WP Author Slug – Replace WordPress Author Slugs

If you care about clean, human-readable WordPress (WP) URLs, WP Author Slug is a simple, focused plugin that replaces the default author slug (usually the user’s login/username) with a sanitized version of the author’s Display Name. Out of the box, many WP installs expose author/username in the author archive URL. That’s not ideal for branding, and it can also signal your login names in public. WP Author Slug helps you present friendly, memorable author archive URLs like /author/jane-doe/ instead of /author/jdoe91/, aligning with SEO-friendly permalink practices and improving consistency across your WordPress site.

This plugin does not claim to be a security plugin and will not hide your real login from determined attackers. However, it removes the login from the visible URL, which is often better for users, editors, and search engines: author pages can use the public display name that appears across posts and bio boxes. For publishers, agencies, WooCommerce stores with staff writers, or blogs with multiple contributors, this creates a cohesive author naming convention in every WP context where author archives matter.

Key benefits for WordPress SEO:

• Consistency in entity naming: The same Display Name users see on posts, bylines, and bios appears in the URL, reinforcing relevance for brand/person keywords.
• Cleaner slugs: Slugs derived from Display Names are made URL-safe (lowercase, hyphenated), improving readability and click-through.
• Better UX: People can guess the author URL more easily, and your site looks more polished.

⚠️ Important scaling note: The plugin’s own guidance recommends not using it on sites with more than ~1000 registered users. Bulk updates of nicenames can be heavy. If you run a very large membership, LMS, forum, or ecommerce site with many user accounts, consider testing on staging first or running in batches with maintenance mode.

Typical workflow in WP:

1. Install and activate via Plugins → Add New (or upload ZIP).
2. The plugin updates the author “nicename” to a sanitized version of each user’s Display Name.
3. Your author archive URLs switch to those new slugs (e.g., /author/jane-doe/).
4. Optional: set up redirects if you previously had different author slug formats, so SEO value is preserved.

For most small to medium multi-author WordPress sites, this is a set-and-forget enhancement to permalink hygiene. Combine it with author bios, author Schema, and well-structured internal linking to create stronger author hubs in your WP ecosystem.