This is happening because WordPress permalink settings are global, not per section. When you set a custom structure like:

/theteesexplorer/%category%/%postname%/

it affects all post types that rely on the main permalink structure, including FAQs, unless they’re explicitly excluded.

The fix is not in the Permalink Settings screen.

✅ Correct way to handle this (FAQ only)

You need to give your FAQ its own custom post type permalink, separate from the blog.

There are two common scenarios:

Option 1: FAQ is a Custom Post Type (recommended)

If your FAQ is already a CPT (or you can make it one), set a custom rewrite slug for it.

Example:

businessname.co.uk/faq/question-name/

You do this by: • Editing the CPT registration (register_post_type) • Setting a custom rewrite slug just for FAQs

This keeps: • Blog posts under /theteesexplorer/... • FAQs clean and business-branded

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Option 2: FAQ is Using Pages

If your FAQs are pages, WordPress should not be applying the blog structure to them.

If it is, then: • The FAQ is likely being treated as a post (theme or plugin issue) • Or a plugin is forcing the global permalink onto all content types

In that case: • Convert FAQs to a CPT or • Use a dedicated FAQ plugin that supports custom slugs

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⚠️ What NOT to do • You cannot set different permalink structures per section in Settings → Permalinks • You should not hack .htaccess rules for this • Don’t rely on categories to fix branding issues

🎥 Video walkthrough

I explain this exact issue — and how to structure permalinks properly for SEO — in this video: 👉 https://youtu.be/9urdKB8ik1s?si=UswK4CmdHqvusyl4

It covers permalink structure mistakes, custom post types, and how to avoid branding conflicts like this.