Wordpress and Redirects?
-
I want to update my permalinks - actually I want to change the URL's to fit the content and keywords better. I can choose "edit" the URL, but don't I need a redirect? I don't see any htaccess Plugin installed.......is that what I need to be able to change my URL's in Wordpress?
-
Access .htaccess via Cpanel > File Manager (select view hidden files) or use and FTP program. Don;t rely on yoast. Not everyone uses Wordpress or yoast. Also Yoast can break with wp updates.
-
Hi Courtney! Did you see Dan's response to your question?
-
Hi Courtney
It should be under Yoast->Edit Files -- see this screenshot. If it's not there, are you using some sort of special host for WordPress? You're using WordPress.ORG (not .com)?
I agree that its good for you to learn, but .htaccess is something that can take down your site with one misplaced character, so I would be careful if you're going to edit it. Have a friend you can call on who might know how to fix it if something goes awry. Also, you should have FTP access readily available, in case it does break, that's how you're going to get in and fix it.
Certainly not discouraging you from learning it - just be careful and have FTP access in case you need it!
-Dan
-
All great answers guys! Thanks. Still a little confused which way to go, as it seems I have a few options. I already have Yoast installed. Where is the htaccess in wordpress?
I think I need to learn the correct way also as big spin suggests. I have been writing content for over a year, but 301's is something I haven't mastered yet.
-
Highly suggest the idea by Dan... Yoast SEO is the great plugin!
-
I recommend you learn the correct way of 301 redirects as it's handy with other CMS like Joomla or Drupal etc.
Hopefully you're using cpanel. Login to Cpanel, go to redirects tab. Create the redirect. When using Wordpress, you won't see any changes. Go back to Cpanel home and login to File Manager. Ensure to select view hidden files.
In File Manger select edit code .htacccess.
From here you will see the redirect code thnat you created in Cpanel a moment ago at the bottom. Cut and Paste this and move
It will look like this:
BEGIN WordPress
<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]</ifmodule>END WordPress
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.yourdomain.com$
RewriteRule ^sample-page/$ "http://www.yourdomain.com/" [R=301,L]You now need to move the rewrite so it appears above #BEGIN WordPress, like below. Presto. 301s work. You don;t need to worry about plugins breaking etc.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.yourdomain.com$
RewriteRule ^sample-page/$ "http://www.yourdomain.com/" [R=301,L]BEGIN WordPress
<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]</ifmodule>END WordPress
-
Try this plugin : http://wordpress.org/plugins/change-permalink-helper/
I have had good success with it . As with any plugins test it out after you deploy .. there might be conflicts with other plugins or with the theme you are using
-
Thanks for that! Just want to add for Courtney - if she uses Yoast SEO plugin, you can also edit .htaccess right in wordpress without having to FTP.
-
I agree John this is the most user friendly way to do the redirects. The only thing I would add is - shut OFF the features which automatically adds redirects when you change URLs. It sounds like a nice feature, but it can get confusing because I found it to do them automatically a little too aggressively. Best to use the plugin but keep it on manual.
-
I think you could use a redirect plugin for this, for example this one here. This way you don't have to manually edit .htaccess. Just make sure the resulting URLs are using 301 redirects. It looks like there are a lot of plugins for this, so try a few out and see which you like the best!
As you change your URLs, keep track of the old and new URL mappings, and add those redirects to the plugin.
-
Hello,
Yes, if your pages are indexed and you want to change the URLs then a 301 redirect is your best bet. Edit the URL on the page or post you are looking to edit. Then add the redirect to the .htaccess file. You may need to create one to add to the root directory of your wordpress install. The general .htaccess file looks like this.
BEGIN WordPress
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
END WordPress
Just add in the redirect to the end of this file. It could look something like..
redirect 301 /old-page http://www.something.com/new-page
Then you should be all set.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should we set up redirects for all deleted TAGS?
We recently found our site had 65,000 tags (yes 65K). In an effort to consolidate these we've started deleting them. MOZ is now reporting a heap of 404 errors for tag pages. These tag pages should not have links to them so not sure how come they're being crawled. Any suggestions from experience in this area would be useful.
