Hi,
Creating a silo structure for your site with customized permalinks for each post is a great strategy. In WordPress, you can achieve this by following these steps:
Default Permalink Structure:
As you’ve already set your default permalink structure to domain.com/%category%/%postname%/, this will apply to all your posts by default.
Editing Individual Permalinks:
For posts where you want the permalink structure to be domain.com/%postname%/ instead of the default, you’ll need to manually edit the permalink for each individual post.
Here’s how you can do it:
Method 1: Manually Editing Permalinks for Each Post
Open the Post Editor:
Go to the post you want to edit in your WordPress dashboard and click on “Edit”.
Edit the Permalink:
Just below the post title, you’ll see the permalink URL. Click on the “Edit” button next to the permalink.
Remove the category part from the permalink and leave only the post name.
Click “OK” to save the changes.
Update the Post:
Click “Update” to save your changes.
Method 2: Using a Plugin for Custom Permalinks
If you have many posts to edit, manually changing each permalink can be time-consuming. Using a plugin can simplify this process:
Install and Activate a Custom Permalink Plugin:
There are several plugins available for customizing permalinks, such as “Custom Permalinks” or “Permalink Manager Lite”. Install and activate one of these plugins.
Set Custom Permalinks:
Go to the plugin settings and configure your desired permalink structure for each post. Most plugins will add a meta box in the post editor where you can set a custom permalink for each individual post.
Additional Tips:
Redirect Old URLs: If you’re changing existing permalinks, make sure to set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones to preserve SEO rankings and avoid broken links. You can use plugins like “Redirection” to manage this.
Testing: After making changes, test the new URLs to ensure they’re working correctly and not leading to 404 errors.
Check this page for references.