{"id":17234,"date":"2026-08-04T13:54:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savethevideo.net\/blog\/how-to-redirect-wordpress-urls-after-changing-a-blog-posts-publication-date-and-slug\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:54:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T13:54:07","slug":"how-to-redirect-wordpress-urls-after-changing-a-blog-posts-publication-date-and-slug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savethevideo.net\/blog\/how-to-redirect-wordpress-urls-after-changing-a-blog-posts-publication-date-and-slug\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Redirect WordPress URLs After Changing a Blog Post’s Publication Date and Slug"},"content":{"rendered":"

A site owner should create a 301 redirect every time a WordPress post gets a new publication date and a new slug.<\/strong> That old URL may still be in Google, emails, social posts, and backlinks. A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that the page has moved for good, which is how Google describes permanent moves [source: Google Search Central]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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TLDR:<\/strong> If a post changes from \/2023\/04\/old-guide\/<\/em> to \/2025\/01\/new-guide\/<\/em>, the old address should point to the new one with a 301 redirect. The fastest fix is to use WP 301 Redirects<\/strong>, add the old URL as the source, and add the new URL as the target. In a small blog with 50 updated posts, even a 12% loss of visits from broken old links can mean hundreds of missed readers each month. This is boring cleanup work, but it saves traffic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Changing a WordPress blog post\u2019s publication date can change the URL if the site uses date-based permalinks. Changing the slug changes it again. Put both together, and the old address can break. That leads to a 404 error<\/strong>, which is bad for readers and messy for SEO.<\/p>\n

WordPress may catch some slug changes on its own. Honestly, it feels like this works only when the URL change is simple. Once dates are part of the permalink, or the post has been edited more than once, relying on WordPress alone is asking for random cleanup later.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

Why the URL Breaks After a Date and Slug Change<\/h2>\n

A WordPress permalink can include year, month, day, post name, category, or custom values. A common format looks like this:<\/p>\n