Would you like to duplicate permalinks and use the same slug multiple times? Unfortunately, if you try to use the slug more than once, WordPress will append numeric indexes to the end of permalink. It is really frustrating especially if you would like to use the same title for multiple subcategories or child pages assigned to different parents.
Need to duplicate permalinks slugs in WordPress?
Many WordPress users try to share the same slug across multiple child categories, terms or pages. After you set-up the title and publish the post or term WordPress will automatically generate and assign an unique slug. In this short article you can find a more detailed explanation.
There is no out-of-box solution available in vanilla-version of WordPress. Although, you can easily fix this issue and keep slugs duplicates with Permalink Manager (as long as the full URLs are unique).
Sample URL structure with duplicated permalink slugs
Original permalinks
Post permalinks:
https://example.com/first-category/example-title https://example.com/second-category/example-title-2 https://example.com/third-category/example-title-3
Product category permalinks:
https://example.com/product-category/men/t-shirts https://example.com/product-category/women/t-shirts-2 https://example.com/product-category/kids/t-shirts-3
New custom duplicate permalinks with “Use actual post/term titles” mode on
Post permalinks:
https://example.com/first-category/example-title https://example.com/second-category/example-title https://example.com/third-category/example-title
Product category permalinks:
https://example.com/product-category/men/t-shirts https://example.com/product-category/women/t-shirts https://example.com/product-category/kids/t-shirts
Why the native WordPress slugs have to be unique?
To keep things simple, if some of the slugs are not unique, WordPress will not be able to indicate what content element should be loaded. To avoid this from happening, if the user tries to save the post or term with the same slug, WordPress will automatically append the numeric index to the end of slug.
How to duplicate permalinks with Permalink Manager?
It is simple, all you need to do is to enable “Use actual post/term titles” mode. After that, Permalink Manager will use the actual titles instead of the slugs (post names).
Above all, you can also edit all post & term permalinks individually. Here you can find more information on how to customize the permalinks one by one.
How to use an actual title instead of the slug in WordPress permalinks?
To do so, please switch on “Use actual post/term titles (Force custom slugs)” mode in Permalink Manager settings. You can access them via “Tools -> Permalink Manager -> Settings”.
Apply the new settings to the old WordPress permalinks
Please note that Permalink Manager will automatically use the actual titles only in the new posts and term. To regenerate the old permalinks please use “Regenerate/reset” tool available in “Tools -> Permalink Manger -> Tools” section. A more detailed instructions on how to reset the WordPress permalinks is available here.
Avoid permalink duplicates
At this point, Permalink Manager will generate the new permalinks without the numeric indexes. Nevertheless, in some specific situation this occasionally might lead to permalink duplicates. In this case please go to “Tools -> Permalink Manager -> Settings” to check and remove the URL duplicates .
