How to implement redirect posts & pages with 301 redirects?

“Redirects are the perfect fix to turn a loss into gain, or at least we could try.”

But the question we are sure crossed your mind: Should You Use Redirects? If yes! Is there any strategy to carry out them?

Well, according to a new rule of 3xx redirection, now Google does not penalise websites for 301 and 302 redirects. However, before it was 15% on 301 and 100% on 302 with a penalty of Page Rank loss.

Other than that, you can even boost your website organic tariff if you enact it correctly.

Note: Keep one form of redirects to increase your website DA (Domain authority).

Now, after the conviction, it’s time to talk about implementation.

What are 301 redirects?

Known as “Moved Permanently” as the name suggests, they use it for a permanent URL shift. In this way, you tell the visitors & crawler that this page or post URL permanently redirects to a new destination.

Note: If you want to add this URL ever again, use 302 instead of 301.

Why use 301 redirects?

To send both visitors and search engine crawlers on the new URL is the most common reason for 301 redirects. In case you maintain your site, change or delete that page or post, URL changes as well. And then if you don’t replace URLs of the respective pages, both visitors & crawlers can land on 404 pages.

If you have a big project, it should follow a prepared URL migration strategy. Make sure you use Google Search Console tool to check for link matters and others.

When to use 301?

• Replace an old site design with the new one
• Reorganizing existing WP site content
• Expired content and you wish to redirect visitors elsewhere

Points to remember while using 3xx changes-

• Every redirect carries at least the degree of SEO risks
• For perfect redirecting, make sure elements are the same except the URL
• 301 is the most preferable redirecting method instead of others. But it’s not clear if Google treats redirects equally
• If you redirect the non-relevant page or buy a new site to redirect hundreds of pages, you won’t see much boost
• Except for the Page Rank, some other matters too that you can face after the process such as indexing issues
• While changing URL for SEO, includes:

1. Human-readable URL
2. Keywords in URL
3. Remove multiple query parameters
4. Directory/Subfolder structure

How to Manage Redirection (Using WP Plugin)?

You will be happy to hear that, in WordPress, you can use plugins to redirect 301. It has full-blown redirecting tools to manage the process. And the most efficient thing to enjoy is, you don’t have to use a single line of code.

However, there could be distinct plugins but as we are talking about 301, we are discussing only simple 301 redirects;

Simple 301 redirects- While just performing some easy setbacks, you can redirect 301. The performance of this plugin is fast, but they can slow it within some microseconds depending on your hosting providers.

Steps-

1. Short Wizard > Add new button
2. The setting appears

• Source URL- For original URL you want to redirect from
• Query parameters- Leave blank as a default
• Target URL- For the new URL you want to take visitors
• Group- You can leave this blank too or you can create a new group for different redirects

1. Click Add redirects

Note: If your site page does not seem like it’s redirected, clear some cached data from the site.

Furthermore, for rapid redirection use the .htaccess method (explained below).

How to use 301 redirects (Using .htaccess file)?

Apart from the other redirecting methods in this segment of the article, we are discussing the common method through the .htaccess file, steps include:

• Go to the root folder of the file- If you don’t see the .htaccess file there could be two cases:

1. You don’t have it- Create one by using notepad (windows) and TextEdit (Mac) and save it as .htaccess.

(Note: remove the standard text.file extension)

1. Your site is not running on an Apache web server- It’s a bit of a technical matter (so we are not going on deep in the technicalities). For basics, only Apache web servers use .htaccess, so check for it or ask your web host.

However, as a WordPress site owner, you don’t have to go in deep and a single step will do it for you with WP redirection plugin.

How to use 301 for an organic traffic boost?

Let’s lead you to some serious talk now that can boost your organic traffic by 301 redirecting.

Here the most preferable methods:

The Cocktail Technique-

Maybe your website pages perform okay! But they should perform Great? Combine the best and get the same, method called Cocktail (as the name suggests). The reason you should use it is when you have a consolidation of “authority” and need better content.

Step highlights:

1. First Look for keywords cannibalization issues
2. Find relevant opportunities
3. Rewrite and merge the page
4. Publish your renovate page implement the 301 redirect(s)

The Merger method-

Merging two sites is the process of merger methods. The thriving example of this method is “Backlinko” that enjoys over 116% of traffic gain. In this, buy a site with some intent and redirect it to your site.

Steps highlights:

1. Re-home and redirect content
2. Delete and redirect to a different page
3. Delete and redirect your home page

Things to keep in mind:

1. Topics of the website should be reverent to your site
2. Site should have organic traffic
3. High-quality content
   

Note: When you perform the domain to domain redirect, make sure the relevance is over 70%.

Happy Redirecting!

301 can work like a dream comes true SEO building technique or a nightmare at the same time. The difference between both is: How You Are Redirecting! At last, when you have done performing all these redirect practices, check for the broken links of the site.

However, if you are not a tech-savvy, it’s better to enlist WordPress SEO Services for secure redirecting.

Thus, if you find something we have missed to explain in this blog, please let us know in the comment section.