What is a WordPress Redirect and When Should I Use Them?

Using Redirect Plugins

Redirects are used to help maintain the flow of your website, ultimately helping conserve a pleasant user experience as well as your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Redirects link to an updated URL either a temporary (302 redirect) or permanent (301 redirect) page. If a viewer were to click on a broken link, instead of getting an error code or a broken page, a redirect would automatically send them to the correct URL. Same for when bots are measuring your site for authority as search engines do not want to recommend sites with broken or missing links. Using redirect plugins are extremely beneficial to upkeeping the overall movement of your website.

When should I use a redirect?

• You moved your site to another domain name and want to ensure your viewers can still find you without making them learn your new domain name
• You realize one of your previous links is broken (i.e you deleted or moved a page)
• You are updating or performing maintenance on one of your pages
• You upgrade from HTTP to HTTPS and that changes your URLS
• You combine or merge some of your pages into one

There are many redirect plugins for your WordPress site to choose from, so make sure you do your research to find the best one for you and your website. Here you can peruse WordPress’s plugin options.