Have you ever tried changing the URL of an existing page or post on your WordPress site? If yes, you have likely found out that this can cause technical issues. Since Google’s search algorithms cannot determine that your page or post has moved, any site visitors that click on the original URL will receive a 404 error, instead of your web page or post. This is not good for your website, as it will reduce your site traffic, SEO rankings, and turn people away from your site. Let’s take a look at what 301 redirects are, why you need them, and how to set them up easily on your WordPress site.

What Is a 301 Redirect?

301 redirects let web browsers and search engine bots know that a page or post has moved to a different location. Thus, web browsers should take users to the new location, even when they click on the original URL. While it’s not important for people to know about the change, search engines must be informed of this change. 

By letting search engines know about this change, search engines will rank the new page or post using the same search engine ranking used for the original page or post. This will help you maintain your SERP rankings when you change your content’s URL address.

Why You Need 301 Redirects for Your WordPress Site

As a WordPress owner or manager, there will be several situations where it is beneficial to use redirects. Check out these common scenarios below.

  • You need to change a single page or post’s URL – A 301 redirect will ensure that any internal or external links pointed to your original URL will send users to the new location.
  • You need to combine multiple pages or posts into one – You can use a 301 redirect to combine multiple pages or posts into one larger page or post. This can be useful for creating a longer, more in-depth blog post on your site. A 301 redirect will ensure that your visitors will arrive at the new location without issues.
  • You changed your domain name  – If you rebrand your business, you likely will be changing your domain name too. To keep all of your original site content, you can use a 301 redirect for your old WordPress version to the new version. How cool is that?

Now that you know what a 301 redirect is and why you may need it, let’s dive into setting these redirects up on your WordPress site. This method is perfect for WordPress beginners, but also has some advanced settings for more WordPress savvy users. 

How to Easily Set Up 301 Redirects 

To set up your 301 redirects on your WordPress site, we recommend using a plugin called Simple 301 Redirects. This is a well-rated, popular plugin that is free and easy to use. 

Once you login to your site, go to Plugins and then Add New. Find and install the Simple 301 Redirects plugin. After this is activated, you can find it under Settings on your vertical navigation menu and then selecting 301 Redirects.

When you are on the plugin’s page, you will have a few options for setting up redirects. To set up a redirect for a page or post, add the ending part of the original URL on the left text field and the entire new URL address on the right text field. Once you have done that, select the blue Save Changes button. Congratulations, you have set up a 301 redirect!

If you want to set up redirects for pages or posts to an external domain, just type in the external URL in the destination box. 

For the “Use Wildcards?” option, you can create advanced redirects. This is useful if you want to use category names in your URLs. For instance, you could have a specific post in a category send users to a new URL by entering this in the Request URL field, “/CATEGORY/*.” The asterisk is just a placeholder for any possible text that will come after the category name you input. 

Now that you know how to set up 301 redirects, we hope you will find it easier to change your site’s URLs in the future. This will make it easier for search engine bots and people to find your new page or post. For more advanced users, you can also change this manually via the .htaccess file on your FTP. However, the plugin option is an easy way to ensure your content stays accessible and avoids the dreaded 404 errors from showing up on your users’ screens. If you are interested in working with a trusted white label WordPress partner, contact AweWP in Wilmington, NC  today.