How to add 301 redirect in WordPress Using Plugins

It is recommending every web developer to set up 301 redirects in WordPress. It is necessary when you are changing the URL (permalinks) of your posts and pages. It is also essential while moving your website from one domain to another domain.

If you change the URL or the domain of your website, then you need to plan before. You have to remember that if something goes wrong with moving one domain to another, you will lose your existing traffic.

So, don’t lose any of your existing traffic and SEO elements for existing post/pages for your old domain. Adding a 301 redirect in WordPress for your posts and pages is easy.

I will introduce few ways so that you can easily add a 301 redirect in WordPress. The 301 redirect in WordPress will help you to manage your posts, pages, and your WordPress blog/website. Besides, It will help you to apply these redirections while retaining your existing traffic.

Let’s start by learning:-

what a 301 redirect is?
When should you add 301 redirects?
Why should you add 301 redirects?

What is a 301 redirect?

A 301 redirect is one of the ways of redirecting that indicates that the page is permanently moving to a new location. There are three main types of redirects that we can use to redirect one URL to another.

301, “Move Permanently”
302, “Move Temporarily”
Meta Refreshment

A 301 redirect is indicating that the URL is “permanently removed” to a new location. Keep in mind that 90% of search engines pass the link juice to the new URL.

If you do not permanently move URL to the new location, then you can consider using 302 redirects. I will explain how to solve this problem while you are changing your website location.

The important thing is that I talk about plugins which will help you to solve this problem. You can study other materials that are available on the web.

When should you add 301 redirects in WordPress?

You have to understand when you need to use 301 redirects in WordPress. Let’s have a look at a few cases where 301 redirects can be helpful.

When you are changing your WordPress installation from the directory
When you are moving your website to a new domain
When you are changing the permalinks (URL structure) of your posts to direct people to the right page.
When you are maintaining a custom destination for your homepage
When you are redirecting to the non-WWW version of your homepage in the WWW version
In all the above point, we need the 301 response status code because we are going to change the URL forever.

Why should you add 301 redirects in WordPress?

So now you know when you need to add 301 redirects in WordPress. I want to give you a few obvious reasons why you should choose 301 redirects in WordPress.

Visitor’s user experience:

You may do not want your website’s visitors to land on a 404 error page. While you are changing your site URL, then you have to remain your traffic level same. That’s why you need the 301 redirect in WordPress so that you can retain your existing traffic.

It is necessary because you are going to change your URLs permanently. So, when you are changing your website URL then add old URL so that your visitors go to the right page.

Search engine optimization:

You know that search engines already index your old URL. So If you are changing the URL, then you have to keep the link juice of those search engine indexed pages. It will help if you do this because of avoiding the harmful effect of search engine ranking.

301 Redirect in WordPress is considering best practices to understand search engine activities. You have to use the 301 redirect in WordPress so that search engines know that the page has moved to a new URL. Search engines record these and find the change as well as pass the ranking into a new URL.

Of course, it will take some time for search engines to crawl and make changes. Also, if you completely change the domain name, then search engines will take time to accept the new domains.

301 redirects in WordPress:

Adding a 301 redirect in WordPress is easy. Here I’m going t mention some methods that you need to use in WordPress, depending on whether you are changing the Permalink or the entire domain URL.

Top 5 WordPress Plugins For 301 Redirects:

Plugins are making WordPress a lot easier. Some popular WordPress plugins make it easy to add 301 redirects.

1. Redirection WordPress Plugin

Redirection is the plugin I use and strongly recommended for 301 redirects. Redirection WordPress Plugin is one of the popular plugins in official WordPress repositories.

Redirection WordPress plugin features:

Download and install the redirect plugin from the WordPress archive. You can also search within your dashboard.
After activating the plugin, go to Tools> Redirect
Add New Redirect WordPress Plugin
Define the source URL, and it can be your old, existing URL and target URL. You have to redirect your new URL, for this, you need to click Add Redirect.
A 301 redirect type is adding by default. Moreover, that’s what you need to do this.
The redirect plugin is powerful and has several more options.

The most important feature is that it automatically adds a 301 redirect. It will help you whenever you are changing the URL of your post in WordPress.

Other features like 404 error need to monitoring and custom redirect methods. All these 301, 302, and 307 redirects may be useful for SEO purposes.

