Title: Strange permalink redirects Last modified: August 19, 2016 --- # Strange permalink redirects * Resolved [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/) * Running the excellent Broken Link Checker plug-in uncovered an interesting problem. * Internal links on my site are entered the form: [http://billbennett.co.nz/2009/04/30/writing-style-tips-1-companies-are-singular/](http://billbennett.co.nz/2009/04/30/writing-style-tips-1-companies-are-singular/) * This is also how they appear in the address bar and how they appear externally. However, WordPress somehow converts each of these links to something like this: * [http://billbennett.co.nz/2009/06/18/2009/06/10/2009/04/30/writing-style-tips-1-companies-are-singular/](http://billbennett.co.nz/2009/06/18/2009/06/10/2009/04/30/writing-style-tips-1-companies-are-singular/) * The address is redirected to the correct url, but it means all my internal links appear broken. This only happens to posts, not the pages. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total) * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215342) * Check your permalinks settings (they should be Day and Name), and then click Save Changes even if you haven’t changed anything. * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215348) * Thanks. This hasn’t fixed the problem. I’m frightened to change the Permalink structure because there’s a redirect in place from my old WordPress.com site. But do you think this would fix things? * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215358) * Your site is working fine for me and all the URLs are correct. Try emptying your browser cache. * Does the problem only occur when you are being redirected from your old wordpress. com site? When loaded directly, your new site works fine. * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215361) * The site loads OK from outside. The links on the front page are fine. The sidebar links are fine. But if you look at this page: * [http://billbennett.co.nz/2008/11/15/starting-a-business-folly-or-fortune/](http://billbennett.co.nz/2008/11/15/starting-a-business-folly-or-fortune/) * The link at the bottom of the text: Bad economy good time for business start- up? * has the wrong format: * [http://billbennett.co.nz/2008/11/15/2008/10/18/a-bad-economy-can-be-a-good-time-for-a-start-up-business/](http://billbennett.co.nz/2008/11/15/2008/10/18/a-bad-economy-can-be-a-good-time-for-a-start-up-business/) * It works, but it’s worrying. I think this is why I’ve been given a Google Page Rank of Zero. Previously my page rank hovered between 4 and 5. * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215362) * Oh, the problem is with using relative links like this: * `href="../2008/10/18/a-bad-economy-can-be-a-good-time-for-a-start-up-business/"` * Relative links do not work with WordPress. You need to use absolute links (those with [http://billbennett.co.nz](http://billbennett.co.nz) in them). * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215363) * The links are written as absolute links. This happens somewhere after they are put on the page. * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215364) * Could this be what’s happening to you too? * [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/228843](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/228843) * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215512) * Yes, that’s possibly the problem. I’m definitely entering absolute addresses and they are changing to relative addresses. * I’ll try editing a few in Internet Explorer to see if the problem is down to Firefox. * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215526) * OK, it’s definitely **not** a Firefox problem. I just fixed a number of links using Internet Explorer and they changed back to relative address as before. * Any new lines of investigation? * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215529) * A plugin, especially some sort of linking, formatting, or editor type of plugin may be involved. Try temporarily disabling all plugins and seeing if the problem goes away. * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215552) * Thanks. Yes. It’s a plug-in doing the damage. I’ve got 21 installed, so finding the right one could be difficult. * In case it helps others later, I’ll report back when I’ve tracked the cuplrit. * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215556) * It looks very much as if the problem is John Godley’s Redirection plug-in. I’ll try contacting John’s support to see if there’s a fix. * [iridiax](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iridiax/) * (@iridiax) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215559) * > It looks very much as if the problem is John Godley’s Redirection plug-in. * Thanks for reporting back on this. Others may have the same mysterious problem. * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215590) * This is very frustrating. The relative addressing reoccurred overnight. * Which means it’s not the Redirection plug-in causing the problem. * Yesterday I selectively turned off plug-ins to see which ones changed the addressing, but the process appears to happen so slowly its hard to tell the guilty plug- in. * Thread Starter [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * (@billbennett) * [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215602) * Well this explains why the problem was so difficult to track – I disabled the broken link checker plug-in and all the relative links changed back to absolute links. * I’m going to post a message in the plug-ins and hacks forum. * Thanks Iridiax for your help. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total) The topic ‘Strange permalink redirects’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 15 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [billbennett](https://wordpress.org/support/users/billbennett/) * Last activity: [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/strange-permalink-redirects/#post-1215602) * Status: resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics