Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserver
Migrating a legacy website to WordPress is a massive win for your workflow, but it can be a disaster for your search engine rankings. If your old site used .php extensions (e.g., domain.com/about-us.php), moving to…
Use with caution
Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 6 months ago, and scores 54/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (200+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- Only tested up to WordPress 6.9 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Pre… stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| 301 redirect | #69 |
| legacy-site | #9 |
| permalinks | #97 |
| seo-migration | #37 |
| url-suffix | #1 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
About Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserver
From the official readme · v2.2Description
Don’t Let Your SEO Rank Vanish During a Migration.
Migrating a legacy website to WordPress is a massive win for your workflow, but it can be a disaster for your search engine rankings. If your old site used .php extensions (e.g., domain.com/about-us.php), moving to standard WordPress “Clean Permalinks” will turn every one of those established links into a 404 Page Not Found error.
PHP to Pages is the lightweight, “set it and forget it” solution that bridges the gap between your legacy architecture and modern WordPress flexibility.
The Value Proposition
“Seamlessly transition from legacy PHP sites to WordPress while maintaining 100% URL consistency. No complex .htaccess coding, no broken backlinks, and zero SEO drop-off.”
Why Choose PHP to Pages?
When you change your URL structure, you lose the “link juice” accumulated over years. This plugin ensures that your existing backlinks from social media, external blogs, and Google search results remain active and functional.
- Instantly Append .php Suffix: Automatically transforms
yoursite.com/sample-page/intoyoursite.com/sample-page.php. - SEO Preservation: Keep your indexed URLs exactly as they appear in Google Search Console to avoid the dreaded “re-indexing” phase.
- Zero-Configuration Setup: No need to dive into your server’s .htaccess or Nginx config files. Just activate and your permalinks update instantly.
- Developer Friendly: Built with standard WordPress Rewrites API, ensuring compatibility with most well-coded themes and plugins.
- Lightweight Performance: No bloat, no database-heavy queries. It simply tells WordPress how to read and display your URLs.
Who Is This For?
- Agencies & Freelancers: Moving a long-term client from a static PHP site to WordPress.
- SEO Specialists: Ensuring that a site migration doesn’t result in a loss of organic traffic.
- Legacy Site Owners: Anyone who has a decade’s worth of backlinks pointing to .php files and doesn’t want to manage thousands of manual 301 redirects.
How It Works
- Install & Activate: Simply upload the plugin to your WordPress dashboard.
- Permalinks Refresh: Go to Settings > Permalinks and click “Save Changes” to flush your rewrite rules.
- Done: Your pages will now resolve with the .php extension.
Example
- Before:
http://sfdcbeginner.com/child-parent-communication-without-event - After:
http://sfdcbeginner.com/child-parent-communication-without-event.php
Installation
- Upload PHP-on-pages.php to the
/wp-content/plugins/directory - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
Changelog
2.2
- Added plugin header license metadata for WordPress.org compliance.
- Hardened settings sanitization and checkbox rendering for stricter coding standards compliance.
- Replaced
parse_url()withwp_parse_url()and sanitized request URI handling. - Escaped WooCommerce rewrite-rule slugs before building regex patterns.
2.0
- Added dynamic Post Type settings: Choose which post types (Pages, Posts, Products, CPTs) get the .php extension.
- Added “Remove Trailing Slashes” option: Automatically strips trailing slashes from .php URLs and 301 redirects slashed versions.
- Improved performance: Settings now use saved options instead of heavy queries.
- Enhanced UI: New tabbed settings interface for General, Post Types, and WooCommerce options.
- Full backward compatibility: Existing installations default to “Page” post type enabled.
- Excluded internal post types (Revisions, Nav Menus, etc.) from settings.
1.7
- Added WooCommerce compatibility settings page.
- Added toggle options for Shop, Cart, and Checkout pages.
- Fixed issue where WooCommerce Shop page showed 0 products when plugin was active.
- Implemented automatic rewrite rule flushing on version update and setting changes.
- Compatibility checks for non-WooCommerce environments.
1.6
- Fix deactivation logic.
- Fix duplicate extension bug.
- WordPress 6.9.1 compatibility.
For developers
Is this your plugin? Show off the numbers.
Add a live badge to your site, docs or GitHub README. It updates on its own — no account needed.
Best Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Prese… alternatives
All 301 redirect plugins →
FAQ
Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserver: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 29, 2026
Is Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… free?
Yes. Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… safe to use in 2026?
Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… works, but test it on a staging site before relying on it in 2026. It runs on 200+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 6 months ago, and scores 54/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv…?
Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… is active on 200+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 12,120 times since it launched in March 2010. It was downloaded 97 times in the last 30 days.
Does Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… work with WordPress 7.1?
Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… is officially tested up to WordPress 6.9.9, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… last updated?
The latest version, 2.2, was released on April 2, 2026 (6 months ago).
Who makes Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv…?
Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… is developed and maintained by Himanshu Parashar.
What are the best alternatives to Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv…?
The most popular alternatives to Legacy URL Suffix & SEO Preserv… are 301 Redirects (300K+ installs), Simple 301 Redirects By Bet… (100K+ installs) and 404 to 301 (100K+ installs).
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