# Google Clarified URL Separators. Don’t Rush to Rewrite Old WordPress Links. - Author: REBASE-SG - Published: 2026-10-25 00:57:32 - Modified: 2026-10-25 00:57:32 - Canonical URL: https://rebase-sg.com/google-url-hyphens-wordpress-slugs-en/ --- A URL-writing update is an easy excuse to tidy every old permalink on a WordPress site. I would pause before doing that. Choosing an address for an unpublished article and moving an address people already use are different maintenance jobs. Google’s October 23 documentation change log describes clarification of word separation with hyphens and underscores. The entry does not announce a ranking algorithm change. This analysis is dated October 25, 2026. 阅读中文版. Make the decision before publication Google’s URL structure guidance recommends hyphens rather than underscores where possible. That is a sensible convention for a new slug. It does not establish that changing a separator will produce more AI citations. Before publishing a WordPress article, check whether its slug describes the subject, includes temporary drafting words, or makes English words difficult to distinguish. A short address that survives future revisions is often more practical than copying every word of a long headline. For example, an installation guide may receive new screenshots or revised instructions while continuing to serve the same purpose. Its URL does not need a fresh slogan each time the article changes. That is a maintenance preference, not a promise about search performance. Original editorial illustration. Existing URLs and unpublished pages involve different work; no traffic results are represented. An existing address has other users An old URL may live in bookmarks, community discussions, documentation, or links from another site. Editing a WordPress field is quick. Checking that those entry points still lead to the intended explanation takes more care. If the only problem is that the address looks untidy, I would compare the expected benefit with the migration work before changing it. A real reorganization can justify a move. A newly clarified punctuation preference is not automatically a reason to rebuild a working archive. Start any necessary move with a small mapping: the exact old URL and the exact destination. Check that the destination answers the same reader need. Sending every retired article to the homepage may leave a visitor searching again for the instructions they originally wanted. Treat a move as a change to verify Google’s redirect documentation distinguishes permanent moves from temporary ones and lists 301 and 308 as permanent redirect methods. Use an approach supported by your hosting and site configuration. A successful save in an editor is not evidence that the redirect behaves correctly. I would open the old URL in a logged-out browser and confirm that it reaches the intended article without a loop. Then review internal links in navigation, related articles, and the body of other pages. Keep the date and mapping in a maintenance record. Those checks are an operational proposal, not the results of a migration performed here. They help make a change inspectable and give you somewhere to start if a reader later reports a broken link. Keep the work proportional For a small plugin website, an incomplete installation guide or a hard-to-find official download may deserve attention before punctuation in an old address. This is a prioritization judgment. Clear URLs still matter, but they are one part of a usable site. The same discipline applies to GEO work. Readable addresses do not replace original explanations, reliable sources, or evidence that someone can successfully use the product. Turning a separator recommendation into an AI visibility technique would promise more than the cited documents support. For the next article, choose a clear slug before publication. For an existing article, write down the actual problem and the reason a move would help. That small distinction can keep routine editing from becoming an unnecessary migration project. No existing REBASE-SG article URLs were changed for this analysis. Sources Google documentation change log, October 23, 2026; URL structure best practices; Redirects and Google Search.