How to Use Webuzo to Improve a WordPress Site’s Search URL Slug?

Links optimized for search engines are good for indexing. However, the default search URL format on the platform holds the key to search engine ranking. We will demonstrate how Webuzo users can enhance a WordPress website’s search URL slug.site (http://www.example.com/?s=search-term) to raise its overall SEO status.

With a few adjustments, your search URL slugs will be more in tune with your site’s permalinks format. We have talked about configuring the Functions File and changing the .htaccess file. The idea is to change the site’s present search URL slug:
http://www.example.com/?s=search-term into this http://www.example.com/search/search-term.

Table of Contents

Rearrange Site’s Function File

Improve Search URL Slug with .htaccess

Did you know!

Configuring your WordPress website with SEO-friendly URLs will only index posts and pages which, is not enough to improve SEO ranking. The structure of these search URLs should also seem genuine and easy to read for search engine crawlers to optimize the search pages for search engines.

Rearrange Site’s Function File

1. Log in to your user account of Webuzo.

2. Go to the Server Utilities section and click on File Manager.

The File Manager interface will open.

3. Browse functions.php file by following the path public_html>>wp-content >> themes.

4. Right-click the functions.php file and select Edit.

5. Choose the TextArea editor.

The functions.php file will open in the TextArea editor window.

5. Paste the given code at the end of the file.

/**
* Change search page slug.
*/

function wp_change_search_url() {
    if ( is_search() && ! empty( $_GET['s'] ) ) {
        wp_redirect( home_url( "/search/" ) . urlencode( get_query_var( 's' ) ) );
        exit();
    }  
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'wp_change_search_url' );

6. Click Save & Close.

It should change the structure of the search URL slug to the most optimum level.

Improve Search URL Slug with .htaccess

1. Log in to your Webuzo account.

2. Open File Manager and edit the .htaccess file in public_html.

3. Paste this code at the end of the file:

# Change WordPress search URL slug
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \\?s=([^&]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^$ /search/%1/? [NC,R,L]

4. Click Save & Close.

If you utilize Webuzo, you can improve a WordPress site’s search URL slug by using any one of these techniques, which will improve the site’s overall SEO.

The functions.php or.htaccess file can be downloaded via the FTP client, edited, and then reuploaded into the server by users.

How to Add Extra Configuration to Webserver with Webuzo?