How to Easily Create Custom WooCommerce Thank You Pages

Do you want to easily create a custom WooCommerce thank you page?

A custom order confirmation is a great way to connect with your customers and get more sales by promoting related products, or even offering an exclusive coupon code.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create a custom WooCommerce thank you page.

Why Customize a WooCommerce Thank You Page in WordPress?

The order confirmation or thank you page may seem like a small part of your online store, but it can actually be a very valuable part of the sales process.

The default WooCommerce thank you page isn’t really optimized for conversions, so we recommend replacing it with a custom page. This page might encourage shoppers to buy more products by offering coupon codes or displaying popular products.

You can also show important information such as the items ordered, the total cost, and shipping information.

With that said, let’s show you how to easily create a custom WooCommerce thank you page, step-by-step. Simply use the links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

• Method 1. Create a Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page Using FunnelKit
• Method 2. Create a Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page Using a Page Builder

Method 1. Create a Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page Using FunnelKit

The easiest way to create a custom WooCommerce thank you page is by using FunnelKit, formerly known as WooFunnels. It is the best WordPress sales funnel and automation plugin, and comes with ready-made Thank You templates that you can easily add to your online store.

This allows you to create professionally-designed and helpful thank-you pages without having to write a single line of code.

Note: There’s also a FunnelKit Pro plugin that comes with more ‘thank you’ templates. However, we’ll be using the free version of FunnelKit as it has everything you need to replace the default WooCommerce thank you page with a custom design.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to FunnelKit » Templates and click on the ‘Checkout’ button.

Choose a Thank You Page Template

You can now choose from any of FunnelKit’s ready-made templates, or select ‘Start from scratch.’ We recommend using a template as it helps you create a professionally designed Thank You page, fast.

To take a closer look at any template, simply hover your mouse over it and then click on the ‘Preview’ button when it appears.

FunnelKit will show a preview of the checkout page by default.

To see the thank you design instead, simply select ‘Thank You Page’ from the left-hand menu.

When you find a template you want to use, click on ‘Import This Funnel.’

We’re using the Livewire template in all our images, but you can use any design you want.

At this point, FunnelKit might ask you to install some extra plugins such as SlingBlocks, which adds page-building features to the WordPress block editor.

If you see this message, then click on ‘Activate’ to get the plugins you need.

After that, type in a name for the custom thank you page. This is just for your reference so you can use anything that will help you identify the page in your WordPress dashboard.

With that done, click on the ‘Add’ button.

Customize Your WooCommerce Thank You Page

You’ll now see all the steps that are included in the template.

Since you’re using the free version of FunnelKit, the template includes a thank you page and a custom WooCommerce checkout page, which you’ll need to set up separately. For detailed step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to customize the WooCommerce checkout page.

To go ahead and customize the thank you page, click on its ‘Edit’ link.

You can now click on ‘Edit Template’ to open the template in the WordPress block editor.

Note: If you’re using a page builder plugin, then FunnelKit may open the template in a different editor. If this happens, then you’ll need to click on ‘Switch to WordPress editor’ instead of ‘Edit Template.’

You can now customize the template in exactly the same way you build any WordPress page. Simply click on any block and then fine-tune it using the settings in the right-hand menu and the mini toolbar.

For example, you’ll typically want to replace the placeholder logo with your own custom logo. To do this, click to select the Image block and then select ‘Replace’ in the mini toolbar.

Now, either select Open Media Library and choose an image from the WordPress media library, or click on ‘Upload’ and select a file from your computer.

After choosing an image, you can add image alt text, change the width, add rounded corners, and more using the settings in the right-hand menu.

You’ll also want to replace the placeholder text with information about your own online marketplace. Simply click to select any text block and then type in your custom messaging.

You can also change the text’s styling using the settings in the right-hand menu. For example, you can use borders and box shadows to make the text stand out, change the font family, or change the text color in WordPress.

Just don’t modify any of the text inside the [ ] brackets as these tags allow FunnelKit to show personalized content, such as the customer’s name.

Customize the Order Details Widget

After that, scroll to the Order Details section and give it a click. This is a unique widget provided by FunnelKit that shows information about the customer’s order.

This widget works out of the box, but you may want to customize how it looks and the information it shows.

To start, you can change the section’s heading by typing into the ‘Heading’ field.

