In the current tech world, businesses need to have a proper website. This improves its online presence by attracting more customers from different parts of the world. There are many websites around the web and it is essential to have unique addresses which is the URL. In other words, the URL is an essential part of web development that gives a brand identity. There are many features on WordPress that are suitable to help a business advance in its objectives. One of the features is redirecting WordPress URLs or forwarding. This technique is useful to redirect users across different domain names. Moreover, the feature redirects users from one page to another. It is possible to redirect from one website to another, but many web help agencies recommend it to be done on the same website.
Benefits of redirecting WordPress URLs
Redirecting URLs come with dozens of benefits that the owners of the website will get for their business and organization. These are:
1. It helps to increase the website’s traffic.
2. With forwarding, you can reduce the occurrence of the ‘404 not found’ which improves user experience
3. URL Redirecting is essential to increase view time
4. It is useful to link different domain names to the same website.
So, the common ways of redirection in the WordPress web development environment are using a plugin and using other software (without plugins).
Using a Plugin
This plugin is common and it offers redirection services on WordPress. It is commonly useful to redirect users after an error occurs, and also manages how the redirection occurs to ensure a better user experience.
It is most efficient for 404 errors and 303 redirections. The process of setting up the plugin is easy and with a good web development team, it will take a short time. Moreover, it does not need one to have prior knowledge of Apache. Here are the steps to set up the plugin;
- Install the plugin from the WordPress Plugin section.
- Activate it.
- Open the plugin and enter the source URL and the target URL.
Redirecting WordPress URLs Without using the Plugin
The following are the alternatives for a plugin. You can choose one of them depending on the experience of your web developers.
1. Through the cPanel
If you are using the cPanel hosting to host your WordPress site you can easily set up the redirection process with the following simple steps.
I. From the cPanel dashboard click redirects that are under the domains section.
II. Then select the kind of redirection that you want either 301 permanent or temporary.
III. Select the domain name, followed by the page to redirect to.
IV. Finally, type in the redirection address and click add.
2. Using .htaccess File
This is the best solution when using shred web hosting platforms, and it works from the backend. To start the process you need to do some back up then proceed as follows.
I. Click on the file manager from the cPanel dashboard
II. From the next pop-up, select a domain. Then tick the checkbox to show hidden files.
III. Then find out the .htaccess file and edit it by right-clicking. If the .htaccess file is not available on your file manager, you can create using the new file button.
IV. Then on the .htaccess editor, paste this 301 redirect link Redirect 301/old page/NewPage ( remember to edit the old page and new page with actual URL for each respectively)
3. Using the Siteground
Siteground recently launched this feature to help users redirect easily. For setting up follow these steps.
I. Select websites on Site Ground
II. Then select a site
III. You will then see a site tools button click, on it and select redirects under the domain
IV. Enter the path followed by the redirect type and create the redirection
The other alternative software that you can use for redirection are;
• Using cloud flare
• Using the premium feature by MyKinsta
So, these are the common methods that you can use to redirect WordPress URLs using a plugin and without. For web help services and tips be sure to contact us.
