Why do publications use article IDs in post links?

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 18:21:58 UTC #1

Why do some publications use article IDs in post links? Like HBB does.

pradeepkumar (Pradeep Kumar) 2017-03-31 18:35:52 UTC #2

Hi @arunsathiya, I think it's a complicated question, but I'll try my best to answer:

Earlier Google 'officially' said that they prefer URLs with unique IDs so that it'll be helpful for them to analyze or something and it's easy for Google News as well. So this was one of the main reasons why most of the old WordPress blogs preferred %post_id% thing. But later Google removed this from their official doc, and they are okay with 'News Sitemap' now.

Apart from this, according to me, I wouldn't prefer example.com/hello-word format for 'posts', because this is how a page should look for me. Again, I wouldn't prefer example.com/category/hello-word format for 'posts', because I keep on changing the categories like 'news', 'how-to', blah blah.. my mind is a monkey.

We all know we hate when we see outdated articles, take this article for example, even though they might have covered all the latest tips, when they see '2014' in the 'URL', it'll be kinda hard for us to click. Possible right?

So, finally and finally, the only possible format I can think of is:

"https://devicebar.com/articles/essential-tips-improve-mac-battery-life/89/"

I'm sure the 'post id' in the URL will be as long as '3245345344' after a few years, but I don't think that'll bother me, most of the forums have this 'unique id' in their URLs, take Discourse or Stack Exchange for example. This might also help the server to properly assign each and every 'unique' thread.

I'm still researching for a proper reason, I'll definitely update that here soon.

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 18:39:29 UTC #3

That's a neatly done answer, thanks. This gets me thinking about something.

If we link post IDs to blog posts, we can use the slug hello-world for different purpose actually. What if we are launching a product named "hello world"? We can use it then. Like, how Ixigo uses glass for ixigo.com/glass.

This is actually a great choice!

Now, how can I activate this for all my WordPress posts and enable this for all future posts as well?

pradeepkumar (Pradeep Kumar) 2017-03-31 18:43:52 UTC #4

I may not be in a position to agree or disagree mate, it's just a preference to be honest.

Take ShoutMeLoud or PhoneRadar for example, they have example.com/hello-world format only.

It's like... they want to keep it neat and they keep on updating all the popular posts with new content.

"https://www.shoutmeloud.com/earn-money-from-blog.html"

The same goes for WPBeginner...

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 18:44:51 UTC #5

I get you.

You have not answered my other question yet. How do I activate this?

pradeepkumar (Pradeep Kumar) 2017-03-31 18:49:00 UTC #6

Okay, so can you kindly tell me your current WordPress permalink format and your desired permalink format as well? Like, the full URL format. I can check both and give you .htaccess code for proper redirection.

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 18:51:13 UTC #7

/post-slug to /post-slug-articleID.

Without breaking the existing content, properly redirected, please. Thanks!

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 18:51:35 UTC #8

On that note, what happens to social cards? Facebook, Twitter and other network card data.

pradeepkumar (Pradeep Kumar) 2017-03-31 19:07:48 UTC #9

For this redirection, I feel this .htaccess code will help mate:

RedirectMatch 301 ^/([^/]+)/$ https://strikebuys.com/$3-$4/

I'm not an expert, but I honestly feel this will redirect properly, kindly check and update me bro.

pradeepkumar (Pradeep Kumar) 2017-03-31 19:09:03 UTC #10

I lost most of them bro, even when I migrated from 'http' and 'https' I faced this issue with some social networks, but it's a hard change...

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 19:25:54 UTC #11

Sorry for not being clear earlier, bro. I meant to ask: if I change to /post-slug-articleID format, will I be able to retain the social card data for posts shared earlier on my Facebook and other networks? I hope the social network crawlers will not reindex it. But, anyway, let me check it. Thanks!

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 19:26:06 UTC #12

Let me check this the first thing tomorrow morning, bro. Thanks!

pradeepkumar (Pradeep Kumar) 2017-03-31 19:27:55 UTC #13

I answered for this only bro, I was not able to retain all those data, I did the redirection long back, I'm not sure whether anything changed at present though.

arunsathiya (Arun Sathiya) 2017-03-31 19:28:36 UTC #14

Ah, I get you. Thanks, Pradeep!