You can also choose whether to show the product image for every item in the customer’s order, using the ‘Show Image’ slider.

Do you sell subscriptions for a membership site, online courses, or similar? Then you may want to show information about the customer’s subscription, such as the price and when their next payment is due.

To add this section, click to expand ‘Subscription’ in the right-hand menu. Then, enable the ‘Show Subscription Preview’ toggle.

In this section, you can also replace the default ‘Subscription’ text with your own messaging by typing into the ‘Heading’ field.

Similarly, if you sell digital downloads then you can add a ‘Downloads’ section to the thank you page. This contains useful information, such as the filename, the number of downloads remaining, and the expiration date.

You can even add a button so shoppers can download their purchase directly from the custom thank you page, which will improve the customer experience.

To add this section, simply click to expand ‘Downloads’ in the right-hand menu. You can then add and remove information using the toggles.

You can also replace the default heading and button text with your own messaging.

When you’re happy with how Order Details is set up, you may want to change how it looks by clicking on the ‘Style’ tab.

Here, you can change the heading and background colors that are used across the entire order section, or change individual elements within the ‘Download’ or ‘Subscription’ sections.

Edit the Customer Details Widget

With that done, it’s time to look at Customer Details, which is another unique widget provided by FunnelKit.

Simply click to select the Customer Details section and then make your changes in the right-hand menu. For example, you can replace the default headline with your own messaging by typing it into the ‘Heading’ field.

You can also switch between a multi-column or single-column layout using the ‘Layout’ dropdown menu.

After that, you can click on the ‘Style’ tab and change the fonts, text size, colors, and more.

Add More Blocks to the Custom Thank You Page

When you’re happy with the changes you’ve made to the template, you may want to add your own content. This can help you improve the customer experience, get more sales, promote your brand, and more.

To add blocks, simply click on the ‘+’ icon in the right-hand corner and then drag any block onto your design. Both FunnelKit, WooCommerce, and WordPress have lots of different blocks you can use, so let’s quickly look at a few examples.

1. Promote Your Other WooCommerce Products

The thank you page may seem like the end of the buyer journey, but it doesn’t have to be. You can use this page to recommend other products the shopper may want to buy. This can get you more sales, while also raising awareness about the other great products you sell.

To see what blocks are available, scroll to the ‘WooCommerce’ section in the left-hand menu. Here, you’ll find blocks such as Best-Selling Products, Newest Products, On Sale Products, and more.

Simply find the block you want to use and drag it into your design.

With that done, click to select the block and then customize it using the settings in the right-hand menu.

2. Get More Social Media Followers

Social media websites like Twitter and Facebook are the perfect place to promote your products, so you’ll want to get as many followers as possible. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to add social media links to your custom thank you page.

Since these shoppers have already bought from your business, they’re more likely to follow you on Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and other social platforms.

To get started, simply drag a Social Icons block onto your page. You can then click on the ‘+’ icon and choose the social icon that you want to add.

After making your selection, click on the new icon in the Social Icons block.

In the mini toolbar that appears, type in the URL of the profile you want to link to.

Simply repeat these steps to add all your social media accounts to the block.

3. Give Customers Exclusive Coupon Codes

A coupon code encourages shoppers to buy from you again. For that reason, you may want to add a coupon code to your thank you page. For example, you might offer shoppers a free shipping discount on their next purchase.

You can create a coupon code with WooCommerce’s built-in coupon feature, or by using a coupon code plugin.

After creating a coupon, simply add a Text block to the thank you page. You can then go ahead and type the coupon into this block, along with any other messaging you want to use.

This is a great start, but you may want to show different coupon codes to different customers. For example, you could offer first-time customers a big percentage discount on their next purchase, to help build customer loyalty.

The best way to do this is by upgrading to FunnelKit Builder Pro. This premium plugin has a powerful rules-based engine that allows you to show different coupons to shoppers based on the order total, item count, the WooCommerce payment gateway used, and much more.

Publish the Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page

When you’re happy with how the thank you page is set up, click on ‘Update’ to save your changes. After that, click on ‘Back To Thank You Page.’

You can now click on the ‘Draft’ button next to ‘Thank you Page’ and select ‘Publish’

This will make the thank you page live on your WordPress website.

Method 2. Create a Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page Using a Page Builder

You can also create a custom WooCommerce thank you page using SeedProd. This allows you to design the page using a drag and drop editor, which is perfect if you find the WordPress block editor too restrictive or difficult to use.

