The Permalink Finder Plugin detects when WordPress cannot find a permalink. Before it generates the 404 error it tries to locate any posts with similar words. It does this by searching through the database trying to find any of the word values form the bad link. It takes the best match and then, rather than issuing a 404 error it sends back a redirect to the correct page.

Users will see the page that they are looking for, and search engine spiders will see the 301 redirect and update their databases so that searchers will be linked to the correct page.

This is especially useful where WordPress removes words like “the” and “a” from the permalink during conversions from Blogger accounts. It is also useful for migrations that formerly used extensions such as html and shtml, when wordpress does not.

The search of the database requires a small amount of extra overhead, but it only occurs when WordPress cannot find the original post and resorts to using this plugin, which should be rare, especially after the search engines fix up their own indexes.

Currently there are no configuration options.

This plugin was originally a modification of the popular Permalinks Permanently Removed Plugin, which is a good plugin for most uses. I had some extra needs and started modifying it until it no longer resembled the original. My thanks to Microkid for producing such a nice design, which gave me my first lessons on how to write a plugin.

Installation:

1. Download the plugin. (Download Permalink Finder zip here).
2. Upload the plugin to your wp-content/plugins directory.
3. Activate the plugin.

The plugin can be tested by adding or deleting words from a working permalink in your browser address area. Even if you mangle the permalink it should find a valid link and almost always it will find the correct link.

This plugin is in active development. All feedback is welcome on WordPress plugin: Permalink Finder Plugin.