Technical SEO | | wearehappymedia0 -
Wordpress log attempt spam?
i have used wordfence on wordpress and I am getting a lot of alerts of "people" registering on my blog but then having over 20 failed login attempts. Gives the IP addresses. Anyone else had this issue and should I just block the ip addresses? How have you guys fixed the issues?
Technical SEO | | kpexpressions0 -
Javascript redirects -- what are the SEO pitfalls?
Q: Is it dangerous (SEO fallout) to use javascript redirects? Tech team built a browser side tool for me to easily redirect old/broken links. This is essentially a glorified 400 page -- pops a quick message that the page requested no longer exists and that we're automatically sending you to a page that has the content you are looking. Tech team does not have the bandwidth to handle this via apache and this tool is what they came up with for me to deliver a better customer experience. Back story: very large site and I'm dealing with thousands of pages that could/should/need to be redirected. My issue is incredibly similar to what Rand mentioned way back in a post from 2009: Are 404 Pages Always Bad for SEO? We've also decided to let these pages 404 and monitor for anything that needs an apache redirect. Tool mentioned above was tech's idea to give me "the power" to manage redirects. What do you think?
Technical SEO | | FR1230 -
Wordpress multisite and SEO
Newbie question. I have several keyword list I am trying to market - (My website is : http://www.soobumimphotography.com/) San Antonio wedding photographer, family photographer San Antonio sports photographer in san antonio headshot san antonio engagement photos san antonio I think it's too broad and thinking about getting separate sites for them. I know I can make urls something like this http://www.soobumimphotography.com/headshot using multisite function and planning to redirect it to www.sanantonioheadshots.com etc Is this good idea to do so? Should I get a new hosting and domain and start it all over again. Thank you
Technical SEO | | BistosAmerica0 -
Redirect
Hello, I need to redirect just the homepage of my blog somewhere. So blog.com But there are other redirects in there and I don't want to override them. So blog.com/post.html How do I just redirect the homepage of wordpress page without redirecting all the other pages. This is what I did that recreated the issue. redirect 301 / blog2.com Thanks! Tyler
Technical SEO | | tylerfraser0 -
302 or 301 redirect to https ?
I am redirecting whole site to https. Is there a difference between 302 or 301 redirect for seo? Site never been indexed. Planning to do that with .htaccess command RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
Technical SEO | | Kotkov
RewriteRule ^(.*) https://%{SERVER_NAME}/$1 [R,L] There are plenty of ways http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/ssl-example-usage-in-htaccess.html Which way would be the best? Thanks is advance0 -
Do search engines treat 307 redirects differently from 302 redirects?
We will need to send our users to an alternate version of our homepage for a few hours for a certain event. The SEO task at hand is to minimize the chance of the special homepage getting crawled and cached in the search engines in place of our normal homepage. (This has happened in the past so the concern is not imaginary.) Among other options, 302 and 307 redirects are being discussed. IE, redirecting www.domain.com to www.domain.com/specialpage. Having used 302s and 301s in the past, I am well aware of how search engines treat them. A 302 effectively says "Hey, Google! Please get rid of the old content on www.domain.com and replace it with the content on /specialpage!" Which is exactly what we don't want. My question is: do the search engines handle 307s any differently? I am hearing that the 307 does NOT result in the content of the second page being cached with the first URL. But I don't see that in the definition below (from w3.org). Then again, why differentiate it from the 302? 307 Temporary Redirect The requested resource resides temporarily under a different URI. Since the redirection MAY be altered on occasion, the client SHOULD continue to use the Request-URI for future requests. This response is only cacheable if indicated by a Cache-Control or Expires header field. The temporary URI SHOULD be given by the Location field in the response. Unless the request method was HEAD, the entity of the response SHOULD contain a short hypertext note with a hyperlink to the new URI(s) , since many pre-HTTP/1.1 user agents do not understand the 307 status. Therefore, the note SHOULD contain the information necessary for a user to repeat the original request on the new URI. If the 307 status code is received in response to a request other than GET or HEAD, the user agent MUST NOT automatically redirect the request unless it can be confirmed by the user, since this might change the conditions under which the request was issued.
Technical SEO | | CarsProduction0 -
Sitefinity vs Wordpress
We're looking for a new CMS and out development company suggested Sitefinity. I've had great success with Wordpress. Is either system better. I love worpdress but have had no experience with Sitefinity. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | StandUpCubicles0