SeedProd comes with more than 180 professionally-designed templates including eCommerce templates that you can use to create sales pages and lead squeeze pages.

Even better, SeedProd has full support for WooCommerce and even comes with ready-made WooCommerce blocks that you can simply drag onto your layouts.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: There is a free version of SeedProd, but for this guide, we’ll use the Pro version because it has the built-in WooCommerce blocks we need. It also integrates with the email marketing services you may already be using to promote your online store.

Upon activation, go to SeedProd » Settings and enter your license key.

You can find this information under your account on the SeedProd website. After entering the license, click on the ‘Verify Key’ button.

Choose a Thank You Page Template

After that, go to SeedProd » Landing Pages and click on ‘Add New Landing Page.’

Next, you need to choose a template for your thank you page.

SeedProd’s templates are organized into different campaign types such as coming soon and 404 pages. Since you’re creating a custom WooCommerce thank you page, go ahead and click on the ‘Thank You’ tab.

For this guide, we’ll be using the ‘Order Completed Thank You Page’ template.

Simply hover your mouse over this template and then click on the checkmark icon.

Next, type in a name for your custom WooCommerce thank you page. SeedProd will automatically use this name in its URL, but you can edit the URL if you want.

When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.

This loads the SeedProd editor, which shows a live preview of the page to the right and some settings on the left.

To customize a block, simply click to select it in the page builder, then use the settings in the left-hand menu.

The left-hand menu also has blocks that you can drag onto the order confirmation template.

Get More Sales By Adding an Upsell Section

You may be able to get more sales by promoting other products on the thank you page. One option is to create an upsell block using SeedProd’s sections.

Sections are ready-made collections of blocks that are commonly used together, so they can help you create beautifully-designed pages, fast.

Simply click on the ‘Sections’ tab and then select ‘Hero’ in the left-hand menu. After that, hover your mouse over ‘Hero 2’ and click on the ‘+’ icon when it appears.

This adds the section to your page.

Go ahead and click to select the section’s ‘Image’ block. Then, in the left-hand menu click on ‘Use Your Own Image’ to open the media library.

You can now add an image for the product that you want to upsell.

Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Headline’ block and type in the product title.

Next, click to select the ‘Text’ block and then type in the product description.

You can encourage customers to add this item to their basket, by replacing the placeholder call to action button with an ‘Add To Cart’ button.

To do this, click to select the ‘Call To Action’ block and then click on the ‘Delete Block’ icon.

Next, find the ‘Add To Cart’ block in the menu.

Simply drop this block onto the empty space in your Hero 2 section.

Now, it’s time to connect this button to the right WooCommerce product.

To do this, you’ll need to know the product’s ID. If you don’t know this information, then go to Products » All Products in your WordPress dashboard. Here, simply hover your mouse over the product to see its ID.

Back in the SeedProd page editor, click to select the ‘Add To Cart’ block and then add the ID to the ‘Product ID’ box.

You can also enable the ‘Direct to Checkout’ slider, so the shopper will go straight to your store’s checkout.

At this point, you can change how the button looks using the settings in the left-hand menu. For example, you can change its color scheme, button text, alignment, and more.

After that, it’s a good idea to add a heading that promotes your upsell product. For example, you could use something like ‘You may also be interested in’ or ‘This is the perfect addition to your order.’

Simply drag a ‘Headline’ block onto your layout.

You can then type in the messaging you want to use.

Promote Your Best-Selling WooCommerce Products

Another option is adding a best-selling products section to your thank you page. Since these products are already popular, there’s a good chance the shopper may also want to buy them.

In the left-hand menu, find the ‘Best Selling Products’ block and drag it onto your layout.

There are many other types of product grids you can add, like sale products, top-rated products, recent products, and more.

For more information, see our guide on how to display popular products in WooCommerce.

Publish your Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page

When you’re happy with how the WooCommerce thank you page looks, it’s time to publish it by clicking on the dropdown arrow next to ‘Save’ and selecting ‘Publish.’

After publishing the page, you need to change the WooCommerce settings so customers get redirected to your new page.

The easiest way to do this is by using the Thanks Redirect for WooCommerce plugin. This plugin allows you to redirect customers to any URL after making a purchase.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll need to enter the URL of your custom thank you page.

