change URLs too frequently.
In general, the reasons for changing your URLs should be carefully considered. To begin with, it may take some time for Google to rediscover your site's pages through the new URLs once you modify them. All of your new URLs will need to be re-crawled by Google to assess their authority and quality. This might cause variations in search result ranks, so be aware.
There are several more reasons why you should aim to keep your URL structure intact. A change, for example, might disable user-saved bookmarks or backlinks on other websites.
Setting up a fallback redirect is one of the most crucial things to remember when changing URLs. In summary, redirects enable you to maintain the majority of your "SEO juice" by informing search engines and visitors that you are permanently shifting one page from one URL to another.
Available update modes
Permalink Manager provides three settings modes for "Permalink update" to give website owners flexibility and control over their website's URL structure. You may change your permalink saving settings on a global level directly from the plugin settings panel. All possible options are shown in the screenshot below and explained further in the next section of this article.
Don't auto-update custom permalinks (default mode)
In most cases, it is neither recommended nor necessary to automatically update the custom permalinks. As a result, Permalink Manager does not automatically update custom permalinks. This method gives you complete control and allows you to choose which and when you want to change your URL addresses.
The plugin does not automatically update custom permalinks, allowing website owners complete control over their website's URL structure. This approach is also advised from an SEO standpoint since it eliminates potential traffic and social signal loss due to URL changes.
When permalinks are changed, backlinks that refer to the old URLs may become invalid, resulting in a loss of potential traffic. To avoid this, website owners should set redirects in place for any existing URLs that will be modified. By doing so, you prevent users from getting a 404 error when they try to access the old URLs and instead smoothly redirect them to the new URLs.
Auto-update custom permalinks
Regardless of the impact of URL changes on SEO, there is a rising need among users for an automatic solution to update custom URLs in various scenarios, such as when a post's title is changed. Using Permalink Manager, you may automatically update the URL based on various criteria, such as when a different primary term is assigned to the post or when permastructure settings change.
This allows website owners to easily modify the URL of any page or category while maintaining the SEO value of their website and preventing loss of traffic or social signals.
After you have chosen to allow automatic permalink changes, the procedure is straightforward. When you save or update a post, Permalink Manager will automatically change the value of "Custom permalink" to reflect the default permalink ("Default custom permalink"), as established by permastructure settings.
Disable custom permalinks for new posts/terms
If you don't want Permalink Manager to take control of all your custom permalinks, there is another option available. You can select which permalinks should be modified and which should remain untouched.
This could be the case if you don't want Permalink Manager to rewrite all of your custom permalinks and instead want to choose which one has to be modified while leaving the rest as they were before the Permalink Manager was installed.
If enabled, Permalink Manager will not generate custom permalinks for new posts, pages, or terms, and the original WordPress in-built permalink will be used instead. This mode will make the Custom Permalink Editor display in "read-only" mode, preventing you from editing the custom permalink.
Therefore, until you override the global "Permalink update" setting, you will not be able to manually alter custom permalinks. This is intentional in order to prevent accidental permalink modifications that could negatively affect SEO.
Frequently asked questions
How to override the global settings?
When you create a new post, the plugin will utilize the global mode that you choose in the plugin settings by default. But, you may specify a different configuration for specific permalinks and override the global settings for "Permalink update" If you wish to utilize post or term-specific mode, you may individually change the global settings for each post or term using the "Custom Permalink Editor".
To override the global settings, select an option other than the default ("Use global settings") from the "URI update mode" dropdown menu.
Why the "Current URI" field is disabled?
If you decide to update the custom permalinks automatically, you will not be able to edit them using the “Current URI” field. Because any manual changes will be overridden by the default address shown in the "Default URI" column, editing them makes no sense. As a result, if "auto-update" mode is enabled, the input field will be grayed out and disabled.
Similarly, if you have selected "Disable URI Editor to disallow permalink changes" the plugin will not store any changes and there is no purpose in allowing any editing in this situation.
To allow editing, choose "Don’t auto-update permalinks" either globally in the plugin settings or for specific items, depending on your requirements.
How to update WordPress permalink after the title is changed?
Permalink Manager, like WordPress Permalink, uses the native slug for custom permalinks by default. Because the native slug is not automatically changed if you decide to rename a single post later, this might lead to some misconceptions. In other words, if you modify the post title, the URL address will remain same. This is due to the fact that the native slug is generated from the original title after the post or term has been published.
See the example below, where "Auto-update permalinks" is enabled and "Slugs mode" is set to "Use actual titles instead of WordPress slugs" Permalink Manager will automatically use "Johnny Doe" (johnny-doe) in the "Current permalink" instead of the original slug (john-doe). At the same time, if you alter the title, the custom permalink will be automatically updated.
