301 Redirect in Detail – What Is, How to Install It, and How It Helps SEO

You’re cleaning up: Cleaning up dynamic URLs and redirecting them to shorter and more search engine-friendly versions also requires 301.

You want to get rid of duplicate content: If you have multiple blogs written on the same subject and you want to collect them and add them into one blog post, you should consider permanent redirects.

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How to Redirect a URL?

Now that you’ve become familiar with the meaning of 301 and the benefits it brings to SEO practice, it’s time to learn to redirect URL.

There is no single way of redirecting URL, since the method you’ll use will depend on the code your website is written in, alongside with your experience in code editing.

Here are the 2 most common ways of implementing 301 website redirect explained step by step.

Once you log in to WHM, you'll see the section Server Status in the left menu. Click on Apache Status that’s found below, and you’ll see the necessary data.

So, if your site is built upon Apache, you can proceed with 301 redirect htaccess.

Step 1 – Locate and download .htaccess file: Go to File Manager and find your root directory (a place where all your website files are stored) and download the file. In case you cannot find it, check if the folder named Hidden files is enabled on your File Manager settings.

Step 2 – Create a .htaccess file: If there is no .htaccess file, you’ll need to create one. You’ll use Notepad or similar plain text program for that.

Step 3 – Create a code: Once you’ve created a text file named .htaccess, open it, and type the following code: redirect301 /old/oldURL.com http://www.newURL.com.

Step 4 – Add a new URL destination: Replace http://newURL.com with the actual web address you’d like to redirect your visitors to. Replace the “oldURL” with an actual domain as well.

Step 5 – Save the new file: Save the file as .htaccess with no extensions.

Step 6 – Upload the modified file: Now that the code’s modified, you need to upload it to the File Manager so that the old URL can read it and redirect it.

Step 7 – Test the redirect: Open a new private browser and type the old domain name into the search box. If everything works correctly, you'll be redirected to a new site. The reason why you should use a private browsing window is to make sure that it can access a new page instead of relying on cached data.

Important notes:

Make sure that when you save the file .htaccess, it starts with a “.”

There are no extensions such as “.com” or “.txt”

Don’t add http(s)://www. to the old URL in the first part of the code.

There should be one blank space between "oldURL.com" and "http://."

2. Redirect Using a Plugin

Luckily, plugins can replace most of the challenging coding activities that require a significant dose of skills and knowledge.

If you are using WordPress, you can enjoy the simplicity of webpage redirects provided by numerous plugins that allow you to set redirects in 5 minutes.

Simple 301 Redirects Plugin could be the best redirect plugin WordPress has to offer, and now you’re going to see how to implement it to your CMS back end:

Step 1 – Go to your WP Admin: You can access it by visiting the wp-admin directory in your web browser. For example, https://www.example.com/wp-admin/.

Step 2 – Find the ‘Plugins’ section: On the left side of the page, you’ll see the Plugins section. Click there and select Add New.

Step 3 – Search for the plugin: Type Simple 301 Redirects into the search box.

Step 4 – Install the plugin: Click Install Now, found next to the program. Once installed, click Activate.

Step 5 – Click ‘Settings:’ Now that you’ve activated the plugin, go to Settings, where you will find a new section named 301 Redirects.

Step 6 – Paste the URLs: The page that will open contains two fields, Request, the place where you paste the old URL and Destination, where you’ll type the URL of the new page.

As you can see, in the Request field you just need one part of the URL, and not the entire name, which is the case with Destination, where you have to paste the complete URL. Once finished, click Save Changes.

Step 7 – Test the redirect: Type the URL of the removed page to the search engine and see whether you’re going to be redirected to the new, destination URL.

What are the Potential Problems That Can Occur with Redirects?

Generally speaking, redirects are aimed at solving problems. However, some potential issues can arise, especially if you're still not familiar with the entire idea of 301 implementation.

1. Homepage Redirects

One of the most common problems occurs when a website owner decides to redirect all old site pages to the new homepage since it's much easier and quicker. If you're not redirecting to the relevant new page, the users may be disappointed, and your site may lose its authority.

1. Keep Your URLs the Same on a New Site, If Possible

This is not always applicable, but if you can keep URLs the same on both old and new pages, you will save a lot of time. Besides, it will help you save time on mapping redirects, but it will also prevent the traffic drops when the new page replaces the old one.

Still, if your old URLs are messy, irrelevant and don’t describe the page content, you should change them.

2. Download All Your Old URLs Before Launching a New Site

It’s essential to download all the URLs before the new site is due to go live. That way, you have enough time to accurately map out old to new and find different sources for less obvious broken or old URLs.

3. Place Your URLs in Order of Length in the .htaccess 301 Redirect or Plugin

The order of URLs in .htaccess and plugin specifies which redirects will be executed first. The best would be to use a length formula and count the character length of the URLs and then sort them into categories, from the longest to the shortest one.

By putting the shorter URLs at the bottom of each category, you will prevent them from triggering before the longer URL redirects have had the chance to take place.