Description
Onlinefotka Permalink Manager for WooCommerce gives you complete control over how your WooCommerce product and category URLs are structured — without editing theme files or touching WordPress core.
By default, WooCommerce forces ugly base slugs into every URL: /product/your-product-name/ and /product-category/electronics/. These slugs waste characters, look unprofessional and hurt SEO by making URLs longer than they need to be. This plugin solves all of that.
Why clean URLs matter for SEO
Search engines prefer short, descriptive URLs. Every extra word in a URL path that adds no meaning — like /product/ or /product-category/ — is a word that dilutes the value of your actual keywords. Removing these base slugs typically results in:
- Shorter, more shareable URLs
- Better click-through rates from search results
- Cleaner internal linking structure
- Fewer 404 errors when products are linked without the base slug
Product URL modes
Choose exactly how your product URLs should look:
- Default — keep the WooCommerce default
/product/your-product/(no changes) - No base slug — remove
/product/prefix/your-product/(recommended) - Category + product — prepend primary category
/electronics/your-product/ - Full category hierarchy — include all parent categories
/tech/electronics/your-product/
Category URL modes
Choose exactly how your category URLs should look:
- Default — keep the WooCommerce default
/product-category/electronics/(no changes) - No base slug — remove
/product-category/prefix/electronics/(recommended) - Full hierarchy — include parent categories without base
/tech/electronics/ - Custom base — replace
/product-category/with your own prefix, e.g./shop/electronics/
SEO and redirect features
Changing URL structure on an existing shop can kill your rankings if not handled correctly. This plugin takes care of everything automatically:
- Automatic 301 redirects — all old URLs are permanently redirected to the new canonical URL. Visitors and crawlers are never left on a dead link.
- Canonical meta tags — fixes the
rel=canonicaltag in the<head>to point to the new URL structure, preventing duplicate content penalties. - Breadcrumb fix for Yoast SEO — updates Yoast breadcrumb trails to match the new URL structure.
- Breadcrumb fix for RankMath — updates RankMath breadcrumb trails to match the new URL structure.
- Primary category support — reads the primary category set in Yoast SEO or RankMath and uses it for URL generation and breadcrumb paths.
- Product tag URL cleanup — removes the
/product-tag/base slug from tag archive URLs. - Slug conflict detection — warns you when a product slug collides with an existing page, post or custom post type.
Diagnostic tools
A dedicated Diagnostics tab inside the plugin settings lets you:
- See a live plugin status table — shows active URL mode, cache status, detected plugins (Yoast, RankMath, WPML), PHP version, WP version and WooCommerce version.
- Use the built-in URL tester — enter any URL path and instantly see how the plugin resolves it, which rewrite rule matched and whether a redirect was triggered.
- View the full list of active rewrite rules added by the plugin — useful for debugging conflicts with other plugins.
- Flush rewrite rules and rebuild the slug cache with a single click.
Performance
- Product slugs are cached in a WordPress transient (configurable TTL, default 1 hour) to avoid repeated database queries on every request.
- Rewrite rules are registered only once on
initand flushed only when settings change — no performance overhead on the front end. - No external HTTP requests, no tracking, no telemetry.
Developer notes
- Clean PHP 7.4+ code with custom PSR-4 autoloader — no Composer required
- Namespace
WCUM\— no global function pollution - All settings stored in a single WordPress option as a serialized array
- Activation hook flushes rewrite rules; deactivation hook restores WooCommerce defaults; uninstall hook removes all plugin data
- Compatible with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS)
- Compatible with WPML and Polylang (basic multilingual support via standard WP rewrite API)
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the
onlinefotka-permalink-manager-for-woocommercefolder to/wp-content/plugins/ - Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
- Go to Permalink Manager in the WordPress admin sidebar
- On the Product URLs tab, choose your preferred URL mode
- On the Category URLs tab, choose your preferred category URL mode
- On the SEO Options tab, enable canonical tags and breadcrumb fixes as needed
- Click Save Changes — rewrite rules are flushed automatically
- Visit the Diagnostics tab to verify everything is working correctly
FAQ
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Will this plugin break my existing product URLs?
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No — when you change the URL mode, the plugin automatically registers 301 redirects from old URLs to the new structure. Your existing backlinks, bookmarks and search engine rankings are preserved. The redirect happens transparently at the WordPress rewrite level with no additional redirect plugins needed.
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Is it compatible with Yoast SEO?
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Yes. The plugin detects Yoast SEO and integrates with its breadcrumb trail and canonical tag output. If you have a primary category set in Yoast, the plugin uses it for URL generation.
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Is it compatible with RankMath?
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Yes. Same integration as Yoast SEO — breadcrumbs and canonicals are patched automatically when RankMath is active.
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Does it work with WPML or Polylang?
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Basic compatibility is included. The plugin uses standard WordPress rewrite rules and
query_varsthat multilingual plugins hook into. Full per-language URL structures are not yet supported. -
Can I use it on an existing shop with thousands of products?
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Yes. The slug cache means only one database query is needed per cache TTL period, regardless of how many products you have. The 301 redirect system handles old URLs at the rewrite rule level — no redirect loop, no slow PHP processing per request.
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What happens when I deactivate the plugin?
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Rewrite rules are restored to WordPress and WooCommerce defaults. All URL modes revert to WooCommerce standard. On full uninstall (Delete in the Plugins screen), all plugin options are permanently removed from the database.
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Does it conflict with other URL or redirect plugins?
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It may conflict with plugins that also modify WooCommerce rewrite rules, such as WooCommerce Permalink Manager (by Lets Sell Online). Use the Diagnostics tab to inspect active rewrite rules and detect conflicts. The built-in URL tester will show you exactly which rule is being matched for any given URL.
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How do I report a bug or request a feature?
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Use the WordPress.org support forum for this plugin. Include your WordPress version, WooCommerce version, PHP version and a description of your URL settings — the Diagnostics tab status table has all of this information in one place.
Reviews
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Contributors & Developers
“Onlinefotka Permalink Manager for WooCommerce” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
Translate “Onlinefotka Permalink Manager for WooCommerce” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.3
- New: 404 logger — records broken URLs directly in the Diagnostics tab with hit count and referer
- New: Conflict report table in Diagnostics — shows which products conflict with existing pages, with direct edit link
- New: Slug preview in product editor — live URL preview below the slug field based on current plugin settings
- Improved: ConflictDetector now returns structured data with product ID for direct linking
1.0.2
- New: SKU-based URL modes — No base + SKU, SKU only, Category + SKU
- Improved: Settings page now shows description and example URL for each option
- Improved: SKU slug map cached in transient for performance
- Fixed: WooCommerce product permalink filter added alongside core post_type_link
1.0.1
- Improved plugin assets: updated banner and icon graphics
- Added 6 screenshot mockups for the WordPress.org listing
- Minor readme improvements and expanded description
1.0.0
- Initial release
- Product URL modes: default, no base slug, category prefix, full category hierarchy
- Category URL modes: default, no base slug, full hierarchy, custom base
- Automatic 301 redirects from old WooCommerce URLs to new structure
- Canonical meta tag fix for products and categories
- Breadcrumb fix for WooCommerce, Yoast SEO and RankMath
- Primary category support for Yoast SEO and RankMath
- Product tag URL cleanup (removes /product-tag/ base)
- Slug conflict detector with admin warning
- Diagnostic tab with live status table, URL tester and rewrite rule viewer
- Transient slug cache for performance
- Slovak translation included