As an experienced WordPress webmaster, I often get asked how to remove dates from WordPress URLs.
Many users enable the "Month and Name" or "Day and Name" permalink settings when first setting up WordPress. This adds the date to the URL, like this:
https://example.com/2023/01/post-title/At first glance, these dated URLs look clean and SEO-friendly. However, over time they can actually start to hurt your traffic and search engine rankings.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll break down exactly why dates in permalinks are harmful, the proper way to remove them, and how to set up redirects to avoid issues.
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Why Dated URLs Should Be Avoided for WordPress Sites
To understand why dates in URLs cause problems, you first need to know a bit about WordPress permalinks.
Permalink is the technical name for the custom URL structure of pages and posts in WordPress. By default, WordPress uses ugly URLs with the post ID:
https://example.com/?p=123The Permalinks Settings page allows you to switch this default structure to any custom URL you want.
Some common choices are:
- Day and name – https://example.com/2023/01/01/sample-post/
- Month and name – https://example.com/2023/01/sample-post/
- Post name – https://example.com/sample-post/
The date options add SEO value at first, by including the post date which is useful context. However, over time these dated URLs lead to 4 big problems:
1. Outdated Information
Displaying dates in URLs can make your content seem stale and outdated to users.
For example, say you have a evergreen post called "Baking Tips for Beginners" at the URL:
https://example.com/2023/01/01/baking-tips-for-beginners/A user may see this post in 2025 and assume it‘s outdated based on the old date.
Post name URLs avoid this issue by removing the date altogether:
https://example.com/baking-tips-for-beginners/2. Lower Click-Through Rates
According to analytics company Parse.ly, dated URLs have an average click-through rate 37% lower than posts with clean URLs.
Their eye-tracking studies found users pay more attention to the URL than headline. An outdated date can dissuade clicks.
3. Technical SEO Issues
When you change the permalink structure, any existing backlinks will start generating 404 errors. This happens because the backlink URL no longer exists.
404 errors in Google Search Console can hurt your site‘s crawling and indexing. Pages may be demoted or dropped from search.
Most social media platforms don‘t carry over share counts when URLs change.
So removing the date will essentially reset any existing shares and engagement metrics on social media.
While dated URLs provide some initial SEO value, they ultimately do more harm than good in the long run.
Two Approaches to Removing Dates from WordPress Permalinks
When you make the decision to delete URL dates in WordPress, there are two ways you can go about it:
1. Start Fresh
One option is to completely rebrand and launch a brand new WordPress site without dated permalinks.
This avoids any legacy SEO or technical issues. However, it also starts you back at zero traffic and search rankings.
Starting fresh works better for new sites than established ones.
2. Update Existing Site
The second approach is to remove dates from an existing site. This retains your current traffic and rankings.
However, you need to properly handle redirects to avoid problems from changing URLs.
I recommend the second approach for most sites, which we‘ll cover in detail next.
Step-by-Step: Removing Dates from an Existing WordPress Site
If you have an established WordPress site and want to move it to dateless URLs, follow these steps:
Back Up Your Website
Before making changes, always back up your WordPress site. This gives you a restore point in case anything goes wrong.
Use a comprehensive plugin like UpdraftPlus which backs up your entire WordPress install and database.
Change to "Post Name" Permalink
Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard.
Under the Common Settings section, choose the Post Name option:
This will remove all dates from your URL structure moving forward.
Set Up 301 Redirects
Because this URL change will break existing backlinks and shares, you need to set up 301 redirects.
A 301 redirect forwards users and search engines from old URLs to your new dateless URLs. This passes SEO value to the new URL.
There are two good redirect options:
1. AIOSEO Plugin (Recommended)
The AIOSEO plugin has a robust Redirection Manager that makes setting up 301 redirects easy.
After installing, go to Redirects > Add New. Enter your old date URL structure in the Source URL field and new structure in the Target URL field:
Source URL:
/(\d*)/(\d*)/(\d*)/(.*)Target URL:
/$4Be sure to enable Regex to use patterns and set it to a 301 redirect type.
This will automatically redirect all old URLs to your new post name format.
2. Redirection Plugin
The Redirection plugin is a free alternative that also works well.
Under Add New Redirect:
- Source URL: Date permalink structure
- Target URL: New post name structure
- Regex: Enabled
- Action: 301 Permanent
Save these settings and Redirection will also forward your old URLs.
Check for 404 Errors
Keep an eye on your site‘s 404 errors for a few weeks after changing the permalink structure.
If certain pages are generating a large number of 404s from old links, you may need to add manual redirects for these URLs.
This ensures visitors and search crawlers can easily find all your dated links.
Conclusion
I hope this guide gave you a good overview of the issues caused by dated WordPress URLs and the proper way to remove them.
While it takes a bit of work, moving your site to clean, dateless URLs will improve click-through rates, prevent outdated content, and resolve technical SEO issues in the long run.
If you have any other questions, feel free to leave a comment below!
