permalink
Also called: permanent link, permalinks
A permalink (permanent link) is the full, stable URL assigned to a single web page or post. It is meant to stay the same for the life of that content so readers, other sites, and search engines can always reach the page at the same address.
The term “permalink” comes from the early blogging community around 2000, and WordPress later made it a default expectation: once you publish, the address should not move. WordPress.org states these URLs “are permanent and should never be changed, hence the name permalink.” In WordPress you set the pattern under Settings > Permalinks. The default “Plain” option is a database ID like ?p=42; the recommended “Post name” option produces a readable slug such as /services/on-page-seo/.
What makes a good permalink
Google’s URL guidance lines up with the readable-URL idea: use words instead of long ID numbers, keep the structure simple and logical, write in your audience’s language, and use hyphens (-) rather than underscores (_) to separate words. So /blog/permalink-guide/ beats /blog/permalink_guide/, and both beat /?p=42.
The catch is that a permalink is a promise. If you change it after publishing, every existing link, social share, and indexed URL now points at a dead address, and the rankings that page earned can vanish. When a change is unavoidable, map the old URL to the new one with a 301 redirect so ranking signals and traffic carry across. The practical rule: decide your structure before you publish the first post, keep slugs short and descriptive, and then leave them alone.
How it affects your traffic
Permalinks are one of the cheapest on-page wins and one of the easiest things to break. A short, keyword-bearing slug helps readers and crawlers understand a page before they click, while a raw ?p=42 URL or a structure change made after launch can quietly cost you rankings and referral traffic. Our On-Page SEO service audits your URL patterns, rewrites weak slugs, and sets up 301 redirects so a permalink cleanup keeps its ranking equity instead of leaking it.
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