What Are Permalinks, and Why Are They Important?
Recently, Blogger gave us the ability to choose our own post permalinks! First of all, thank you! Wait a minute, what are permalinks? Why are they important? I've been asked this question several times; here's my answer.
Here we go.
What is a permalink? A permalink is defined as the following:
A permalink (portmanteau of permanent link) is a URL that points to a specific blog or forum entry after it has passed from the front page to the archives.
Basically, it's a permanent link to one specific entry or post. Wizard101 Central uses them a lot to link to a single post at a time. This is an example of a permalink: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3839275&postcount=1
The link itself can be anything, it's what is linked to that gives it the name.
How do you permalink Blogger posts? Blogger posts are automatically given their own permalinks. These are the posts on their own pages. It is important to have these on separate pages because if a viewer reads your entire post on your homepage, your analytic tools document only a visit to the homepage. If they have to visit the permalinked page, you know exactly which posts readers are interested in and what you should post about more often. The homepage link will only show your post until it's archived off of the front page. A permalink to it will always show it.
How do I change my post's permalink? Blogger has an answer new feature on the right side under Post Settings that says Permalink. Go there, and choose Custom URL. You can add your own bit to the end for easy reference, e.g. www.yoursitename.com/2012/07/your-choice-here.html. That means that if I write a post about PvP titled "Will PvP Updates Change PvE, Too?", then instead of www.swordroll.com/2012/07/will-pvp-updates-change-pve-too.html, I can have it say www.swordroll.com/2012/07/updateeffects.
Why are these permalinks important? These easy links make for easy reference, and take up less space overall. Now, if you had two links in an email, which one are you NOT going to click on (note, these are actual links).
If someone can say, "Swordroll did a post about that in March under funnystuff," then you can say "Hmm.... www.swordroll.com/ (year) 2012/ (month) 03/ (link) funnystuff (ending).html.
It makes it easier to share, too, which means more views for you!
Thanks for reading, and see you in the Spiral!
I had to read this a couple times :P. But I think I get it.
ReplyDeleteVery informative.
ReplyDeleteVery informative.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Very informative.
ReplyDeleteawesome post... will help me a lot,it is Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks.
ReplyDelete