In this comprehensive guide, we'll delve into the intricate world of redirecting pages or URLs in WordPress. You'll learn how to set up automatic, manual, and wildcard redirects, empowering you to navigate the dynamic landscape of website management with ease.
Understanding WordPress Redirects
Have you ever clicked a link, expecting to land on a specific page, only to find yourself redirected elsewhere? That's the magic of WordPress redirects. It's like digital wizardry, seamlessly whisking one URL away to another. But why does it matter to you?
When managing a website, pages get deleted, posts get updated, and entire sites undergo revamps. This is where WordPress redirects play a crucial role. Think of them as friendly traffic cops on the web, guiding visitors to the right destination when the original one is no longer available or has moved.
Redirects in WordPress are vital for maintaining smooth user experiences and preserving SEO rankings. Imagine putting in a lot of effort to rank a particular page. Without a redirect, if that page moves, all your SEO efforts go to waste, and visitors encounter frustrating dead ends.
Types of WordPress Redirects
There are various types of page redirects in WordPress, but the most common ones are 301 and 302 redirects. A 301 redirect is like saying, "Hey, this page has permanently moved. Update your records!" It's a firm and final step, signaling search engines to transfer the SEO value of the old page to the new one.
On the other hand, a 302 redirect is more like a temporary signpost, indicating, "We're just making some changes here. The original page will be back soon."
Why Redirect Pages or URLs in WordPress?
There are many instances where you might need to redirect posts, pages, or URLs in WordPress. That's when WordPress redirect pages come in handy.
Perhaps you've changed the slug for a post or page. Or maybe you've updated your permalink settings. Or you've written a new post and want to redirect from the old one to the new post.
In all these cases, you need to learn how to redirect posts in WordPress. This tells the browser to go to the new URL instead of the old one.
Why Not Use Redirects in WordPress?
Setting up redirects in WordPress isn't ideal. It slows down the user experience because the browser goes to the first URL, gets a redirect message, and then heads to the second URL. And there's a risk that you'll set up redirects incorrectly or even forget to do it after changing the URL. Not only that, but links that go through redirected pages aren't as valuable for SEO—Google doesn't appreciate them as much.
So, it's better to avoid changing your URL altogether. To minimize URL changes, make sure you optimize them from the start:
Configure your permalink settings to use good permalinks when you first create your site and before adding any posts or pages.
Set up slugs for each post or page before you publish them. Make sure it's suitable for both search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience (UX).
But if you haven't done that, and you need to redirect your URL in WordPress, how do you do it?
How to Set Up Page and URL Redirects in WordPress
There are several different types of redirects you might want to set up for WordPress. The types you're most likely to use are:
- Automatic redirects
- Manual redirects
- Wildcard redirects
Let's explore each of these WordPress redirects as they're applied to redirecting WordPress pages or URLs.
Setting Up Automatic Redirects in WordPress
To set up WordPress page redirects, you'll need to install a plugin. In this guide, I'll show you how to do it with the Redirection plugin.
When you first install the WordPress page redirect plugin, it gives you the option to automatically monitor URL changes and set up redirects. The link redirect plugin will also check your existing post and page revisions and set up redirects from any old slugs you may have used for them.
If I make any changes to the slug or URL after activating it? The link redirect plugin will track it and automatically set up a redirect to the new page. Below, you can see the WordPress page redirect plugin screen after making more slug changes.
Setting Up Manual Redirects in WordPress
Sometimes, WordPress redirect plugins won't detect the page redirect you need. You might want your WordPress site to redirect one post to another or you want to redirect a URL on your domain to a different domain, but the WordPress redirect plugin won't work for that.
In this case, you need to set up manual redirects in WordPress without a plugin.
- Go to Tools > Redirection and scroll down to the Add new redirect section.
- In the Source URL field, type or paste the URL you want to redirect from.
- In the Target URL field, type or paste the URL you want to redirect to.
In the Group field, leave it as Redirection (default) or select Changed Posts if you're redirecting from an old post to a newer version. This will tell the browser what type of redirect it is.
Finally, click the Add Redirect button, and your manual redirect will be added to the list of redirects. Now you've completed everything you need to do to redirect pages in WordPress.
Setting Up Wildcard Redirects
Use wildcard redirects when you want to redirect a set group of URLs that have a specific element. For example, if you've changed your permalink structure, a wildcard redirect will send anyone using links from your old structure to the same links using your new structure.
If you've changed the permalink structure for posts from /blog/post-name to /category/post-name, for example, you need to use a wildcard redirect to ensure anyone using the old links is directed to the new URLs.
Wildcard redirects use something called Regex, which allows you to make advanced redirects. You need to enable the Regex function first to set up WordPress wildcard redirects. To do this, follow these steps:
Go to Tools > Redirection and scroll down to the Add new redirect section on the screen.
In the Source URL field, type the old path to the category, with a wildcard. This needs to be in the form /old-slug/(.*)$.
The entry for the Target URL should take the source /new-slug/$1.
Then click the Add Redirect button.
via emka.web.id
0 comments:
Post a Comment