If you delete a blog post or change the URL, you should always set up a diversion. With the WordPress plugin redirection, you easily create the desired forwarding. I will show you how to do this in this article.
What is forwarding?
As soon as a browser calls on a page on the web, he makes an inquiry to the website of the website and uses the uniform resource locator (URL) as an address. If everything goes well, the server returns the page with a 200 code to show that the request was successful.
If a browser makes a request to a URL that does not exist, the server can return a 404 code. He shows that the URL is unknown. This is not so good for two reasons. The visitor to your website does not find what he is expecting and may leave your site.
But many pages with a status code 404 can also be a problem for SEO. They increase crawling effort and are a sign of a poorly maintained website for Google. Therefore, you should change pages that no longer exist with a 301 forwarding to a current and thematically suitable page. The status code 301 means that one side has moved permanently and can be found on a new URL.
With the plugin redirection, you can easily determine your forwarding even without programming knowledge. It does not matter whether you only want to redirect a blog post or thousands of pages.
Installation of Redirection
The installation of redirection via the WordPress plugin directory works safely and efficiently. In the WordPress dashboard, click on Plugins> Install.
Now you can add plugins to the side. In the field of plugins search, you enter the term redirection at the top right. The search starts automatically.
Usually, the WordPress plugin you are looking for is now the top priority and you can install it with one click.
When installing the plugin is complete, the color of the button changes to blue, and the word activate. Click on it.
Set up redirection correctly
Now go to tools> redirection in the dashboard.
The basics of attitude
The welcome screen appears for the first time.
Here you will find a brief overview of the functions of redirection. However, they are dealt with even more in more detail. That’s why you can start the furnishings right away.
Basic facility
Here you will find 2 options that you can also change at any time. If you want, you can make the settings here.
Permalink changes
If you put a checkmark here, redirection automatically creates forwarding if you change a permalink on your website.
Protocols
Here you determine whether the redirects and 404 should be recorded. I wouldn’t do that for data protection reasons. If you value the protocols, at least do not save the IP addresses. This is in clear contradiction to the GDPR and can be expensive.
Import existing detours
Under this point, you can import existing diversions into the redirection plugin.
Rest API
Redirection communicates with WordPress via the WordPress Rest API. This should not be a problem for the majority of users. With some configurations, however, problems caused by security plugins or other problems can occur. Then you have to change the way in which redirection uses the API.
Click on the furnishings and the following window appears:
If the bar is 100%, you can continue and the following window will inform you about the installation completed.
Forwarding
The forwarding page is the place where you manage the diversions. It consists of a table with all your forwarding and an environment in which you can add new forwarding.
Above you will see a list of the existing forwarding. I have set up a forwarding for this test.
Add a new forwarding
In the simplest form you enter a source URL (the URL from which you are surrounded) and a target URL (the URL to which you are surrounded).
The source URL is usually relative to your website. This means that if the URL that you want to redirect from is: // My-page-1/Underite-1 and the redirection is entered to https: // my-page-1, the source/underside-1 is – It is relative to its domain.
The goal is any URL, relative or not.
Groups
You can access the group side by clicking on groups in the top menu.
Groups are used to organize your forwarding in categories. They are very helpful if you have many forwarding. They are also used to save forwarding in an Apache-.htaccess file or an NGINX-REWRITE file.
Add group
Enter the name of the group and determine the type of forwarding that should refer to the current group:
- WordPress: Use WordPress to carry out the forwarding. This is often the standard behavior and offers you forwarding protocols and statistics
- Apache: Use the possibility of the Apache module on the selection page to avoid unnecessary forwarding to a .htaccess file
- NGINX: is used for NGINX forwarding lines
Website settings
Moving the website
If you want to forward your website to another domain, use the website option. Enter the new domain in the “Moving to Domain:” field and all inquiries to the old website will be redirected to the corresponding URL on the new website (e.g.://Oldsite.com/path becomes http:/ /newsite.com/path).
You can continue to log in to your old website. However, you cannot add sit-alias or dynamic canonical settings if you have diverted your page.
Website alias
A website alias is an opposite of relocating a website. Instead of shifting your current website to another domain, you will ask inquiries about another part of your current website.
Suppose you have a domain oldsite.com and want to forward all inquiries to this domain to your current site new site.com. You create an alias with oldsite.com and all inquiries to this page will be forwarded to the corresponding URL on your current page.
Settings for “Canonical URL”
You can specify your canonical or preferred domain by activating the canonical settings.
Request from http to https
If you activate this function, the redirection will redirect any access to the HTTP version of your website to the same address as HTTPS.
Before you change that, definitely make sure that your website can be accessed via HTTPS. Redirection can no longer work if it is activated even though there is no HTTPS access.
Preferred domain
This setting is analogous to the HTTPS option but refers to the subdomain www. You can exclude them from inquiries or add them.
More settings
Permalink migration
WordPress enables you to manage your post URLs via the Permalink settings. Maybe you want to change something here and everything should be redirected from your previous settings.
The simplest solution is to enter your old Permalink structure in the Permalink migration area. Redirection automatically carries out the diversions for you.