To get this information, go to SeedProd » Landing Pages and find the thank you page you just created. You’ll find its link in the ‘URL’ column.

Once you have this information, go to WooCommerce » Thanks Redirect.

Here, check the ‘Enable Global Redirect’ box.

You can now type the link into the ‘Thanks Redirect URL’ box.

With that done, click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.

Now, WooCommerce will send customers to your custom thank you page when they complete an order.

We hoped this article helped you create custom WooCommerce thank you pages. You may also want to see our list of the best WooCommerce plugins for your store and our guide on how to create an email newsletter.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Easily Create Custom WooCommerce Thank You Pages first appeared on WPBeginner.

April 20, 2023 at 04:00AM

What is a Website URL (Important Parts Explained for Beginners)

Recently one of our readers asked what is a website URL, and is it different from a domain name?

A URL is simply the address of a website on the internet. It is made up of a domain name, along with some other elements such as subdomains or subdirectories. Whether your URL has these other parts will depend on the choices you make when installing WordPress.

In this article, we’ll explain what is a website URL, describe the main parts that make up a URL, and show you how to choose and register a domain name for your website.

What Is a Website URL?

Every website is uniquely identified by a URL, or uniform resource locator. In simple terms, if you think of your WordPress website as a house, then the URL would be its address.

Every post, page, image, product, and resource on your website also has a unique URL. These are formed by adding characters after the website URL.

For example, the URL to a WordPress post looks like this:

https://example.com/this-is-a-blog-post/

There are three important parts of a URL. It starts with the protocol used to connect to the website, which will be HTTP or HTTPS. These days, you will mostly see HTTPS because it is more secure.

After that comes the domain name that identifies the website itself, and then the path to a specific post or resource on your website.

A URL may also contain other information, such as a subdomain or subdirectory, a query or other parameters, and an anchor to a specific part of a web page.

With that being said, let’s take a closer look at the 3 main parts that make up a URL, along with some optional elements:

1. The HTTP or HTTPS Protocol
2. Your Website’s Domain Name
3. The Path to a Specific Webpage
4. Optional Parts of a Website URL

1. The HTTP or HTTPS Protocol

The first part of a URL is the protocol. This identifies the set of rules that will be used to transfer information between the server and the user’s browser. The protocol used for websites is HTTP or HTTPS.

The protocol is followed by a colon and two forward slashes, like this:

https://

HTTP stands for ‘hypertext transfer protocol’. This protocol is a set of rules that allow the user’s web browser to communicate with your website.

HTTPS stands for ‘hypertext transfer protocol secure’ and is used when the website is operating over a secure connection. This is especially important if you wish to collect payments on your website.

Users don’t need to type the protocol when entering your website’s URL into their web browser. These characters will be added automatically.

Should My Website Use a Secure HTTPS Connection?

Every day we share our personal information with different websites whether it’s making a purchase or simply logging in. In order to protect the data transfer, a secure connection needs to be created. That’s where HTTPS comes in.

HTTPS is an encryption method that secures the connection between users’ browsers and your server. This makes it harder for hackers to eavesdrop on the connection.

If you want to accept payments online on your eCommerce website, then you need to use HTTPS. That’s because most payment companies like Stripe, PayPal Pro, and Authorize.net require a secure connection before accepting payments.

But we encourage everyone to move their website from HTTP to HTTPS immediately, even if you don’t run an online store. That’s because Google ranks websites using HTTPS higher than those using HTTP.

Also, Google displays a ‘Not Secure’ warning when you visit an HTTP website in Chrome. When your users see this notice, it gives them a bad impression of your business.

How Can I Move My Website to a Secure HTTPS Connection?

When you’re ready to set up a secure HTTPS connection for your website, you need to purchase an SSL certificate. SSL stands for ‘Secure Sockets Layer’ and is the standard technology for keeping an internet connection secure.

You may already be paying for an SSL certificate with your web hosting since many of the best WordPress hosting companies offer them free for all their users. For more details, see our guide on how to get a free SSL certificate for your WordPress website.

After you have enabled the SSL certificate on your domain name, you will need to set up WordPress to use SSL and HTTPS protocols on your website.

We show you how to do that step-by-step in our beginner’s guide on how to properly move WordPress from HTTP to HTTPS.

