Translate WordPress with Google Translate multilanguage plugin using AI translation. Complete multilingual SEO...
Free
900k+ installs 4.9★ (4,950)
Pinyin Slugs
Transforms Simplified or Traditional Chinese character titles into Pinyin to create a permalink friendly slug.
The facts
- Rating
- 5★ from 8
- Active installs
- 3k+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 18 Aug 2026
- Added
- Aug 2013
- Requires WP
- 4.6
- Tested up to
- WP 7.1
- Downloads
- 59,774
Our analysis
AI-assistedPinyin Slugs is a WordPress plugin designed to improve the appearance of permalinks that contain Chinese characters. It automatically converts these characters into Pinyin, which is more readable for search engines like Baidu. The plugin also allows you to limit the slug length, with a default maximum of 100 characters.
This plugin is suitable for users who need to create multilingual sites with Chinese content and want to ensure their URLs are optimised for search engines. It is particularly useful for those targeting audiences in China or managing content in Chinese.
Best for: This plugin suits website owners creating content in Chinese who want to optimise their permalinks for search engines.
What it does well
- ✓Converts Chinese characters to Pinyin for better readability
- ✓Allows character limit adjustment for slugs
- ✓WPML Certified for compatibility with multilingual sites
- ✓Forked from an abandoned project with improvements
- ✓Free to use from the WordPress.org directory
Where it falls short
- •Limited support available only through GitHub
- •No details on specific improvements from the original plugin
Verdict
Pinyin Slugs offers a straightforward solution for enhancing Chinese character permalinks, making it a practical choice for relevant multilingual sites.
From the developer
Pieter Bos's own description of Pinyin Slugs, lightly tidied.
Chinese characters don’t come out good in permalinks. Without the Pinyin Slugs plugin activated, the example post I made for the screenshot will get a slug like this: %e6%90%9c%e7%b4%a2%e5%bc%95%e6%93%8e%e4%bc%98%e5%8c%96. With the plugin the slug automatically becomes sousuoyinqingyouhua.
Search engines such as Baidu cannot make much of the first slug, but they can handle pinyin perfectly, especially when it is written as one long string without hyphens or underscores.
It is possible to limit the amount of characters in the slug. The default is 100, which should be plenty for most.
The Pinyin Slugs plugin was forked from the Pinyin Permalinks plugin by user xiaole_tao as that project seemed abandoned. There have been many improvements since; read the changelog for details.
I have decided to only support this plugin through Github. Therefore, if you have any questions, need help and/or want to make a feature request, please open an issue over at Github. You can also browse through open and closed issues to find what you are looking for and perhaps even help others.
PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR ISSUES VIA THE WORDPRESS FORUMS
Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
WPML Compatible
The Pinyin Slugs plugin has received the WPML Certification of Compatibility and is featured on the WPML website with the article How to Build a WordPress Website in China and Reach an International Audience.
Tagged as
purpose
Multilingual & Translation
platform
WPML & Polylang
Alternatives
Other plugins for running multilingual.
Translate WordPress plugins and themes directly in your browser. Versatile PO file editor with integrated AI t...
Free
1M+ installs 4.8★ (452)
Translate your site visually, directly from the front-end. Go multilingual in minutes using automatic AI trans...
Free
400k+ installs 4.7★ (1,653)
Cyr-To-Lat
90Convert Non-Latin characters in post, page and term slugs to Latin characters.
Free
300k+ installs 4.7★ (98)
WP Chat App
90Integrate WhatsApp experience directly into your WordPress website.
Free
100k+ installs 4.9★ (219)
OneTap is a multilingual WordPress plugin designed for seamless website accessibility.
Free
50k+ installs 4.9★ (79)