Removing old post permalink slugs

wb · Sep 6, 2011

I've been working on a WordPress installation (not yet live) and have been adjusting the slugs so they are optimised for the best keywords possible. However, noticed that the old permalink slugs now automatically redirect to the new one. This isn't needed as the website hasn't been published yet.

E.g. /old-page-title/ automatically redirects to /new-page-title/

So far I have:

1. Checked the root .htaccess file, nothing there.
2. Checked the wp_postmeta table in PHP MyAdmin for the meta_key "_wp_old_slug" after finding out about this online, nothing there.
3. Deleted old post revisions, no change there either.

Not a major problem, but would rather clear them.

Anyone have any ideas?

woopwoop · Sep 6, 2011

Not sure if this is why, but do both url slugs have a number (the same number)?

/any-slug-text-21/

and

/some-other-slug-text-21/

will both go to the same WP article because rewrite is focusing on the 21.
You could type anything before the -21 and would reach the same article.

If this is what's happening, then you don't need to worry about the SEO implications as the new url will be picked up.

wb · Sep 6, 2011

Thanks for the reply.

Nope, no numbers just text.

Not sure if this helps - but if I add a new post with the same slug as the old one, it overwrites the redirect and displays the post. If I then delete that post, the redirect kicks in and redirects again. It seems to be a recognised feature in WordPress and must be stored somewhere either in a file or the database, but just can't seem to find it (even after trying various search queries on the database).