Facing the issue with broken permalinks on your WordPress website? While it might not be a big deal for the visitors, it’s a severe issue for the owner(s). Besides preventing people from reading your content, it can also hurt your website’s SEO and ranking. So, what causes broken permalinks in WordPress to appear? We can’t tell you. It could be a glitch, a conflict with updating WordPress or a theme or plugin, a mishap during a recent activity, or a consequence of migrating your website or domain. One thing is for sure, it needs to be solved. Let’s get into how to fix broken permalinks in WordPress.
1. Fix broken permalinks in WordPress by resetting the permalinks structure
We already outlined the steps required to flush permalinks structure in WordPress. You can find them under method 1 in our guide to fix WordPress posts returning 404 error.
2. Steps to fix broken permalinks in WordPress via .htaccess
The next thing to try has to do with .htaccess, a file that is pivotal to the operation of your WordPress website. It also contains various settings that can cause a conflict. With that said, to restore .htaccess to default settings, take a look at method 2 in the guide mentioned above.
3. Resolve conflict between WordPress plugins
If you haven’t solved the problem yet, let us ask you this. Have you installed a WordPress plugin recently or changed any settings in regards to plugins in general? Pay close attention to plugins that have to do with redirects (301, 302, and 307). Of course, a malfunction in any of them, or a clash between two or more can lead to the same disastrous result. To check if this is the case, simply deactivate all WordPress plugins. For practical application, read method 3 in the 404 error fixing guide we brought up twice already.
4. Resolving broken permalinks after website migration/domain change
Did you migrate your WordPress website to a new hosting, or made a domain change? If very little time has passed, waiting a bit might be all you need. But if it’s been a while, we’d look into file and folder permissions in WordPress. They might have been reset to default values or changed by your hosting. You can also reach out to your hosting Customer Support for help – they’re available 24/7 via live chat, most likely.
5. Still getting a 404 error? Here’s what to do
If you don’t want to ask your hosting for assistance or waiting for a reply, you can still do something about it. We already referred to the WordPress plugins for redirecting – that’s the main solution. However, it should be preceded by scanning for all broken links on your website, so you know which ones need to be redirected. For practical application, read about how to fix broken links in WordPress.