I have a WordPress website where users contribute a lot of posts and comments. I am now using /date/post-name as the permalink structure, but I've read and heard that it's better to use just the post-name, and I wanted it confirmed here.
The problem is that my website's posts are updated daily, so I can't decide which structure is better. Beside that, using only post-name seems to slow the website, which is also bad for SEO.
Can someone help me please?
I don't believe having the date in the slug generates any real algorithmic penalty. It pushes the stuff of real value (keywords) to the right a bit and also instantly dates the content so you may find your older stuff isn't generating as many clicks as users prefer the "latest and greatest"
If it were up to me, I would replace the date with the post category if feasible as those extra keywords would make a small difference. But if the choice is date/postname or just postname then you should go with just postname for the reasons above. The post date should be a part of the post template anyway and Google will pick it up from there...it's just not needed in the URL.
This is a very complex question, it depends on the length of your domain name and the length of your post titles. Generally I recommend /%postname%/ because the length of your post name could be long. If it is too long it will loose both SEO value and user experience value...
Last year Google release a ranking update and stated that having keyword in URL is not significant anymore for ranking, but having a short URL will give you a little benefit in ranking. So on that note, it will be advised to use post-name in URL.
And for best results if possible then choose the URL before publishing with only 2-3 main words in URL. This will be best for SEO.
But don’t change already published URLs.