2. Your Website’s Domain Name

The second important part of a website URL is the domain name. This is the address that internet users type in their web browsers to visit your website, like this:

example.com

The user’s web browser will automatically add the correct protocol.

https://example.com

You need to choose a domain name when you first create your website. You should make sure that it’s easy to remember and not already being used by another website.

Once you’ve chosen your domain name, you will need to register it. This involves a small fee that you will need to pay to the domain registrar you choose.

What Are the Different Parts of a Domain Name?

A domain name is made up of two or three parts:

1. The top-level domain (TLD) is the extension of your domain name such as .com, .org, .net. There are other TLDs, but they are less common and we don’t recommend them.
2. The second-level domain (SLD) refers to the name that comes before the top-level domain or TLD. For example, for our website, ‘wpbeginner’ is the second-level domain and ‘.com’ is the top-level domain.
3. Some websites also use a ‘country code top-level domain’ or ccTLD to target their local audience. These include .uk for the United Kingdom, .de for Germany, and .in for India.

We always recommend using the .com domain extension because most users will remember your website’s name and assume that it ends in .com. You can learn more in our guide on whether you should choose a new domain extension for your website.

What’s the Difference Between a Domain Name and Hosting?

When you first create a website, you need both a domain name and web hosting. Many beginners are not sure what the difference is.

We said that a domain name is like the address that helps visitors find your house. Well, hosting is like the house itself. It is the place where your website posts, pages, images, and other resources actually live.

For a more detailed explanation, please take a look at our guide on the difference between a domain name and web hosting.

How Can I Choose the Best Domain Name for My Website?

Choosing the right domain name for your website is crucial for your success. Get it right the first time because changing it later is difficult and can hurt your brand and search rankings.

Try to make it short and easy to remember. Ideally, it should be less than 15 characters. It should be easy to spell and pronounce, otherwise, users might make a mistake when typing it and will see an error message or be taken to the wrong website.

If you are having trouble coming up with a good domain name, you might like to use a domain name generator. These free tools automatically search for your defined keywords to find hundreds of clever domain name ideas.

We recommend using Nameboy, which is one of the oldest and most popular domain name generator tools online.

You can also use WPBeginner’s free Business Name Generator tool, or IsItWP’s domain generator to find more domain name ideas.

For more tips and tools, see our guide on how to choose the best domain name.

Where Should I Register My Domain Name?

Once you choose a domain name, you will need to register it with a reputable domain registrar. These are companies accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) that allow you to purchase and register domain names.

All domain name records are stored in a centralized database. For a domain name to be recognized, it needs to be added to that database with all related information about it.

In our research, the best domain registrar is Domain.com if you’re just buying a domain name, or Bluehost if you’re looking to build a website because they give you a domain name for free.

To learn what to watch out for and see other options, refer to our guide on how to choose the best domain name registrar.

Can I Change My Website’s Domain Name?

We mentioned earlier that it is difficult to change your website’s domain name, but it is not impossible. However, it needs to be done with care, or it will badly impact your SEO rankings.

Even when done carefully, changing your site’s domain name will temporarily affect your search engine rankings since Google and other search engines will need to adjust to the changes. It will also temporarily affect your search traffic.

The good news is that it is possible to dramatically minimize the impact and quickly regain your search traffic and rankings. You will need to notify Google and your users of the change and use an SEO plugin like All in One SEO to set up a full site redirect.

You can learn how to do this step-by-step by following our guide on how to easily move WordPress to a new domain without losing SEO.

3. The Path to a Specific Webpage

Your domain name will take visitors straight to your website’s homepage. But what if they want to visit a certain post or page? This is done by adding the path to that page in the URL after the domain name, like this:

https://example.com/this-is-a-blog-post

In WordPress, these are called permalinks, and the part of the address that appears after the domain name is called the slug.

Ideally, a permalink should be easy for both humans and search engines to understand. When done right, they will help your posts rank higher on search engine results pages.

That means you should avoid permalinks like these:

https://example.com/index.php?p=4556

How Can I Create an SEO-Friendly URL Structure in WordPress?

One of the benefits of using WordPress for your website is that it creates an SEO-friendly URL structure by default. This wasn’t always the case.

WordPress permalinks now use the post name by default. This is the most SEO-friendly URL structure because it is readable by both humans and search engines, and contains keywords that explain the article.

