How To Change Old URLs in WordPress Without Losing Ranking

’ve brought you an amazing, super-easy hack to change old URLs in WordPress — and trust me, it works beautifully.
If you’ve ever avoided touching an old URL because you were scared of losing your ranking, then you and I have something in common.

For years, I never wanted to update a post URL.
Every time I thought about changing a Site Address, WordPress Address, or even a simple slug, my gut would whisper:

“What if search engines drop your ranking?”

I always believed that changing a URL would confuse Google’s search engine indexing. I thought it would break my internal links and ruin my user experience. Honestly, sometimes it can if you do it wrong.

But a few days ago, I needed to update a post about Jarvis AI.
After their rebrand to Jasper AI, the old link didn’t make sense anymore.
I had several posts pointing to the outdated name and outdated site URLs.

So I finally changed the URL.

I didn’t want to lose the ranking that post already had.
But guess what?

I didn’t lose the ranking at all.

Because immediately after changing that old link, I followed three simple steps.
Today, I will teach you what I did.

You can safely change old URLs without hurting SEO. This works during a Site Migration or when fixing Broken Links.

This post is short, value-packed, and perfect if you want a quick win.

3 Easy Ways To Change an Old URL Without Losing Ranking

I used these exact techniques when I updated my URL from Jarvis AI to Jasper AI. They work on rebranding and switching to a custom domain.

Step 1: Use 301 Redirection

When you change a URL, sometimes WordPress automatically creates a site redirect, but you can’t always depend on it.

If the automatic redirect fails, you may run into a redirect error, orphaned pages, or even 404s, which search engines hate.

That’s why setting up 301 Redirects is the smartest move. A 301 redirect tells search engines that your old URL has permanently moved to the new one.
It passes authority, link juice, and trust, all essential for keeping your ranking stable.

Once the plugin has been installed and activated, go to WordPress Dashboard > RankMath> Redirection. A new redirection option will appear there.

Enter your old URL in the “Source URL” box and your new URL in the “Destination URL” box. Hit “Add Redirection”. You’re done. Your old URL will be redirected to the new one.

Now, search engine spiders will find your new URL and index it, and your old URL will be removed.

Step 2: Update Internal Links with New URL

The outgoing links of the past cannot be changed, but you can change the internal links.

Finding the links and changing the URL might take some time. It’s worth it, though. This makes it easier for search engine bots to discover and index your new URL.

Google Search Console can be used to find internal links to a URL. Log in and select the site. Next, select Links > Internal Links. Click on the Find button.

This will display the internal links for the URL. Ignore tags, categories, etc. Update the URL only for a single post. Internal linking allows search engine bots to index and rank the right page more easily.

Step 3: Submit For Manual Indexing

The bots take time to crawl and index a URL when it is changed. There are ways to speed up this process.

You can submit your updated URL to Google for indexing using the “URL Inspection” option in Search Console.

Select the domain name in Google Search Console. Select the “URL Inspection” link under the section option under “Overview“.

Enter your updated URL and run the “Test Live URL” option. Then Request for indexing! This step is also very effective when you need to change old URLs in WordPress without losing ranking.

Read Also:

• Parasite SEO For Beginners: Ultimate Guide
• URL Optimization: A Beginner’s Guide

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Conclusion

I followed these steps to change the old URL in WordPress. My ranking didn’t suffer as Google took its time indexing the URL.

Surprisingly, the rank didn’t change even after I removed the focus keyword from the URL. Did you ever change the URL of your blog post? Please share your experience.