{"id":14910,"date":"2025-11-13T10:47:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T15:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/?page_id=14910"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:29:36","slug":"changing-page-urls","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing Page URLs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you create a new page, WordPress automatically generates the page URL (also called the <strong>permalink<\/strong>) based on the page title.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Page Title<\/strong>: Residency Curriculum Overview<\/li>\n<li><strong>URL<\/strong>: https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/your-site\/residency\/residency-curriculum-overview\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>WordPress converts the title into a URL-friendly format:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>All lowercase<\/li>\n<li>Spaces replaced with hyphens<\/li>\n<li>Special characters removed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr  style=\"margin:40px 0\"class=\" rule-thin osc-rule\" \/>\n<h2>When Should You Edit a URL?<\/h2>\n<p>Edit the URL when:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Renaming pages<\/li>\n<li>The auto-generated version creates unnecessary wording<\/li>\n<li>The page title is very long<\/li>\n<li>You need a URL that is easier to share or promote<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Example:<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Health Sciences has a page titled \u201c<strong>The Alliance of Health Science Ambassadors<\/strong>\u201d, located under the <strong>Students<\/strong> section. The default URL based on the title would be:\u00a0https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/students\/<strong>the-alliance-of-heath-science-ambassadors<\/strong>.\u00a0This URL is long, hard to type, and not ideal for sharing with students.<\/p>\n<p>If the department wants to promote the program and make the link more user-friendly, a shorter URL such as:\u00a0https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/healthsciences\/students\/<strong>ambassadors<\/strong>, is clearer and easier to remember<\/p>\n<hr  style=\"margin:40px 0\"class=\" rule-thin osc-rule\" \/>\n<h2>Changing URLs Will Break Links<\/h2>\n<p>Changing the URL of a page will break any existing links that point to that page. This affects both internal and external links. For that reason, it\u2019s best to modify the URL <strong>when the page is first created<\/strong>. Once a page is published and in use, changing its URL should be done with caution.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>WordPress does not automatically redirect old URLs to the new one<\/strong>. Anyone using the old link will receive a \u201cPage Not Found\u201d error.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Update any internal links <\/strong>on your site that point to the old URL. This includes menus, buttons, calls to action, and links embedded in other pages.<\/li>\n<li><strong>External links will also break.<\/strong> If important partners or departments link to your page, notify them so they can update their links.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Search engines will eventually adjust<\/strong>. The new URL will be indexed over time, but until then, the old URL may appear in search results.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/accessibility\/siteimprove\/\">Siteimprove<\/a> can be used to find broken links.<\/strong> After updating a URL, run a new site scan so Siteimprove can locate any internal links that need updating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr  style=\"margin:40px 0\"class=\" rule-thin osc-rule\" \/>\n<h2>How to Edit the URL<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Create a New Page or edit an existing one.<\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Edit<\/strong> next to the permalink field that is located below the page title.<br \/>\n<span class=\"imgBorderMed\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png\" alt=\"Screenshot showing the location of the page permalink.\" width=\"500\" height=\"106\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png 672w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink-300x64.png 300w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink-600x128.png 600w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink-560x119.png 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li>Adjust the URL text as needed.\n<ul>\n<li>Keep URLs short and descriptive.\n<ul>\n<li>Good: faculty-resources<\/li>\n<li>Avoid: all-available-faculty-resources-and-guidelines-2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Use lowercase letters only.<\/li>\n<li>Use hyphens to separate words, never underscores.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>OK<\/strong>, then <strong>Update<\/strong> the page to save changes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr  style=\"margin:40px 0\"class=\" rule-thin osc-rule\" \/>\n<h2>Why WordPress Sometimes Adds \u201c-2\u201d to a URL<\/h2>\n<p>If you see a URL end in \u201c<strong>-2<\/strong>\u201d, it means WordPress has detected that the same URL already exists somewhere on your site.<\/p>\n<p>WordPress requires every page, post, event, and media file to have a <strong>unique URL<\/strong>. So if you create a new page titled \u201cResearch\u201d and a page, post, or even a media file already uses that URL, WordPress will automatically generate a new one:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Existing URL: \/research\/<\/li>\n<li>New Page URL: \/research-2\/<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This can happen when:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Another page is already using the same title<\/li>\n<li>A previous page was deleted but still exists in the Trash<\/li>\n<li>A media file (PDF, image, document) has the same name and generated the same URL<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you run into this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Check the All Pages list<\/strong> for another page with the same name.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Check the Trash<\/strong> &#8211; URLs are still reserved for items in Trash.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Check the Media Library<\/strong> for files with the same name.<\/li>\n<li>Adjust your new page\u2019s URL to something clearer and more specific if needed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you create a new page, WordPress automatically generates the page URL (also called the permalink) based on the page title. For example: Page Title: Residency Curriculum Overview URL: https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/your-site\/residency\/residency-curriculum-overview\/ WordPress converts the title into a URL-friendly format: All lowercase Spaces replaced with hyphens Special characters removed When Should You Edit a URL? Edit the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Changing Page URLs\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3206,"featured_media":0,"parent":14843,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-14910","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Changing Page URLs - Web Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Changing Page URLs - Web Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you create a new page, WordPress automatically generates the page URL (also called the permalink) based on the page title. For example: Page Title: Residency Curriculum Overview URL: https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/your-site\/residency\/residency-curriculum-overview\/ WordPress converts the title into a URL-friendly format: All lowercase Spaces replaced with hyphens Special characters removed When Should You Edit a URL? Edit the &hellip; Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Web Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T14:29:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"672\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"143\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/\",\"name\":\"Changing Page URLs - Web Guide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-13T15:47:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T14:29:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png\",\"width\":672,\"height\":143,\"caption\":\"Screenshot showing the location of the page permalink.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"User Guide\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/ughome\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Pages\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Changing Page URLs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/\",\"name\":\"Web Guide\",\"description\":\"School of Medicine IT\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UNC School of Medicine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2017\/06\/School_of_Medicine_CarolinaBlue_Navy_rgb_h.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2017\/06\/School_of_Medicine_CarolinaBlue_Navy_rgb_h.png\",\"width\":612,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"UNC School of Medicine\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Changing Page URLs - Web Guide","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Changing Page URLs - Web Guide","og_description":"When you create a new page, WordPress automatically generates the page URL (also called the permalink) based on the page title. For example: Page Title: Residency Curriculum Overview URL: https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/your-site\/residency\/residency-curriculum-overview\/ WordPress converts the title into a URL-friendly format: All lowercase Spaces replaced with hyphens Special characters removed When Should You Edit a URL? Edit the &hellip; Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/","og_site_name":"Web Guide","article_modified_time":"2026-01-28T14:29:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":672,"height":143,"url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/","name":"Changing Page URLs - Web Guide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png","datePublished":"2025-11-13T15:47:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T14:29:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2026\/01\/permalink.png","width":672,"height":143,"caption":"Screenshot showing the location of the page permalink."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/changing-page-urls\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"User Guide","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/ughome\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Pages","item":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/userguide\/pages\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Changing Page URLs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/","name":"Web Guide","description":"School of Medicine IT","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#organization","name":"UNC School of Medicine","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2017\/06\/School_of_Medicine_CarolinaBlue_Navy_rgb_h.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/419\/2017\/06\/School_of_Medicine_CarolinaBlue_Navy_rgb_h.png","width":612,"height":150,"caption":"UNC School of Medicine"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links_to":[],"_links_to_target":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14910"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15251,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14910\/revisions\/15251"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/webguide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}