Advice Needed

[Ellen Green]

Ellen Green

January 1, 2019 at 4:17 pm

Hello,

This is a loaded request. I need some advice on a website that I originally created a couple years ago. It was my first WordPress website and I made a couple critical mistakes.

First, my most horrific and embarrassing mistake is the permalink structure. I used the default setting which put “index” on every page (why that was a default structure, I have no idea). I need to update the permalink structure, but the site has a lot of traffic and is well seasoned from a search engine positioning point of view. What is your best recommendation to tackle the permalink structure? I am certified in Yoast for WordPress. Is this the best plugin to use to remedy the issue by using the redirect feature? This issue is a bit of a nail-biter for me.

Second, I have not yet updated this site to the latest version of WordPress. I’m super-nervous about that because the site is fragile, and I’m guessing that this is because of the permalink structure and/or the use of Jetpack. I regret using Jetpack and I want to deactivate the plugin, but every time I do, the portfolio functionality is lost, and I get “404” errors for portfolio pages. It’s a really strange issue.

Since I’ve started using Kadence Themes, I have found that Ascend works pretty well for most of my sites. So I’m reconsidering a theme change for this site as well.

I’m looking at a do-over here and would value your advice to tackle these major issues, as detailed as you have time for. I do realize that these issues have nothing to do with your awesome themes. But I thought you were the best place to start to get advice.

The site is *Login to see link and I’m happy to private message you the login.

Thank you.