Table of contents

Why remove path navigation from WordPress URLs?Set up clean permalinks in WordPress settingsRemove trailing slashes from URLsHide parent slugs from child page URLsClean up category and tag base slugsHandle redirects after URL changesBonus: Consider performance and cachingNext stepsAdditional resources

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WordPress Guide → Admin → Remove Pages Path

How to remove WordPress pages path navigation in URLs

Want to clean up your WordPress URLs and remove unnecessary page paths or slashes? Whether you’re aiming for a more professional look or a better user experience, simplifying your site’s URLs is easier than you might think.

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Set up clean permalinks in WordPress settings

The easiest way to remove unnecessary paths from your URLs is by updating your permalink settings.

Access the Permalinks menu

Log into your WordPress dashboard. Navigate to Settings > Permalinks.

Choose the right permalink structure

Select the Post name option. This structure uses only the slug (like “example.com/page-name”) and removes date, category, or parent-page elements.

Save and test changes

Click Save Changes. Then, visit a few pages on your site to make sure the new structure works without breaking links.

Remove trailing slashes from URLs

Trailing slashes (the “/” at the end of URLs) are mostly cosmetic, but many site owners want to remove them for consistency or SEO reasons.

Use a plugin to remove slashes (for beginners)

If you want a no-code solution:

Permalink Manager Lite lets you fully customize URLs, including removing trailing slashes, parent slugs, and category bases.
Redirection can help create redirect rules from URLs with slashes to those without.

Both are beginner-friendly and help maintain proper redirects to avoid SEO issues.

Remove trailing slashes via .htaccess (for advanced users)

If you’re comfortable editing .htaccess, add the following code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /$1 [R=301,L]

This rule redirects trailing slash URLs to their non-slash versions. Always back up .htaccess before editing.

Hide parent slugs from child page URLs

By default, WordPress includes parent page slugs in child page URLs. For example, “example.com/about/team” includes “about” as the parent. Here’s how to remove it.

Use a plugin to customize URL paths

Install Permalink Manager Lite and edit the URL of a child page directly from the page editor or the plugin’s permalink settings panel. You can strip out the parent part easily.

Do it manually with functions.php (advanced)

Add this to your functions.php file to remove parent slugs:

add_filter('page_link', 'remove_parent_slug_from_url', 10, 2);
function remove_parent_slug_from_url($link, $post) {
  if ($post->post_parent > 0) {
    $link = home_url('/' . $post->post_name . '/');
  }
  return $link;
}

Note that this method may break functionality if not combined with custom rewrite rules.

Clean up category and tag base slugs

WordPress adds “/category/” or “/tag/” to archive URLs. You can remove or change these.

Update the base in Settings

Go to Settings > Permalinks and scroll to the Optional section. You can:

Remove the category base by entering a dot (.).
Change it to a keyword or leave it blank.

Use SEO plugins for more control

Plugins like Rank Math or Yoast SEO allow you to remove these bases without any code.

Handle redirects after URL changes

Changing URLs can break existing links and hurt SEO unless you redirect old URLs.

Set up 301 redirects

Install the Redirection plugin. Use it to map old URLs (with parent slugs or slashes) to new clean ones. This preserves SEO value and prevents broken links.

Use a .htaccess redirect rule (advanced)

Add rules like this to .htaccess for bulk redirects:

Redirect 301 /old-url/ /new-url

For more complex redirects, use RewriteCond/RewriteRule logic.

Bonus: Consider performance and caching

URL changes affect caching and indexing, so follow up with these steps.

Clear permalinks and cache

Use a caching plugin to clear cached URLs. Or flush rewrite rules manually with:

flush_rewrite_rules();

Update your sitemap and search console

If you’re using an SEO plugin, regenerate your sitemap. Re-submit the updated sitemap to Google Search Console to speed up indexing.

Next steps for removing WordPress pages path navigation in URLs

Simplifying your WordPress URLs improves readability, branding, and SEO when done properly. Whether you’re just cleaning up slugs or rebuilding an entire URL structure, WordPress gives you the flexibility to fine-tune everything.

Start by switching to the Post Name permalink setting. From there, explore plugins or .htaccess options to remove slashes, parent slugs, and category bases—while using 301 redirects to protect your traffic and rankings.

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