As a WordPress user, security is one integral aspect you can’t afford to overlook. One crucial step towards securing your website involves changing your username, particularly if it’s set by default as ‘admin’. Your WordPress username is not just useful for logging into the site. It also plays a significant role in representing your online identity and impacting SEO practices and site rankings.
In this comprehensive guide, we will delve deep into understanding what exactly constitutes a WordPress (WP) username and how changing it increases the safety of your website. We’ll provide tips on choosing an optimal new WP username and offer detailed steps on modifying existing ones using various techniques—directly from the admin dashboard, MySQL database, or helper plugins. Buckle up!
Table of Contents
What is a WordPress username?
A WordPress username serves multiple purposes, including allowing logins into the account, creating author slugs in post URLs, and displaying names under posts, pages, and comments, etcetera (source). This unique identifier distinguishes every individual registered on WP sites across millions around the globe.
Your WP makes you identifiable within communities by acting as a ‘calling card’. Therefore, picking an appropriate nickname ensures that not only are hackers kept at bay, but people visiting your site get good initial impressions about you and your project niche.
Fact: With 39% of all websites being powered by Wordpress (as per W3Techs survey data), having secure usernames is more important.
The Risks Associated With Not Changing Default WP Usernames
By retaining generic default usernames like ‘Admin’, users unintentionally leave their profiles vulnerable to hacking attempts because attackers often try these typical denominators as first guesses (source). In addition, SEO is unexpectedly impacted, especially if permalinks are formed around such names without offering any insightful information about the author or post content.
Therefore, it’s of utmost importance and a security best practice that changing default WP usernames be done at the earliest.
How to Choose an Optimal New WordPress Username
Picking a new username requires some forethought. Try not using obvious details like admin, your domain name, personal information (e.g., John Doe), etc., which can be easily deduced by cybercriminals through simple social engineering techniques.
Instead, focus on unique yet meaningful monikers worthy of representation in link structures and discussions across WWW, impacting web rankings indirectly via relevant contextual data.
Note: WP doesn’t provide a direct option to change existing usernames, but fear not! There is always a way out.
How to Change WordPress Username directly from the admin dashboard: The Most Simple Method
Perhaps the most straightforward method, let’s look at how you can modify your WordPress username right through the admin dashboard.
Here are the individual steps:
- Firstly, login to your WP Admin Panel.
- Navigate to
Users > Add New. - Fill in the necessary details, including the desired username and strong password.
- Once done, assign an appropriate role (e.g., administrator) and use the same email ID as the existing account (source). Upon successful completion of this step, a “New User” notification will be received at the registered email.
- Logout from the current session (crucial). Now log back with new credentials and navigate again towards
Users->All Users. - Hover over the old user profile and select ‘Delete’. Before confirming deletion, make sure the ‘Attribute all content to:’ dropdown has a new name selected for a seamless transition without any lost posts or pages.
Voila! You’ve changed your WordPress username using the direct dashboard method!
How to Change WordPress Username Through MySQL Databases: An In-Depth Method
This technique is more complex compared to the previous one, but it is beneficial, especially when having no access to the dashboard or facing locked accounts due to multiple incorrect logins.
Before proceeding, it’s advisable to back up the database as a precaution because wrongly executed SQL commands might potentially wreak havoc on sites (source)..
Power users prefer this way since they already deal regularly in the PHPMyAdmin environment during plugin/theme customizations or morale crash recovery attempts.
Let’s dissect each operation:
1. Login to the cPanel hosting account where the phpMyAdmin tool resides. Check under the Databases section (MPI).
2. Once inside phpMyAdmin, click on the WordPress database from the left-hand column.
3. This will drop down multiple tables. Locate ‘wp_users’ and hit ‘Browse’.
4. Here all users are listed in table form; locate the desired username row and press edit next to it.
5. In the ‘user_login’ field, replace old with a new name and save by hitting ‘Go’ at the bottom of the page.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully executed a Wordpress username change via MySQL database!
How to Change WordPress Username Using a Plugin-Assisted Method
For those who’re technologically less inclined or simply want quicker methods of avoiding potentially risky maneuvers, there exist helper plugins that make the entire alteration process a walk-in-park-like endeavor without requiring much complex effort (source).
One such reliable and popular plugin is ‘Username Changer’. Here’s how you can use it:
1. Install “Username Changer or Change Username” using WP’s plugin. Add New, Activate post-installation.
2. You can now navigate yourself towards Users>Your Profile, where we find the added option ’Change Username’. Click on the link visible at the top showing the current nickname.
3. A new pop-up appears asking for a fresh moniker. Enter details after ensuring their unique stratum within your website community.
4. After input, finalize and confirm changes using the Save button. Voila, mission accomplished!
I hope this paints a clear picture of how to accomplish a given task using diverse approaches. Select the method that best meets the requirements as per the chiefly prevailing situation, but the end goal remains identical: to imprint our unique footprints across cyberspace while maintaining secure boundaries around interactions.
Benefits of Changing Your Default WP Username
Successful manipulation of default WordPress usernames impart benefits beyond curbed criminal engagements.
Modifying your nickname at the earliest convinces the search engine’s crawlers that the site has serious owners who focus not just on relevant and unique content creation but also on overall health and security, depending on thorough hands-on audits, patch fixes, and timely updates, thereby projecting an improved image about ‘brand reliability.
Add slices of clever SEO techniques where these pseudonyms reflect branding endeavors with improved bounce rates due to thoughtful post-URLs over seemingly random standard ones, indirectly upscaling website ratings.
In conclusion, by altering older or general usernames, you strengthen defenses against brute-force assaults while adding another layer towards achieving higher SERP indexing and ratings.
Cautions While Changing Your WP Username
While changing WordPress user handles, certain precautions are indispensable to prevent any potential upsets:
- Backup: Before proceeding with changes, make sure a proper backup is made for all data so nothing gets lost erroneously during transition phases (source).
- Check User Roles: When replacing usernames through the dashboard method, ensure the correct role (Admin) is assigned in step 4.
- Email ID’s Confidentiality: New accounts demand associating mail IDs; use the original one registered under the previous name; otherwise, internal conflicts regarding “Account already exists” arise, delaying the process unnecessarily long.
- Avoid Direct Database Manipulation When in Doubt: People uncomfortable handling the PHPMyAdmin interface must try plugin-assisted methods that offer simpler visual cues and bypass directly tampering MySQL codes sensitive to incorrect inputs, accidentally leading to core file corruption scenarios.
- Limit Username Changes: An excessive change may lead to Google Crawlers confusion about relevant anchor text, incurring penalties during the indexing process.
Conclusion
By managing WP usernames effectively, site owners pave their way towards trustworthy rankings over time, alongside firm security walls surveying intrusion attempts from insidious elements prowling across cyber highways, waiting for a weak link (source). So the next time you encounter ‘admin’ while snooping around the Admin Panel (User sub-menu), remember this guide and confidently march forward, changing it into a more personalized and secure one demonstrating strict web regulations aligning with mindful rank maximization techniques executed at ease!
