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1. latinrapper
   Member
   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   When I first installed a blog several years ago, the URL for a new post would appear like "blog/?p=1234". I also noticed that when I viewed my AWstats statistics program in my hosting control panel, it wouldn't reveal the number of views for specific posts.

   But when I installed a blog for another website recently, I noticed that the URL of the blog post contained the actual title name (not ?p=1234). More importantly, the specific blog posts show up in AWstats, so I would actually know how many view a post received (otherwise I wouldn't know).

   So my question is: If I were to change how WordPress creates the URL for new posts, by default will it also change the URLs of the thousands of other blog posts I have already made? If the older post URLs changed, that would hurt me with Google plus social networking sites that already link to a specific URL. But I'm frustrated that I can't tell how many views my posts are getting.

2. LIMEXS
   Member
   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   In most situations NO.

3. Seacoast Web Design
   Member
   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   If the older post URLs changed, that would hurt me with Google plus social networking sites that already link to a specific URL

   If they have the old non permalink links, then no. Those links still work. In reverse, or if changing from one permalink structure to another, then yes as the url would not exist any more.

   You can test this. Write down several old URL's. Update permalink rule as desired.

   Now navigate through site to see new permalinks, but also use the browser to enter these old URL's - they will still work and you will see your new links!

   Example:

   OLD: http://seacoastwebservice.com/?p=3101

   New: http://seacoastwebservice.com/transit-of-venus/

   Same post!

4. LIMEXS
   Member
   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   You might have noticed that even after changing the permanent link post is accessible using both links

5. esmi
   Theme Diva & Forum Moderator
   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   Only if you move from the default to a custom structure. If you change a custom structure, then the old links will fails. Example:

   http://example.com/wibble (post name based)
   http://example.com/2011/05/03/wibble/ (date based)

   Switch between those two and the old links will fail.

6. latinrapper
   Member
   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   You can test this. Write down several old URL's. Update permalink rule as desired.

   Now navigate through site to see new permalinks, but also use the browser to enter these old URL's - they will still work and you will see your new links!

   This raises an important question, though. Even if the old URL will still function should someone click on a link to it from another website, wouldn't that fiddle with the Google results? I wonder if Google will notice the new permalink URL of an older post, and simply write it off as duplicate content.

   The only reason I even want to switch to permalinks is because my hosting stats program refuses to display individual posts in the "pages by view" category. I'm not even worried about how a URL displays, but rather getting AWstats to show many how many views each post gets.

7. Seacoast Web Design
   Member
   Posted 9 months ago #
   

   I wonder if Google will notice the new permalink URL of an older post, and simply write it off as duplicate content

   Google recommends a URL structure that is based on actual site content.

   site.com/?p=123 is absolutely random and cannot be distinguished from all the other sites that uses this url.
   site.com/news will.

   If anything your page ranking will go up. No one searches for ?p=123.

   As for duplicate content, you should create a new sitemap and robots.txt file and submit or re-submit with your Google WebMaster Tools and sign up for an Analytics account also. This can be achieved with plugins, but can also be achieved well with a bit of work (and not worry about a plugin slowing your site down)

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