Download the redirection plugin

2. Simple 301 redirect WordPress plugin

This is another plugin that allows you to add only the 301 redirect in WordPress. Simple 301 redirects are also one of the most used WordPress plugins.

Simple 301 WordPress Plugin features:

Download the plugin to install from the WordPress archive.
Once activated, go to Settings> 301 Redirect page.
You will see two boxes are there to add your old URL to the request box and a new URL to the destination box.
Click saves changes, and it will automatically add a 301 redirect.
It would help if you also put an asterisk after the folder name that you want to redirect.

Simple 301 Redirect WordPress Plugin Settings:

Example:

Request: / old-folder / *
Destination: / redirect-everything-here /

Download the Simple 301 Plugin

3. Quick Page/post redirects plugin

Quick Page/post redirect plugin will help you to add different types of redirects such as 301, 302, and 307. Quick Page/post redesigns the 301 redirect in WordPress settings.

Quick page post redirects WordPress plugin features:

Download and install the Quick page/post redirect plugin from the WordPress archive.
We know that two ways will help you to add redirects – “fast redirects” and “individual redirects.”
To add quick redirects, go to the quick redirect menu that you’ll see after activating the plugin.
Enter the request URL and destination URL. Then the plugin will automatically add 301 redirects by default.
You can delete existing redirects by clicking the trash icon at the end of the row. You can edit the redirect by clicking on the pencil icon.
Proper redirect is useful to redirect menu items and duplicate posts. You can redirect any existing page to a different URL.
You will see a meta box at the bottom of your visual editor where you can add 301 redirects from the option.

One final viable option I would mention that the plugin can add ‘rel = “nofollow” “to the link. If you do not want the search engine rank juice, you can redirect to the URL.

Download the Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin

4. Safe Redirect Manager WordPress plugin

If you are a developer or using WordPress Multisite, then I would recommend you for using the Safe Redirect Manager plugin.

This plugin comes from a trusted developer of Premium WordPress Agency-10 up. It will help you to manage your website’s HTTP redirects safely.

Safe Redirect WordPress Plugin features:

Download the Safe Redirect Manager plugin from WordPress Archives.
Once activated, then go to Tools> Safe Redirect Manager.
Click Create redirect rule at the top of the page.
Safe Redirect Manager WordPress Rules
Under Redirect Settings, complete the redirect from and the redirect to URL.
Under the HTTP status code, you have to select manually “301 Move permanently “.
Hit release or schedule when you’re done

Unlike other plugins, you can have a schedule redirects for a later date. You can schedule a post with the Safe Redirect Manager. The actions of the filters make this plugin very extensible.

Download the Safe Redirect Manager plugin

5. Yoast SEO Plugin for WordPress

One final plugin that I would like to mention here is the Yoast SEO plugin. Many developers are using this awesome and exciting plugin.

The Yost SEO plugin doesn’t require any introduction. The plugin has fantastic features that can help you with 301 redirect in WordPress.

The Yoast SEO Plugin lets you edit the .htaccess file that you can use to add 301 redirects. If you are not comfortable editing a .htaccess file, then do not use the plugin.

If you already have the Yoast SEO plugin installed and are comfortable with editing the .htaccess file then follow the steps below

Yoast SEO Plugin Features:

Go to WordPress Dashboard then go to SEO> Tools, and you will see a list of built-in tools for your WordPress.
Click on the file editor tool which lets you edit your .htaccess file.
Before you make any edits, backup your .htaccess file, remember that if you mess up your .htaccess file, you will not have access to your WordPress dashboard.
You will need to login to your FTP client and modify the syntax or the .htaccess file that you backed up.
You will see two boxes for the Robots.txt file and the .htaccess file on this page.
Add your redirect code to the .htaccess file box, and click Save Changes to .htaccess.
You can manually edit your .htaccess file to add different types of redirect codes like 301, 302, 307.

Download the Yoast SEO plugin

The ending raw:

In short, 301 redirects are a necessary task that you have to do while changing your website URLs. You have to do this for both users and search engine’s perspective. If you don’t want to lose your existing traffic and SEO rankings, then you have to use any of the plugins to maintain your website.

You need the 301 redirect in WordPress to help your visitors for directing right URL or domain. I hope that by maintaining all aspects of your traffic and SEO, you will now be able to add the 301 redirects.