http://clickhereformorecustomers.com/?p=12

It’s hard to call your friends or clients and tell them to check out your latest post using a URL like that and it sure doesn’t help you get traffic to your blog from someone doing a Google search. When was the last time you searched Google for ?p=12?

Don’t fret because there’s an easy way to change the configuration in WordPress so it uses the title of your blog post as your URL. If my latest blog post is titled “How To Use WordPress” then the WordPress URL would be:

http://clickhereformorecustomers.com/How-To-Use-Wordpress instead of http://clickhereformorecustomers.com/?p=12

If someone searches Google for “how to use WordPress” they have a better chance of finding your blog if those keywords are displayed in your post’s URL. That’s why it’s really important to use good titles for your blog posts using targeted keywords.

First, download and install the Permalink Redirect Plugin at http://scott.yang.id.au/code/permalink-redirect/  You need to install this plugin first or the links to your existing posts will not work after you change the Permalink structure.

To change WordPress so it displays the title of your blog post in the URL log into your WordPress Dashboard. Under Settings, choose Permalink. Select Custom Structure and enter /%postname%/

If you want to shorten the URL then change the Post Slug to a shorter name. You can shorten www.clickhereformorecustomers.com/How-To-Use-Wordpress to something like www.clickhereformorecustomers.com/wordpress by changing the Post Slug from How-To-Use-Wordpress to WordPress.

In WordPress 2.5x create a new post and then go to Manage All Tags which is located on the right side of the screen under Related. Scroll down the Tags screen to Add Tags and enter the new slug name under Tag Slug.

That’s it! You now have search engine-friendly URL’s for your WordPress blog.