Title: Why does URL contain "/wordpress"? Last modified: August 20, 2016 --- # Why does URL contain "/wordpress"? * [dunstanmorey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dunstanmorey/) * (@dunstanmorey) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/) * Complete newbie here, whose eyes have now utterly glazed over poring through mountains of WordPress docs. * Disclaimer: Not interested in, nor know anything about, blogs (except what I’ve gleaned from above-mentioned docs). * Objective: Want a simple, clean web site for my small business. * Background: I have a ten-year-old html web site (www.weddingmusictoronto.com – still up & running). Hired someone to design a new look for it. He did it in WordPress. * Initial question (I have many!): Can my new site actually be called [http://www.weddingmusictoronto.com?](http://www.weddingmusictoronto.com?) It looks rather as if the URL will change to weddingmusictoronto.com/wordpress. How will that impact my searchability, google rankings, existing inbound links pointing to my present site, etc? I’m concerned that my web presence will have to start over from scratch. * Related question: what is the nature of the connection between my web site and wordpress such that the name “wordpress” appears in the URL? * Many thanks in advance for replies. * Dunstan Morey, struggling wedding musician and erstwhile unwilling wordpressario! Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * [govpatel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/govpatel/) * (@govpatel) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441586) * > Initial question (I have many!): Can my new site actually be called [http://www.weddingmusictoronto.com](http://www.weddingmusictoronto.com)? > It looks rather as if the URL will change to weddingmusictoronto.com/wordpress. * That is because you must have installed wordpress in wordpress folder and not root. * You have two options if you want your website to show from your domain name constructions here * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory](http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory) * WordPress needs be on its own weather in root or folder no other scripts or index page like index.html as wordpress use index.php * or * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress](http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress) * Thread Starter [dunstanmorey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dunstanmorey/) * (@dunstanmorey) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441641) * Hi govpatel: * Thanks for the reply. * Since I don’t know what I’m doing, I think I have a screwed-up directory. Here’s what happened: * First, someone designed me a new site in wordpress; it’s hosted right now on the designer’s server. * Next, I installed wordpress into my web hosting account. * Then I Exported from the designer’s server onto my desktop at home; then I logged into my control panel at my web host and tried to Import that file. The content showed up, but the design that I paid for was lost. * So I tried to uninstall wordpress from my web hosting account, so I could start over. I got an error message saying they couldn’t find my server. * I contacted tech support at my web host to help. Looking at my file manager, we found: – a wordpress folder in the root folder, containing 1) wp-admin folder; 2) wp-content folder; 3) wp-includes folder (all inside the wordpress folder.– three other folders in the root folder, ALSO called 1) wp-admin folder; 2) wp- content folder; 3) wp-includes folder. The tech support guy uninstalled wordpress; but I still have 4 folders in my root folder: 1) wp-admin folder; 2) wp-content folder; 3) wp-includes folder, and 4) the original wordpress folder (but with nothing but a more or less empty wp-content folder). Now I’m worried I’ve completely screwed things up. * Should I worry? What should I do now? * Thanks! Dunstan Morey * [Tim S](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tim-s/) * (@tim-s) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441662) * If you’re only running once instance of WordPress it makes sense to only have one set of files for the installation. Keeping files you dont need will only confuse you later. Once all the files have been moved over to your root folder, you’ll need to update the site url and home to your domain points correctly. * [govpatel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/govpatel/) * (@govpatel) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441689) * You said that you have the folders what about wp- files are they in your root? * Thread Starter [dunstanmorey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dunstanmorey/) * (@dunstanmorey) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441692) * > Once all the files have been moved over to your root folder, you’ll need to > update the site url and home to your domain points correctly. * Hi Tim: Thanks for the reply. Can you explain what you mean by “update site URL?” My primary concern is losing my existing page rank in Google and messing up the many inbound links to my site. What I’m still trying to figure out is if it’s possible to have my new WP pages have the same URL as my old HTML pages. * Many thanks! DM * Thread Starter [dunstanmorey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/dunstanmorey/) * (@dunstanmorey) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441693) * > You said that you have the folders what about wp- files are they in your root? * Hi govpatel: * Thanks for the reply. I still have folders despite my attempts (in concert with support at hosting company) to uninstall wordpress. I have no idea why the folders are still there, but was advised not to touch them, since they’re in the root folder. * There are no files because I need to figure out where to put them before I FTP them over. * DM * [Tim S](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tim-s/) * (@tim-s) * [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441696) * When you migrate a WordPress site, you have to update the site url and home settings since the path to the WordPress site is changing. So moving a WordPress website from the /wordpress folder to the root, you’ll need to update the settings. Here’s a URL to help you: * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_The_Site_URL](http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_The_Site_URL) * Also, anytime your replacing a website and the old one has been indexed, it’s best practice to set up 301 redirects from the “old” pages to the new ones. If Google find 404’s on the website it will hurt your site’s rankings. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘Why does URL contain "/wordpress"?’ is closed to new replies. ## Tags * [url](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/url/) * In: [Installing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/installation/) * 7 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [Tim S](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tim-s/) * Last activity: [14 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/why-does-url-contain-wordpress/#post-2441696) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics