When updating or migrating your site, it’s common to break a few pages or links. Usually, a user’s browser will return an error code when a user tries to click through to a broken or missing page. If a user receives an error multiple times, they’re much more likely to exit from your website, which could impact your bounce rate.
301 redirects help point users to the correct page when they select a broken link. If you have a WordPress site, you can still set up redirects. Let’s review how.
Redirects are a type of technique that sends users and bots to an updated URL. When users click on a broken link or encounter a broken page, a redirect automatically sends them to the correct URL.
Redirects can impact your SEO; search engine bots need them too. if Google explores your site and can’t find a page, it can impact that page’s ranking. However, if the Google bots find a redirect, it’ll consider what kind of redirect used and how long its been in place when ranking your page.
Redirects help the user experience, sending a user to the new location, especially if they didn’t know you’ve moved or refreshed.
Redirects are often used to update a website that has migrated to a new server. You can also use them if you’ve done a website update, changed any page URLs, or made updates to your website’s navigation.
You can also redirect a page to avoid creating duplicate content. If you’re moving content o a new page with an updated URL, you can use a redirect to direct users from the old page to the new one.
Each type of redirect can be slotted into two categories:
An htaccess file is a configuration file that tells your server how to display pages from the WordPress root directory. We only suggest you redirect using this method if you are, or have, a web developer or you are familiar with the the technical backend of your WordPress CMS.
Redirect 301 /current-page.html http://www.yoursite.com/new-page/
This is one of the best ways to implement redirects on WordPress. Plugins leave very little room for error. Remember to back up your website before installing and using plugins.
YoastSEO is a trusted name when it comes to SEO and WordPress. This plugin addresses several aspects of SEO, including redirects.
This is a very simple and easy-to-use plugin that focuses solely on redirects.
Much like the Redirection plugin, this plugin makes redirects clean and easy-to-understand.
It’s crucial to find and fix broken links as soon as you encounter them. If a user clicks on a link and doesn’t find what they’re looking for (or worse, receives a 4xx error), they’re much more likely to bounce off the page – and your website altogether.
Running a regular site audit can help you spot any site issues that arise as you update your website. If you forget to add a redirect to an updated or moved page and it results in an error, a site auditing tool can spot it.
The Site Audit tool includes specific checks for 400 bad request errors and broken links, so you can find & fix broken navigation with redirects. To get started with the Site Audit, you’ll:
The tool lets you know when your results are available for review. Select the Issues tab to search for pages that return a 4xx error or broken links:
Select the issue to see each URL returning the 4xx status code:
Temporary redirects aren’t 100% SEO-friendly. Search engines can index the redirected page, but the page won’t receive any of the page authority from the backlinks pointing to it. This can negatively impact the page’s ranking and traffic.
The Site Audit tool flags URLs with temporary redirects and can help you determine which URLs need to be permanently redirected or removed.
Internal linking occurs when you link from one page to another on your website. The Site Audit tool also indicates any broken internal links it can find on your pages.
Broken links and pages hurt your ranking. Redirecting is an easy way to avoiding taking a hit to your rankings.
They can be easy to implement or fix, depending on the tools you use. Run audits regularly to see if there are any broken links.
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