To learn more on this subject, see our guide on SEO-friendly URL structures in WordPress.

Can I Create Custom Permalinks in WordPress?

Some of our readers are interested in creating custom permalinks, so they have more control over the URLs used on their WordPress website.

Aside from changing the main permalink structure, WordPress also offers ways to customize the individual URLs of posts, pages, categories, tags, and other areas of your website.

You can also use WordPress plugins to create completely custom permalinks for specific sections of your website that override the default WordPress settings.

You can learn how in our ultimate guide on how to create custom permalinks in WordPress.

Should I Use a URL Shortener to Make Long Post URLs Easier to Share?

Sharing your web content on social media can build user engagement and bring new users to your website. But pasting in long links or URLs isn’t always the best way.

That’s why URL shortener services like Bitly and TinyURL were originally created. They take a long link and make it shorter so that it doesn’t take up as much space.

You can learn how to do this on your own website by following our guide on how to create a short link in WordPress.

On WPBeginner, we use a custom domain, wpbeg.in, for our short links, which is a bit more technical to set up and would require you to purchase another domain. We have a separate tutorial on how to create your own customized short URL.

Optional Parts of a Website URL

We’ve just taken a look at the 3 important parts that make up a website URL: the protocol, domain name, and permalink.

However, there are also several optional parts that can be used in a web address. Let’s have a look at the main ones now, and why you might like to use them.

Should You Include ‘www’ in Your Website URL?

You may have noticed that many website URLs start with ‘www’, and wonder whether there is an SEO benefit when you include it.

https://www.example.com

The fact is, there are absolutely no SEO benefits of using ‘www’ or not using it. You can choose whichever you prefer.

What is important is that you don’t change your mind after starting your website.

You can learn more in our guide on www vs non-www, which is better for WordPress SEO?

Why Do Some Businesses Install WordPress in a Subdomain or Subdirectory?

Some businesses want to create several websites under the same domain name. One way to do this is by using a subdomain, which places a word before your domain name like this:

https://myblog.example.com

You can create as many subdomains as you like, or choose not to use them at all. For example, some businesses use different subdomains for their blog and online store, such as https://blog.example.com and https://store.example.com.

Another way to create multiple websites on the same domain is to install WordPress in different subdirectories, like this.

https://example.com/myblog

The difference is that Google sees subdomains as separate websites and subdirectories as part of the same website. That means that search engines will rank your subdomains separately, while your SEO ranking will be shared between your domain and subdirectories.

For bloggers, startups, or small businesses with limited time and resources, using subdirectories will help you rank your website faster than using a subdomain.

You can learn more in our step-by-step guide on how to install WordPress in a subdirectory.

Some users accidentally install WordPress in a subdirectory. This happens when they install WordPress manually and copy the actual ‘wordpress’ folder instead of its contents onto their website. Their website URL will look like this:

https://example.com/wordpress/

You can learn how to fix this error in our guide on how to get rid of /wordpress/ from your WordPress site URL.

Can a URL Take Users Directly to a Section of a Post or Page?

Finally, you can add some characters to the end of a URL to help users quickly jump to the section of a post they want to read. These are called ‘anchor links’, and are formed by adding a hash character and anchor after the permalink like this:

https://example.com/this-is-a-blog-post#sectionofblogpost

You can learn how and when to use anchor links in our guide on how to easily add anchor links in WordPress.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn more about website URLs. You may also want to see our guide on how to keep your WordPress site secure, or our expert picks on the best social media plugins for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post What is a Website URL (Important Parts Explained for Beginners) first appeared on WPBeginner.

April 19, 2023 at 03:58PM

Introducing Broken Link Checker – Never Have Dead Links On Your WordPress Site Again

Are you tired of finding and fixing broken links on your WordPress site?

Have you ever wished there was a foolproof method to periodically monitor all internal and external links easily WITHOUT the high costs?

If you’re like me and most other smart website owners, then you have at least wished for this solution a couple of times in your WordPress journey.

Today, I’m excited to announce my new product, Broken Link Checker, which works silently in the background on your site, giving you peace of mind.

We built this tool to help you quickly check your site for broken links and easily fix them to improve search engine optimization (SEO).

What is Broken Link Checker?

Broken Link Checker is a powerful WordPress plugin that crawls your website periodically and checks every link to ensure it is not broken.

