The WordPress dashboard contains two fields, which you might have seen if you have looked at the general settings section of the dashboard. One is the address of your WordPress account, while the other is the address of your website. Beginners are likely to experience a great deal of confusion due to the fact that both addresses contain the identical data.

The purpose of this article is to dispel any confusion you may have regarding the distinction between WordPress address and a site address.

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WordPress Address: What is it?

The place in which all of the individual files and folders that make up your website are kept is referred to as the WordPress Address. This contains anything from your media files to plugins and themes, as well as everything else. This is the location where each and every file is kept.

Most web servers will store this information immediately in your public_html directory, which is the webroot for your primary domain name. This is the default setting. Nevertheless, it is possible to relocate it to a new area. Changing your WordPress Address will result from doing so.

 

Site Address: What is it?

The Site Address is the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that users of web browsers need to type in order to access your website. This address will be linked to by all of the files that are contained within your WordPress installation, and for the vast majority of users, it will be known as your domain name.

The reason for using the word majority is because it is feasible to alter the address of the website. You are even able of transferring a website to others, if you so choose. Having said that, this is not a typical occurrence because all of the links that you already have will no longer function and will be inaccessible.

The process of changing the name of the website is, in all intents and purposes, equivalent to turning off your previous website and beginning a new one. If you do this, your website’s ranking on search engines will be completely removed. To answer your question, unless you want to begin again, it is not recommended.

 

Why Do These Two Usually Differ?

WordPress installations are done by default. The fact that these two addresses are different is brought to your attention. But you might discover that your WordPress Address is located in a different folder or directory than it should be on your public home page. This is something that you might discover. Perhaps you are wondering why it is not present.

1) The first fundamental cause could be that your website may contain components that are not based on WordPress.

2) You would like to keep your root directory clean of WordPress files and folders, which is the second obvious reason for this.

When it comes to transferring a websites WordPress directory after an installation, there are a lot of complicated options available; nonetheless, the process almost always entails downloading the database, overwriting it, re-uploading it, and then moving all of the contents of your website to a new location. Therefore, it is preferable to pre-plan your website and determine in advance where you want your blog to be located. This will prevent you from having to deal with the bother of transferring a website, which would otherwise be necessary. The location of the index.php file that is generated by your WordPress installation will determine the location of your website’s hosting. Due to the fact that it serves as the overall appearance of the WordPress installation, this file is the most important and fundamental one. A number of other files, including all of your plugins and themes, are unable to be called upon if it is not present. Before you attempt to relocate files or change the settings of your WordPress site, you should always make sure that you execute a proper backup of your WordPress site, which includes the database as well as the site files.

 

What exactly is the difference between the two of them?

The main address that users must enter into their browser’s search bar in order to access your website is the site address. This address will be the link in all of your WordPress files.

Although it is rarely frequent, you can change the address of your website because all of your links will stop functioning. Restarting is essentially what happens when a site’s address is changed. Your website’s SERP ranking will be removed. Therefore, unless you intend to start anew, it is not advised.

Your administrative pages, along with all of the other components of WordPress, such as the files “/wp-content/” and “/wp-include/,” are located at the WordPress Address. Your WordPress website’s code, sometimes known as its brains, is stored in this section.

The area of your website that opens up to the public is called the Site Address. Not only is it the URL that people go to, but it is also the URL that you include on your business card.

 

When Should I Make a Change to the URL of WordPress Site?

It is a huge step that might have a negative impact on your search engine optimisation (SEO), but this does not mean that you should never change the URL of a website. Changing the URL of a website is a significant move. There are a variety of distinct circumstances in which carrying out such an action is indicated. This is something that a great number of websites continue to do for a variety of various reasons.

  1. Bad Reputation

Sadly, in this day and age of digital technology, it is quite simple to acquire a negative reputation, and the word can quickly spread. It is possible that this is the consequence of a succession of honest blunders, or it may be the result of predatory behaviours of the individual. Regardless of the circumstances, a website that has a poor reputation will not receive traffic. In the event that you are aware that this is the situation, it is strongly suggested that you alter the appearance of your website as well as your URL in order to make yourself unclear. It is possible that this may provide you with an additional opportunity to make a favourable impression.

 

  1. Alteration of the Company’s Name

For their websites, the vast majority of companies utilise the domain name yourbusinessname.com. This is a typical practice that is widely accepted. On the other hand, it is not unusual for smaller businesses to change their names during the course of their existence rather than staying the same. Because of this, there is a possibility that your website will suffer a catastrophic loss. If the majority of your customers are under the notion that the Universal Resource Locator (URL) is the same as the name of your organisation, it may be difficult for them to find the website. It is because of this issue that a website will frequently change its URL, which is one of the most common reasons for doing so.

 

There is no longer any reflection of your name

It is common practice to establish websites with a certain image or concept in mind. It is possible, however, that these things will shift throughout the course of time. There is a possibility that a blog will shift its topic and experience a significant rise in traffic; nevertheless, the URL of your website could not be appropriate for the new journey. Take, for example, the case where you began a blog on baking and then chose to expand your content to include other themes, such as grilling. After that, you became aware that all of your content pertaining to grilling was yielding better results than the information pertaining to baking? You make the decision to concentrate solely on grilling as a result of this, but the URL you used for your baking website is no longer compatible with the website.

 

Conclusion-

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that is quite popular nowadays for a number of different reasons. But the most important reason is that it can be customised. Within WordPress, you have the ability to customise everything, even the URL of your WordPress site. In reality, you are able to modify not just the URL but also the complete structure of the permalink.

Changing a URL is a significant decision. Before you alter your WordPress URL or site address, you should first question yourself why you need to do so. Surely, there is a good justification for carrying out that action. In addition, what techniques did you employ in order to ensure a seamless transition between URLs?

No matter what modifications you make in your WordPress address, they are always simple to implement. This is a possibility as a result of the extensive collection of plugins. However, before making any changes to your WordPress site, you should always make sure to perform a comprehensive backup of your site, which should include the database files and site files.

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