Fixing Broken Permalinks After Restoring a Trashed WordPress Page
As a WordPress website owner, you may have encountered the frustrating situation of accidentally trashing a page, only to realize later that you need to restore it. While restoring the page is straightforward, the real challenge often lies in dealing with the resulting broken permalinks.
When you trash a WordPress page, the system doesn't automatically remove the page from the URL structure. Instead, it appends a "-trashed" suffix to the permalink, creating a URL that no longer leads to a valid page. This can cause several issues, including broken links, frustrated users, and potential SEO problems.
In this article, we'll dive into the process of fixing broken permalinks after restoring a trashed WordPress page. We'll cover the necessary steps to set up 301 redirects, update your .htaccess file, and ensure a smooth transition for your website's visitors and search engines.
Understanding the Problem: Trashed Pages and Broken Permalinks
When you trash a page in WordPress, the system doesn't immediately delete the page from your website's structure. Instead, it moves the page to the trash, where it remains until you either permanently delete it or restore it.
The issue arises when you restore the trashed page. WordPress will recreate the page, but the original permalink structure remains, resulting in a broken link. For example, if you had a page with the URL https://www.example.com/en/my-page/
and you trashed it, the restored page would have a URL like https://www.example.com/en/__trashed-6/
.
This broken permalink can cause several problems:
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Broken Links: Any internal or external links pointing to the original URL will now lead to a dead end, frustrating users and potentially hurting your website's user experience.
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SEO Issues: Search engines like Google may have indexed the original URL, and when users click on those search results, they'll be met with a broken page. This can negatively impact your website's search engine rankings and visibility.
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Analytics Challenges: Tracking and analyzing user behavior on your website becomes more difficult when URLs change, as the data may be split between the old and new URLs.
To address these issues, you'll need to set up proper redirects and update your website's .htaccess file to ensure a smooth transition for your users and search engines.
Fixing Broken Permalinks: The Step-by-Step Process
Here's a step-by-step guide to fixing broken permalinks after restoring a trashed WordPress page:
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Identify the Trashed Page: Begin by identifying the specific page that was trashed and needs to be restored. You can do this by navigating to the WordPress admin dashboard, going to the "Pages" section, and looking for the page with the "-trashed" suffix in the URL.
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Restore the Trashed Page: Once you've located the trashed page, restore it by clicking the "Restore" link under the page's title. This will bring the page back to its original location within your website's structure.
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Set Up a 301 Redirect: After restoring the page, you'll need to set up a 301 redirect to ensure that any incoming links to the old, broken URL are seamlessly redirected to the new, restored URL. This is crucial for maintaining your website's SEO and user experience.
To set up the 301 redirect, you'll need to access your server's .htaccess file, which is a hidden file that controls various server-level configurations for your website. Here's the code you'll need to add to your .htaccess file:
Redirect 301 /en/__trashed-6/ /en/my-page/
Replace /en/__trashed-6/
with the actual URL of the trashed page, and /en/my-page/
with the new, restored URL.
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Update Your .htaccess File: After adding the 301 redirect code, you'll need to save the .htaccess file and upload it to your server. This will ensure that any requests made to the old, broken URL are automatically redirected to the new, restored URL.
Depending on your server configuration, you may need to create the .htaccess file if it doesn't already exist. You can do this by using a text editor or an FTP client to create the file and save it in the root directory of your WordPress installation.
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Verify the Redirect: Once you've updated the .htaccess file, test the redirect by accessing the old, broken URL in your web browser. You should be seamlessly redirected to the new, restored URL.
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Update Internal Links: After setting up the 301 redirect, you'll want to go through your website and update any internal links that point to the old, broken URL. This will ensure a consistent user experience and prevent any lingering broken links.
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Monitor Your Website's Performance: Keep a close eye on your website's performance and analytics data after implementing the 301 redirect. This will help you identify any potential issues, such as:
- Lingering broken links
- Changes in search engine rankings or traffic
- Dips in user engagement or conversion rates
By following these steps, you can effectively fix broken permalinks after restoring a trashed WordPress page, ensuring a smooth transition for your users and search engines.
Best Practices for Maintaining Permalink Health
To prevent similar issues from occurring in the future, it's important to implement best practices for maintaining the health of your website's permalinks. Here are some tips:
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Avoid Trashing Pages: Instead of trashing pages, consider using the "Draft" feature or the "Private" visibility option if you need to temporarily remove a page from your website.
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Implement Proper Redirection Strategies: Whenever you need to change a page's URL or delete a page, set up the appropriate 301 redirects to ensure that any existing links continue to work correctly.
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Monitor Your Website's Crawl Health: Use tools like Google Search Console to regularly monitor your website's crawl health and identify any broken links or other issues that may be impacting your SEO performance.
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Maintain a Consistent URL Structure: Establish a clear and logical URL structure for your website, and stick to it. Avoid making frequent changes to your permalinks, as this can lead to SEO and user experience problems.
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Automate Redirection Processes: Consider using a WordPress plugin like Redirection or Simple 301 Redirects to streamline the process of setting up and managing redirects on your website.
By following these best practices, you can proactively maintain the health of your website's permalinks and avoid the frustration of dealing with broken links and SEO issues in the future.
In conclusion, fixing broken permalinks after restoring a trashed WordPress page is an important task to ensure the continued success and smooth operation of your website. By setting up 301 redirects, updating your .htaccess file, and implementing best practices for permalink management, you can effectively address this common WordPress issue and provide a seamless user experience for your visitors.
For more information on how Flowpoint.ai can help you identify and fix technical issues that impact your website's conversion rates, visit Flowpoint.ai.
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