Goal: To properly implement and test 301 redirects on your WordPress website.

Ideal Outcome: The page you want to redirect no longer displays a 404 error or the old content and is now redirecting users and search engines to the new URL. Another outcome would be when other websites make typo errors in linking to your website, you can redirect the wrong backlinks to the correct URL.

Prerequisites or requirements: This exact process only applies to self-hosted WordPress sites.

Why this is important: Having users or search engines experience either 404 (Page Not Found) errors or outdated content should be avoided as much as possible.

Where this is done: In your WordPress Admin panel.

When this is done: Whenever unexpected 404 (Page Not Found) errors are detected, or you want to redirect users automatically and permanently from a URL to another.

Who does this:

The person responsible for website management, or SEO.

If you haven’t yet, you’ll need to install “Redirection” on your WordPress website:

  1. Log in to your WordPress Admin Panel.
  2. On the sidebar to the left, hover ‘Plugins’ 🡪 ‘Add New.’

  1. On the top right corner type ‘Redirection’ on the search box.

  1. Click ‘Install Now’ 🡪 ‘Activate.’

  1. On the sidebar to the left, hover ‘Tools’ and click ‘Redirection’:

  1. You will be redirected to the ‘Welcome to Redirection’ page, click ‘Start Setup’ button: