How to remove the date from WordPress URLs for evergreen content

Learn how to optimize your WordPress permalink structure by removing dates from URLs to improve SEO and maintain timeless content appeal.

Illustration by Febrina Tiara

By Randy Ahmad and Widya Putri

Creating evergreen content—articles that remain relevant and valuable long after publication—is a smart strategy for sustainable website growth. However, even the best timeless advice can lose its luster when your WordPress post URLs contain publication dates. If you’ve ever published a post like “10 SEO Tips That Always Work,” but the URL includes “/2021/06/15/,” then you’ve unintentionally aged your content.

Many WordPress blogs and websites fall into this trap because their default permalink settings add dates to post URLs. While this might help readers understand when an article was published, it also gives the impression that the content is outdated—even if the information remains current. Fortunately, there’s a simple fix.

This guide will walk you through how to remove the date from WordPress URLs, giving your content a cleaner, more professional appearance and improved SEO potential. We’ll also show you how to set up redirects so you don’t lose your search engine rankings or break existing links.

Why WordPress adds dates to your post URLs

By default, WordPress uses a query string URL like this:

https://example.com/?p=123

This format is not user-friendly or SEO-optimized. To address this, WordPress offers various permalink structures under Settings » Permalinks, allowing users to switch to more meaningful URLs.

Two commonly used structures are:

• Day and name:
  https://example.com/2023/07/14/sample-post/
• Month and name:
  https://example.com/2023/07/sample-post/

While these formats are more readable and somewhat SEO-friendly, they come with a drawback: they date your content. Even if your article is still accurate and useful, a URL that displays a publication year can deter visitors who assume the post is no longer relevant.

That’s why many site owners prefer the Post name format:

https://example.com/sample-post/

It’s short, clear, optimized for SEO, and—most importantly—timeless.

Is it safe to change your WordPress URL structure?

If you’re launching a brand-new site, switching to a date-free URL structure is a no-brainer. However, for established blogs with hundreds of indexed articles, changing your permalink structure requires extra care.

Here’s what you need to consider:

• SEO Impact: Existing backlinks will lead to 404 errors unless you implement proper 301 redirects.
• Search Engine Rankings: A sudden increase in broken links can harm your rankings if redirects aren’t configured.
• Social Share Counts: Social media sharing metrics may reset, as most platforms track specific URLs and don’t carry over counts through redirects.

Despite these drawbacks, moving to a cleaner permalink structure can offer long-term benefits—especially if your blog focuses on evergreen content.

How to remove the date from WordPress URLs

Step 1: Backup your website

Before making any changes to your permalink settings, it’s essential to create a full backup of your WordPress site. This ensures you can restore your site to its original state if anything goes wrong during the transition.

Use a reliable plugin like UpdraftPlus, Jetpack, or your hosting provider’s backup tools.

Step 2: Change your permalink settings

Once your site is backed up, go to:

WordPress Dashboard » Settings » Permalinks

Select the Post name option and click Save Changes.

Your URLs will now use only the post slug without any date information, making them cleaner and more evergreen.

But that’s only part of the job. Next, you’ll need to preserve SEO rankings and avoid broken links.

Setting up 301 redirects to avoid SEO loss

When you remove the date from your URLs, you must ensure that any links pointing to the old URLs still work. To do this, you’ll set up 301 redirects, which permanently redirect old URLs to their new date-free versions.

There are two effective methods to accomplish this in WordPress.

Method 1: Using All in One SEO (AIOSEO) Pro

The All in One SEO plugin includes a Redirection Manager that lets you create bulk 301 redirects and monitor 404 errors.

Steps:

1. Install and activate AIOSEO Pro.
2. Navigate to All in One SEO » Redirects and click Activate Redirects.
3. Use the Redirects tab to input your redirect rules.

If your previous structure was Day and name, use:

• Source URL: ^/(\d*)/(\d*)/(\d*)/([A-Za-z0-9-]*)
• Target URL: /$4

If your structure was Month and name, use:

• Source URL: ^/(\d*)/(\d*)/([A-Za-z0-9-]*)
• Target URL: /$3

Make sure to check the Regex box when entering these values. Set the Redirect Type to 301 Moved Permanently, then click Add Redirect.

You can monitor redirects via the Hits column in the plugin interface, which shows how often each rule is triggered.

Method 2: Using the free Redirection plugin

If you prefer not to pay for a premium plugin, the free Redirection plugin offers a solid alternative.

Steps:

1. Install and activate the Redirection plugin.
2. Go to Tools » Redirection and click Start Setup.
3. Once configured, scroll to the Add new redirection section.
4. Input the old URL format as the Source URL and the new clean URL as the Target URL.

For Day and name:

• Source URL: /(\d*)/(\d*)/(\d*)/([A-Za-z0-9-]*)
• Target URL: /$4

For Month and name:

• Source URL: /(\d*)/(\d*)/([A-Za-z0-9-]*)
• Target URL: /$3

Before saving, select Regex from the drop-down menu. This enables pattern matching, which allows the plugin to redirect any old post URLs automatically.

Once saved, the plugin will handle all future requests to old URLs and send users to the updated, clean versions.

Final thoughts: Why clean URLs matter

Your website’s URL structure may seem like a small detail, but it significantly affects your content’s longevity and search engine visibility. Date-free URLs are especially important for evergreen content, which can stay relevant for years.

By removing the date from WordPress URLs and setting up proper 301 redirects, you future-proof your content while ensuring a smooth experience for both users and search engines.

Clean, keyword-rich URLs not only look better but also boost your SEO performance. And most importantly, they send the right message: your content is timeless and trustworthy.

Whether you're optimizing a brand-new blog or refreshing an existing one, taking the time to update your URL structure is an investment worth making.

Your evergreen posts deserve evergreen links.

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