Joe
(@shopping-guide)
Please post examples of urls as you had them before, and what those urls look like now. From there we can work out how to do the redirect.
Joe
So my permalinks were with %postname% but after the server desactived my account my posts links and category pages links appeared broken.
When they re-activade the accoubt, I’ve change the permalinks to default structurae so now I have my links working normally.
My problem is that because of this change the links already posted to bookmark plattaforms like StumbeUpon appear broken.
So I would like to make this right.
Does anyone know if http://www.deanlee.cn/wordpress/permalinks-migration-plugin/ works?
Thank’s for the help.
Joe
(@shopping-guide)
The redirects are normally done through the .htaccess file using 301 status redirects, which tells the bots and browsers that the page has permanently moved and to reference the new page location from now on.
However, since I don’t know what the default WordPress permalink structure is, I can’t advise on that until you show some url examples of what you had before and what you have now. The plugin you referenced sounds like it could do the job and may actually be easier for you, but you will need to enter the permalink structure that you had before, and the current permalink structure, in order to set the proper redirects.
Joe
P.S. it seems my posts don’t appear on the site immediately so that may explain part of the confusion with requesting information.
i’m sorry for the confusion, I’ve seen your reply in my e-mail but it wasn´t here and answered you anyway…your posts don’t appear on the site immediately..weird.
So my permalinks were built like this:
http://www.smalltok.com/postname [custom permalink structure]
After the server deactivated and reactivatde my account all post links were broken so I’ve change the permalinks to default strucuture, that is something like this
http://www.smalltok.com/?p=postIDnumber [default permalink structure]
Since I don’t understand much of this matter and .htaccess files I think I’m gonna try the plugin.
Thanks for your help!
Joe
(@shopping-guide)
Is there any reason why you haven’t tried to fix the broken urls in the original format i.e. example.com/postname ?
The plugin describes the permalink change as being from one ‘pretty permalinks’ format to a different ‘pretty permalinks’ format, it doesn’t mention migrating from pretty links to non-pretty links. In other words, I don’t think it will work as you are expecting.
Can you show me one example link that you posted on Stumbleupon, that now leads to a broken 404 page?
How many links do you estimate that have been posted on other sites that now appear to be broken?
Joe
Example of link before change:
http://www.smalltok.com/realistic-3d-murals-by-eric-grohe
This link now has to be http://www.smalltok.com/?p=4258 otherwsise it will led to an 404 page error (on the website).
All the links are broken because I had to change the permalinks, otherwsise my links (on website) wouldn’t function =/
Joe
(@shopping-guide)
Thanks, I asked for an example link to see if it included a unique identifier such as a post ID, but I see that it doesn’t.
What happens if you login to the WordPress Admin panel, under the Settings > Permalinks page and select ‘custom structure’ and enter this:
/%postname%
Then save it. This should restore your original permalinks structure. If it leads to a 404 page then there is some other issue, i.e. your .htaccess file needs to be updated with a couple of rules to make it work properly. I’d be happy to assist and try to get it working so that you don’t have to do the redirects but restore your original link structure.
If you have ftp access to your server or if you check your server files via cPanel, you will see a .htaccess file in the root of your WordPress installation, if you can copy and paste the contents of that file here, it will give a clue if you have the correct rewrite rules in place.
Joe
I’ve done that but it didn’t restore my original permalinks structure, it leads to a 404 page.
I have access to the .htaccess file but not in this computer.
I’ll paste the contents/code here in a couple of hours, when I’ll be in my computer where I have ftp and cpanel access to my site.
Your help will be much appreciated.
Thank you so much for your patience.
Joe
(@shopping-guide)
What to do is, look inside your .htaccess file for this code:
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
If that block of code doesn’t exist, you can add it, then test your site with the original permalinks structure – it should work.
Joe
I have that code in .htaccess along with other
# -FrontPage-
IndexIgnore .htaccess */.??* *~ *# */HEADER* */README* */_vti*
<Limit GET POST>
order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from all
</Limit>
<Limit PUT DELETE>
order deny,allow
deny from all
</Limit>
AuthName smalltok.com
AuthUserFile /home/smallto5/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.pwd
AuthGroupFile /home/smallto5/public_html/_vti_pvt/service.grp
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
The strangest thing was that .htaccess was actually named .htaccess_ (ya, with underscore) is that ok?
I still can’t change my permalinks =(
Can you help me?
Oh wait! It’s is working now!
I’ve changed .htaccess_ to .htacess and verified the file write permissions. refresh and voilá!
Once again, thank you so much for your help and patience, Joe.
You save my site!=)
Joe
(@shopping-guide)
Glad to see that you’ve got it working. There is just one other thing, the official WordPress guidelines don’t recommend using just the %postname% as the url because of performance issues – especially if you are adding a lot of content and lots of pages.
If you decide to update your permalink structure to avoid that potential performance issue in the future, now would be the time to use that permalinks migration plugin – it should automatically redirect all your traffic from existing backlinks to the new page locations.
In the old setting you have
/%postname%
and for the new setting you should add a unique identifier, for example we use the following (but with a trailing slash on the end):
/%post_id%/%category%/%postname%
This is just a suggestion, but it would be advisable to update the permalinks structure so you are not having performance and site loading issues – imagine you start getting a load of traffic and your site is growing huge but your server and WordPress installation begins to choke and doesn’t load.. prevention is better than the cure, so it’s better to fix it now and have peace of mind for the future. 🙂
Anyway, whatever you decide, take care.
Joe
That’s really important! Thank you for the advice, I’m gonna take care of that as soon as possible.
take care.
