Permalink Manager can let you not only edit whole WordPress permalinks but also automatically translate slug. Given that, if you use the WPML or Polylang plugins, you may set custom permalink structures for each language.
If your site delivers different content to visitors in different languages you need carefully prepare your SEO strategy. Unfortunately, WordPress does not give you much flexibility when it comes to localizing the content. In this situation, you'll most likely need to install one of the language plugins, such as Polylang or WPML.
Without a question, the proper URL structure is critical for both UX and SEO on any multilingual website. It may seem difficult at first look. However, Permalink Manager might be the best answer in this case. It is currently the only WordPress plugin that allows you to easily translate permalinks.
Some of the functionalities presented in this article are not available in free version (Permalink Manager Lite).
Do you need to translate slugs or WordPress permalink?
WordPress, as you may know, allows you to add post types and taxonomies. However, as seen in the example below, the permalink format is the same for all language versions by default. Unfortunately, if your site is multilingual, such as if you use WPML, localizing permalinks is rather troublesome.
Original untranslated permalinks
http://example.com/store/t-shirt/ (English)
http://example.com/es/store/camiseta/ (Spanish)
http://example.com/pl/store/koszulka/ (Polish)
The ability to translate slug might be quite useful if you for instance want to change the permalink layout of your WooCommerce shop. Permalink Manager may automatically translate the WordPress permalinks and apply a different permalink structure based on the content language.
Permalinks translated with Permalink Manager
http://example.com/store/t-shirt/ (English)
http://example.com/es/tienda/camiseta/ (Spanish)
http://example.com/pl/sklep/koszulka/ (Polish)
As you can see from the examples above, you can easily translate the permalinks with the help of Permalink Manager. You can use this functionality also in more complex scenarios and this feature, of course, is not limited to WooCommerce permalinks. Pages, posts, custom post types, categories, tags, and custom taxonomy permalinks can all be easily translated with the plugin!
Is URL localization important for SEO?
The structure of your site's URLs is only one of the many things to consider when developing an SEO strategy for your multilingual site. We suggest watching this brief video from the Google Search Central YouTube channel to learn more. More information and advice on this issue may be found in the article on the official GSC website.
How to use Permalink Manager to automatically translate slugs and URLs?
The rest of this article will show you how to bulk translate slugs, however URI Editor may also be used to alter individual permalinks if needed. More thorough instructions on how to change individual permalinks may be found in a separate article.
Permalink Manager also allows transliteration and conversion of characters, e.g., Cyrillic letters to their Latin equivalents for better SEO performance. In this short article, you can find more detailed instructions on how to transliterate the permalinks.
How to change permalink formats?
The first thing to know about the plugin is that it generates default custom permalinks using permalink formats known as "Permastructures". Therefore, to allow Permalink Manager to translate slugs and WordPress permalinks automatically, you must first localize them using the aforementioned settings.
You may get to this section by going to "Tools -> Permalink Manager -> Permastructures" if you have already installed and activated the plugin. To make things easier, the plugins allow you to define a different format for each post type and taxonomy separately.
How to localize WordPress permalinks and translate slugs?
As soon as you have reached the settings, you may use them to translate the permalink formats to your liking for any post type or taxonomy you need. Simply click the "Show additional settings" button underneath the content type whose permalinks you wish to translate to see the complete list of permastructure fields for your content languages.
You do not need to provide a custom permastructure format for each language. If you leave the field for a certain language blank, Permalink Manager will use the default language settings.
How to apply the new settings to existing WordPress permalinks?
Immediately after the new settings are saved, Permalink Manager will use them to automatically translate all new posts and terms permalinks. If you would also want to apply them also for existing elements, you will need to regenerate their permalinks.