Danger! This function is currently still in the beta stage. That’s why I advise you to forego it for the time being.
Http header
HTTP header is added by your server when inquiring from a customer browser. You can create your own header for certain purposes. Maybe you want to prevent bots from the following forwarding.
Protocols
As already mentioned above, the logging of the IP addresses of the visitors is not compatible with the GDPR. That’s why I do without it and advise you the same.
404 errors
The same applies to tracking 404 errors with redirection as for logging. I prefer to keep my fingers away.
Import/export
You can import and export forwarding via the import/export page. There is also the possibility to import from other plugins and export log files.
Import
The following files can be imported:
- CSV files-simple forwarding, without matches or actions
- Apache .htaccess files-support matches, but no actions
- Deadline JSON files-full support for all selection options
Export
- CSV file-simple diversions, without matches or actions
- Apache .htaccess – supports matches, but no actions
- The Nginx Rewrite Rules file supports matches, but no actions
- JSON file-full support for all selection options
Export logs
Use the “Export forward” button to export redirect protocols as CSV. With a click on “Export 404,” you export the 404 logs as CSV.
Plugin importer
If you have redirect plugins on your website, you can import them here.
Options
There are various options that you can set on the “Options” page.
Plugin support
Here you can support the development of redirection financially. If you use the plugin on your WordPress website, you should definitely do that.
Protocols
Under this point, you determine how long the protocols should be kept. Since I do without any logging, this point does not affect me.
There are the following options for everyone else:
- Forever
- two months
- one month
- one week
- a day
IP protocol
You can individually adjust the depth of the IP information collected by redirection. By default, the complete IP address is recorded by any forwarded URL and each 404 error.
In the EU, these settings contradict data protection regulations. That is why you should at least use the “Anonymize IP” option or deactivate it completely.
The options are:
- No IP protocol
- Complete IP protocol
- Anonymized IP protocol
Logging
Prick-out external forwarding – this records forwarding that is carried out by something other than redirection. For example from WordPress himself or from another plugin.
Calls of the diversions and access date – follow when and how often a forwarding was used.
Record HTTP Header information-this can make it easier to work on various problems on your website. It significantly increases the number of information that is recorded in the protocol.
Options: URL
URL monitor
Redirection can monitor URL changes to contributions, pages, and custom contribution types and create forwarding from the previous contribution URL to the new contribution URL. Just choose what you want to monitor.
Note that all custom contribution types of your website appear in this list. For example, WooCommerce products.
Standard URL settings
Not into account the capitalization-if this option is activated, the major/small letter is not observed in all URL agreements.
Ignore subsequent slash-if activated, the following slash is not observed in all URL agreements.
Standard query comparison
Here you set the default settings for query parameters:
- Exact match – query parameters should match precisely
- Ignore – query parameters are ignored
- Handed over – query parameters are ignored and passed on to the goal
You can change these settings for each individual forwarding.
Http-cache header
By default, a browser can temporarily store a redirected URL, so that it does not request the URL again if the user demands it again.
- If you change diversions frequently, a lower expiry time means that visitors to your website are redirected to the latest goal.
- If you only make a few changes to diversions, an extended expiry time means that your users make fewer inquiries to the server.
- With the HTTP cache header option, you can set the time of the end of this cache.
- If your browser continues to use the previous diversion after a change, the Expiry Cache is to blame. You then have to delete the browser cache manually and use a shorter cache time.
Redirect caching
In the caching of forwarding, information is saved for a certain URL in an object cache. This cache will then be used at the next requirement of the URL. This can be considerably faster, especially if regular expressions are used.
Since this function of redirection is currently still in the beta stage, it should be used with caution.
More options – Advanced
RSS token
You can also see the protocols with an RSS reader. The RSS token is used to create a new key. This means that the RSS reader does not need a username and no password to access the protocols. You can manually set this key or delete it to automatically generate a new one.
Apache .htaccess
If you want to save forwarding to an Apache group in a .htaccess file, you enter the complete path here.
Rest API
Redirection uses the WordPress Rest API to communicate with WordPress. This should not be a problem for most users. With some configurations, however, there may be difficulties due to security plugins or others.
If this is the case with you, you can possibly fix the problem by changing the settings.
Data upgrade
Here you determine how updates from redirection should be carried out.
Newsletter
Enter your email address here to receive the developer’s newsletter.
Delete detour
If you click the red “Delete” button, all data is removed in connection with redirection and the plugin is deleted.
This button is not displayed when redirection is installed on a WordPress multi-site and the plugin is accessed on the underside.
Support
On this page, you get information about whether the Plugin redirection works properly. In addition, you can test forwarding with an external service.
Conclusion for the WordPress plugin redirection
With redirection, you can create diversions without any programming knowledge. The many setting options can be intimidating at first glance. However, the preset parameters usually also fit. Depending on the need, the user can gradually immerse themselves in the matter.
Therefore, redirection is an ideal WordPress plugin for everyone who wants to set up diversions. The plugin is free of charge. The developer definitely deserves a small or larger donation if used for longer use.