It is built as a SaaS service, so it never puts load on your WordPress hosting server or slow your website down.

The Broken Link Checker plugin was developed by the same team behind AIOSEO (All in One SEO), the best SEO plugin for WordPress.

When broken links are found, the plugin makes it easy for you to fix them right from within the plugin without even having to visit individual pages where those links were added.

Why Do You Need Broken Link Checker?

Broken links can frustrate your website visitors and cause them to leave your site. They can even hurt your website’s SEO, conversions, and sales.

On WordPress sites, broken links typically occur when moving a site to a new domain name, or when deleting a post or page without proper redirection.

Sometimes broken links can also happen due to a typo, and they can go unnoticed for months if not years. But worse, if you ever link to an external website that’s not yours, and they change the page, delete it, or shut down the site, then your site will have broken links.

This is why monitoring broken links on a regular basis is important for your WordPress website.

While there are SaaS broken link checkers in the market, most are either crazy expensive or not built specifically with WordPress websites in mind.

So I decided to work with my team to finally create a beginner-friendly broken link checker for WordPress.

With Broken Link Checker, you can…

• scan all links on your site every 3 days
• detect valid links, broken links, and redirects
• set which post types (posts, pages, or custom post types) and statuses (published, draft, and so on) to monitor
• exclude certain URLs from being checked

… and a whole lot more.

If you’re serious about your website and want to grow your online business, then you know how important it is to offer a seamless website browsing experience to your visitors.

The last thing you want your readers to see is a big 404 page not found error message serving as a dead end on your WordPress site.

How to Use Broken Link Checker in WordPress

The first thing you’ll need to do is install and activate Broken Link Checker on your site.

For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Next, you’ll need to connect the plugin to your Broken Link Checker account.

Upon connecting the plugin with your account, you can turn the toggle on to stop search engines from following broken links. You can even set it not to update the modified date for a page/post when a link is updated via the plugin.

When you click the Broken Links tab, you can see that the plugin has automatically scanned the entire site, and links are categorized into broken, redirects, and dismissed.

The Broken Link Checker plugin lets you fix broken links quickly and easily right within your plugin. To replace a broken link, simply click Edit URL.

Alternatively, if you want to remove the link, just click Unlink and the link will be removed from the page.  

After updating the link, you can recheck if the link is still broken by clicking the Recheck option. If you want, you can even dismiss the message from the plugin.

Get More Details About Each Link

Broken Link Checker gives you additional details for each link, like how long the link has been broken and response header information, HTTP Status code, and more.

Control Which Types of Pages are Scanned

Another important aspect of Broken Link Checker is its advanced settings, which give you full control over which pages get scanned. Within the plugin, you can set which post types (posts, pages, or custom post types) and statuses (published, draft, and so on) to monitor.

You can also exclude certain pages from being checked.

This helps you better manage the crawl budget, so you can ensure you’re not wasting the link scan credits.

Scanning Your Site the Right Way

Broken Link Checker scans both external (links from your website to others) and internal links (links from one page on your site to another page) on your site.

Unlike other WordPress plugins, Broken Link Checker uses an external private server to scan (or, in other words, ping) for broken links on your site. That’s because repeatedly pinging external sites from your servers can make your site look suspicious to internet service providers, putting your sites at risk of being blacklisted.

This is why most WordPress hosting companies put traditional broken link checker plugins in their block list.

Since Broken Link Checker uses an external private server for pinging external links, you can rest assured that you’re in safe hands.

What’s Coming Next?

Broken Link Checker is a product by my AIOSEO team which is a leading WordPress SEO plugin with over 3 million installs.

Our goal is to continue to build best-in-class SEO tool to ensure your website is always outranking your competitors.

Broken Link Checker is just one of the new tools that we’ve launched.

We have an exciting roadmap ahead of us to make this plugin even more powerful, and I am very proud of our team.

If you have ideas on how we can make the Broken Link Checker platform or other SEO tools more helpful for you, then please send us your suggestions.

As always, I want to thank you for your continued support of WPBeginner, and we look forward to continue serving you for years to come.

Yours Truly,

Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner

P.S. Want us to acquire or invest in your WordPress business? Learn more about the WPBeginner Growth Fund.

The post Introducing Broken Link Checker – Never Have Dead Links On Your WordPress Site Again first appeared on WPBeginner.

April 18, 2023 at 06:19PM