It was a little shocking to find that my blog permalink structure was organized along the lines of /post ID/post title, resulting in URLs like http://www.WhoIsAndrewWee.com/214/meme-update.html.

Having the post ID (the numerical post identifier) has zero SEO value, so I changed it to /post category/post title, so it’d display as http://www.WhoIsAndrewWee.com/traffic-generation/content-based-posting.html.

Assuming your categories are optimized for appropriate keywords, the search engines will send you more targeted traffic.

One important caveat about this permalink structure is that you have to file each post under a single category. Filing a post under multiple categories would not be good and override any keyword benefits derived from this permalink structure.

Before you make changes to your permalink structure, take note.

There is one devastating consequence to revamping your structure. All previously indexed posts will be lost (a natural consequence of changing your URLs from “/1273/post” title to “/monetization/post title”. You’d want to ensure that your “404 File Not Found” error pages are configured to forward to an appropriate page, or ensure that your theme’s “page forwarding” configuration is set correctly.

Here’s what I’ll be losing in the process of permalink revamp:

A bulk of the 372 pages indexed in Google. A similar number for the other search engines.

A loss of links at meta blog Ping.sg for which I occupy 7 of the top 10 most popular posts this year.

Here’s an interesting discovery though.

I’m ranked tops for the phrase “andrew wee” on Google and the other search engines.

Which might not sound that impressive, until you consider that the incumbent, another andrew wee, was on a very established, mature domain and appeared to be immovable.

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Although revamping the blog permalink structure might seem very painful. It does provide several long term benefits.

Short term pain for long term gain.

Note: This technique is focused mainly on the WordPress blogging platform.