A shorter address is easy to ask for. Making every old and new route behave sensibly takes a bit more care.
In April 2026 I was adding controls around WordPress tag archive addresses: which format links should use, how the alternative address should resolve and whether the old format should redirect. A later September check exposed two awkward edges in that work: tracking parameters and page two of an archive. They are now firmly on my migration checklist.
A URL change is several changes
There is the address someone types, the route WordPress recognises, the link the theme generates, the address in the sitemap and the preferred address declared in the page. Changing one does not automatically change the others.
I start with a tiny mapping sheet: old address, intended destination, expected response and why the destination is a proper replacement. That last column stops a tidy-up becoming a collection of irrelevant redirects to the homepage.
Test the unremarkable variations
A campaign link often has extra information after a question mark. That does not necessarily mean the visitor asked for a different page. My routing fix separated harmless tracking arguments from parameters that tell WordPress to perform another query.
Pagination needs its own check. An archive that loads beautifully on page one can still strand the rest of its content behind broken page-two links. I test the generated link, the page it reaches, its canonical and the next/previous navigation.
- Open a real archive at its clean address.
- Open the same address with a typical tracking parameter.
- Follow its pagination rather than guessing the route.
- Visit the old address and inspect the redirect destination.
- Check a genuine page with a similar name still wins the correct route.
- Try an unknown address and make sure it still produces a proper not-found response.
Finish at the links you publish
A permanent redirect helps people arriving at an old address, but I still update internal links and sitemap entries to point straight to the intended destination. Otherwise the site keeps teaching visitors the route I have just retired.
Google describes redirects, canonical declarations and sitemap inclusion as signals in its canonicalisation guidance. I use that as a consistency check, not a promise that a URL change will improve rankings.
Finally, I clear any cached error or redirect response and check the public site again. A routing fix is not finished while visitors are still being served yesterday’s answer.