In this third and final part of our configuration series, we cover Permalinks and Search Engine Visibility. These settings are highly critical because they directly impact your business’s branding, search engine ranking (SEO), and how links look when shared on social media.

🔗 1. Permalinks (Your URL Structure)

Navigate to Settings → Permalinks. Permalinks dictate the web addresses of your individual pages and products. A messy URL looks unprofessional, while a clean URL establishes trust:

• The Standard Format: Ensure your structure is set to Post name. This removes random dates or question marks from your links, changing a messy link like yourbrand.com/?p=123 into a clean, readable yourbrand.com/about-us.
• Product Links: If you run a WooCommerce store, scrolling down reveals the Product permalinks section. Selecting Shop base with category helps organize your product URLs logically for both buyers and search bots.

🔍 2. Search Engine Visibility (Going Public)

Navigate back to Settings → Reading and scroll to the bottom to verify your global indexing switch:

• Search Engine Visibility Checkbox: Ensure that the option “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” is unchecked when you are ready to launch. Leaving this checked blocks Google and Bing from reading your site, keeping your brand hidden from search results.