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WiscWeb - Updating Permalink (Slug) Value

When you create a page, post, or other content item within your site that has the same name as another item already created, WordPress will automatically append a -# to the end of it. For example, if you have an About page already created, and you create a second page titled About, your URL for the new page will be https://sitename.wisc.edu/about-2/. This document will walk you through the process of renaming your Permalink or Slug values.

In this document:

  Purpose

When a new page or post is created and saved or published, you may notice that the URL permalink will have a -2 appended to it. This usually occurs when you have created a page or post with the same filename and saved it as a draft or published it. This can be fixed by either deleting a duplicate, or updating the permalinks so that you have only one of each page or post. You may also find yourself in a situation where you want to update a URL with a new permalink.

Permalink value with dash two value added

  Updating Your Permalink (Slug)

  1. Click on the Edit button next to the Permalink.

  2. In the field that appears, you would change or update the editable text.
Editing the permalink value

Permalink value edited
  1. Once you've done that, click the OK button to the right to update this change.
Updated permalink with correct value

Be sure to Update your changes so that they are committed to your site.

  Additional Considerations

Once you have updated your permalink value, you should also consider what menu or navigation areas that use or reference this page. Test those to make sure that the links are pointing to the right page, and update as necessary.

  Troubleshooting

  • If you change the permalink value and still see that a -2 appears, or the numbers get higher, you may have additional pages or content items that you need to find with similar URLs. 

  • If you find that you have page names with identical permalinks, consider changing the page titles when you are updating the permalinks or review the content and determine whether you need to keep it or can delete it.