You decided to migrate your website to a new domain because you are facing issues with the current domain. But, have you ever thought that it can impact your website your SEO? Changing the links of a page or a post on your website will only do damage to your website’s SEO. But, you don’t need to worry as with our article we will explain to you how you can create 301 redirect WordPress. So, you can easily migrate your site to a new domain or change a post link or a page link of your site without affecting your website’s SEO.

Before we start our topic, let’s see what redirection in WordPress is?

What is 301 redirect WordPress?

301 redirect is an HTTP status code that is intended for permanent redirection. If you set up 301 redirection WordPress, the visitors on your website will be redirected to the new link and it will signal Google that you permanently migrated the page of your website to a different URL. So, 301 redirect helps in migrating your page or website without affecting user experience and SEO.

Why 301 redirect is important?

• Link juice will be still passed on even if you remove or alter the page URL.
• To redirect your site visitor to an operational page rather than showing them broken or 404 error page.
• Signal Google bot about permanent redirection
• To not lose the hard work, money, and time spent on SEO efforts.

When to Do 301 Redirect WordPress?

WordPress is a CMS that powers about 40% of the total websites on the internet. WordPress is so popular because it is simple to use and highly efficient. Even, bloggers use it to write blogs on the internet. This shows WordPress is so beginner-friendly.

As an average WordPress user, you may need to use 301 redirect in situations like these:

• Change your domain name: When you have the urge to migrate your website to another domain but don’t want to lose your content and SEO you need to do 301 redirect in WordPress.
• To merge multiple posts to a single post: Let’s assume that you have four blog posts based on the same topic, here the best practice is to merge all these posts into one, bigger and stronger blog post.
• Content auditing: Meanwhile, a 301 redirect WordPress is important when you alter the permalink of a post or page during content auditing.

Setup 301 Redirect in WordPress with Plugins

Redirection using WordPress plugins is easier and safer than the manual method as the risk of breaking the site is low.

You can find tons of 301 redirection plugins on the internet. But, the plugins we have listed below are highly popular and ideal for page redirection in WordPress.

All in One SEO (AIOSEO)

The first plugin in our WordPress redirection plugins list is the AIOSEO plugin. AIOSEO plugin is one of the finest SEO plugins that is utilized by more than 2 million sites across the globe.

AIOSEO plugin is so powerful that it can easily find out the broken links on your WordPress and set up 301 redirect accordingly.

Additionally, it also supports web server redirection but that method isn’t for beginners as you may need to configure NGINX or Apache webserver.

Redirection plugin

Another plugin in our list is the redirection plugin, with this plugin, you can easily manage the 301 redirect WordPress. This plugin is 100% free to use.

However, this plugin can only be used for page-level redirections. So, if you are looking to do the domain-level redirection, you need to use the .htaccess method for redirection.

So, you need to first install and enable this plugin from the dashboard. Then, head over to Tools >> Redirection to start the redirection process.

Next, click on add new button to add four settings:

• Source URL: In the Source URL field, type in the original link that you wish to redirect.
• Query Parameters: Our suggestion is that you leave it as it is
• Target URL: In the Target URL field, type in the destination link that you wish to redirect your visitors to.
• Group: This field is for people who wish to organize multiple redirects. However, it isn’t necessary to change the values.

Meanwhile, you can read the tutorial on how to Fix Failed To Load Resource Error In WordPress.

Page Links to

Page Links to plugin comes in handy whenever you want to preserve a post while redirecting to another post or page. This easy-to-use plugin adds a meta box to the WordPress editor (Gutenberg WordPress editor or Elementor). So, you can easily add the URL of a page or website where you want your visitors to be redirected.

Meanwhile, if you are facing any issues while uploading files on WordPress, you can read our article on how to Increase WordPress Maximum Upload File Size.

301 Redirect WordPress Using .htaccess

The alternative step for 301 redirect WordPress is by making changes in the .htaccess file. As it involves risks while making changes in the .htaccess file, this method is only recommended for users who are experienced with WordPress and have knowledge of coding.

The method isn’t beginner-friendly is because it needs the experience to execute this method, even the slightest mistake while changing files will lead to internal server errors. Which eventually leads to website downtime.

So, before you start this method, make sure that you have a complete website backup.

Make use of the FTP client to permit to write the file. Open the file with any text editor like notepad++, notepad, Sublime, etc.

Add the below code to the end of the .htaccess file of your WordPress website:

RewriteEngine On
Redirect 301 /a-very-old-post/ http://yoursite.com/a-very-new-post/

We believe that this tutorial to create 301 redirect WordPress will help in creating redirects. Moreover, if you need to speed up your website. ByteNAP provides services that will enhance your website speed. You can also check out Virtual Private Server India plans that help brings your business to the next level.