[pcwriter]

I know this was posted somewhere in these forums, but darned if I can’t find it anywhere!

After changing the permalink structure from
http://example.com/blog/2010/10/sample-post/
to
http://example.com/blog/%postname%/
the permalinks in the activity stream retain the old structure and lead to 404 errors.

I remember seeing a post about a workable solution but can’t find it. Can anyone post a link to that elusive thread, or hint at a solution?

The obvious alternative is manually editing each activity entry, but that could be rather tedious

[@mikey3d]

Why would you change permalink structure?

Never start the custom permalink string with any of these %postname%, %category%, %tag%, or %author% because the performance reasons.

Otto said…

Firstly, it’s really not any better for SEO to have the category in there, or to have just the postname there by itself. And anybody who tells you differently is wrong. If you disagree with me, then no, I’m not interested in arguing this point with you; you’re just wrong, period, end of discussion.

[pcwriter]

@mikey3d

Thanks for the link to that excellent post by Otto! Very educational reading.
I’ve updated my permalink structure following Otto’s recommendations (and WP’s rules) and guess what… even though activity stream item URLs don`t appear to have changed, the new structure redirects instantly to the proper post.
Thanks again!

[Roger Coathup]

It would be fine, if Otto wasn’t misinformed about SEO. Having a meaningful category name in there does help, and having your postname (keyword rich) as close as possible to start of the URL helps.

Either that, or seomoz, and lots of other SEO experts are completely wrong.

[Hugo Ashmore]

Yeah but to quote Otto [who he?]
If you disagree with me, then no, I’m not interested in arguing this point with you; you’re just wrong, period, end of discussion.

A man of firm convictions!

[pcwriter]

@rogercoathup

I agree – of course ensuring that the main keyword is prominent in url, title & description is a good thing; that’s one of the ways SEs determine the relevance of content… and up goes the pagerank (Otto does come off as being a “bit” opinionated on that point, doesn’t he?)

But he does illustrate a valid point about performance and WordPress’ rewrite rules. Here’s an interesting discussion on trac about URL routing, and how to improve same (over my head, but interesting nonetheless):
https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12935

[Roger Coathup]

@pcwriter – Yes, the performance thing was interesting.

Quoting his SEO recommendations ( @mikey3d) as though he were an authority, wasn’t so clever.

Here’s a link from seomoz.org (they make their money knowing about SEO): http://www.seomoz.org/knowledge/url – they are also open to reasoned debate about whether they are right or wrong!

—

As for your link problem – that’s because your activity stream items are ‘compiled’ when the activity was created – not when it is displayed – when it was created, you had your old permalink structure (so, that’s what got displayed).

It’s more luck, rather than design, that Otto’s permalink structure also maps your old permalink structure to the same pages as your new structure. I’d happily take the lucky break though!

My thoughts:-
If you don’t have a lot of activity already, and don’t expect a huge huge site (with performance worries!) – then go for the SEO friendly (/%category%/%postname%/), and accept a few of the old permalinks won’t work.
If not, stick with the Otto settings that are working at the moment

[pcwriter]

Yup. That article from seomoz.org points out the basics of URL semantics/relevancy and underscores my own convictions on the matter. (“…they are also open to reasoned debate about whether they are right or wrong!” )

Oh, but I DO want a huge huge site! (So performance is an issue.) Therefore, in an attempt to “get” the best of both worlds, my new URL structure is thus:
/%year%/%category%/%postname%/

[imjscn]

@pcwriter , I currently use otto’s /%year%/%postname%/ with some pityful feeling of missing the “category”, Now I see your new structure, I like the idea
By the way, you didn’t mention the default blog/ before the custom structure. Did you remove it already? I know there’s a way to remove the blog/ — from the site edit page. But I’m not sure if it is the correct way — what’s your opinion?

[Nahum]

back to the original question might this be a solution : http://yoast.com/changing-your-permalink-structure/

[Stigmartyr]

Yes back to the original question, thanks nahummadrid. The link contains suggestion for links that started with a date and I’m not that savy with .htaccess commands but if I have activity links that look like this:

site.com/activity/p/1234

How would I write my .htaccess redirect?

I am using the following permalink structure: /%post_id%/%postname%