A newbie blogger was having difficulty in locating Permalinks for blog posts which he wanted to quote as a source for his articles. Permalinks are the permanent links for the blog article. It is important that the permalink URLs are easily accessible to the readers so that they can easily link to them. But a quick look reveals finding permalinks may not be so easy after all…
Find Permalinks
Here are a variety of permalink structures you find in the blogosphere.
1. Labeled Permalink Link
Some bloggers clearly mention the permalink URL via a link titled “Permalink”. Of course, this is the easiest way to find them.
2. Full Permalink link
You might find the full page URL (linked or unlinked) at the bottom of the post with the title like “you are reading” this title. Ugly for long URLs and may break the blog template too. Easy to find.
3. Permalinks in Post Titles
This is possibly the most common area to locate the permalink if the permalink is not clearly specified. Bloggers usually link to the post title with the permalink URL (sometimes for SEO purposes). Just move your mouse over the title and the status bar should reveal the URL. Right-click and copy.
4. Permalinks in the browser location bar
If the full article is open, the permalink URL is not specified, and the post title is not linked, the browser location bar will display the full URL. Highlight the full URL, copy it and use.
5. Permalink in form fields
Some bloggers make it particularly easy for others to link back by displaying the permalink URL in form input boxes. It makes it very easy to copy and paste.
6. Permalink Buttons
Sometimes bloggers use special icons and buttons which represent permalinks. They are usually found beside the post title. Just move your mouse over these icons and the permalinks title is visible, right-click and copy link.
7. Permalinks from Comments
Sometimes permalinks can be found from comments URLs (which might be the only ones locatable). The usual “Add a comment” links in WordPress is like this
https://permalink_url/#respond
Remove the #respond and you have the permalink URL.
8. Permalinks from Trackbacks
Sometimes permalinks can be found from trackback URLs (which might be the only ones locatable). The usual “Send a trackback” links in WordPress are like this
https://permalink_url/trackback
Remove the “trackback” and you have the permalink URL.
9. Permalink in Bookmarking icons
You might find lots of links on social media sites like Twitter which help users bookmark and share URLs easily. The permalink is hidden in these URLs.
https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=PERMALINK&text=TITLE
10. Permalinks in Feed
Many blogs post articles with no permalinks (very bad for SEO). So how do you find permalinks for such articles? For example – In a previous post I was trying to link to the source article announcing PHP 4 end support at php.net. The permalink was nonexistent for the article. I found the feed for the page where all articles were listed by permalinks (because they have to). Try your skills at locating permalinks for http://php.net/ and find them in the feed http://www.php.net/news.rss
Advice: Make it easy for your readers to find permalinks to articles so that they can link back easily. I hope this tutorial will help you find those elusive permalinks more easily.