What’s a URL redirect?
URL redirects are a normal and often desirable part of hosting a website or building a web application. A URL redirect (also known as a domain redirect, website redirect and several other names) tells a visitor's web browser to go to a different web page to find the content they were looking for.
Why use a URL redirect?
There are many good reasons to use URL redirects or website redirects. Here are just a few reasons and recommendations:
- The relevant content that was previously available on a URL has moved to another place.
- Companies should protect their brand by purchasing domain names for their various brands and trademarks and redirect those names to relevant pages on their web sites. This secures the intellectual property associated with those names, and the domain names can be used in marketing efforts.
- Third-party platforms are increasingly central to operating many businesses. Platforms for e-commerce (Shopify, Etsy, etc.), fundraising (Kickstarter, Indigogo, etc.), or any other business vertical take away the need to build custom software yourself. A downside is that you usually can’t control the URL structure on these platforms. Consider using memorable, dedicated domain names, or vanity URLs that redirect to the long, unmemorable one the platform gives you. This can be great for individual products or campaigns, making for improved sales and return.
- Consider using dedicated domain names for marketing campaigns. If you’re printing marketing material for the campaign an easy to remember, easily typed domain name can link to relevant content on your main site. This is great for any kind of signage and QR codes for omnichannel marketing efforts.
What’s the difference between permanent and temporary redirects?
The difference between a permanent or temporary redirect is subtle, but very important. Effectively, they do the same thing - a user is redirected to a new URL. However, they have important differences:
- A permanent redirect (HTTP status code 301) tells search engines that the content previously found on the URL being redirected will never be there again. The search engine will then follow the redirect and update their database to show the destination URL. It also assigns the SEO value of the source URL to the destination, which allows you to concentrate SEO value as you see fit. Some browsers will even change any associated bookmarks.
- A temporary redirect (HTTP status code 302) tells search engines that the content previously available at the location may be available again at this location in the future. As a result, the search engine will keep referring to the page by its current URL, and not by the destination URL. Temporary redirects will not transfer SEO value.
With few exceptions, most website redirects should be permanent.
How do I make URL redirects happen?
There are many ways to make URL redirects happen. The first question to answer is whether the redirects need to happen on the same domain, or across different domains.
Redirects on a domain that hosts content.
When a redirect occurs on a domain where you currently host content (e.g. in a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress, you have three main options to accomplish this. If your CMS has a redirect management you can use that, or you can set up application code (e.g. PHP, Ruby, Java, .NET, etc.) or web server configuration (e.g. Apache, Nginx, IIS, etc.). This can be a good solution for technical users who prefer to maintain their own architecture.
While it is possible to do this through a meta tag in the HEAD section of your web page, we do not recommend this. Using meta tags does not use the correct HTTP status code and can potentially harm your SEO. CSS Tricks has an excellent page showing code and configuration examples code and configuration examples for many popular languages and web servers.
Alternatively, with a redirection service like urllo you can simplify your infrastructure and manage all your URL redirects in one place.
Redirects on a domain without content.
For domains without content (e.g. an old domain your company purchased but no longer uses) you can use application code or web server configurations. However, you'll need to run separate applications or web servers for each domain. Instead, you can also use a URL redirect service like urllo, which enables you to manage all your redirects in one, centralized dashboard.. The benefit of using a service is that you don’t have to set up and manage the technical infrastructure, you can get up-and-running very quickly, and you don’t need an IT team to manage it.
What is urllo?
urllo is the leading platform for professional URL redirects for business. Our technology is powered by the world’s most reliable and adaptable cloud-computing infrastructure. Our service has been designed from the ground up to deliver unmatched scalability, security and speed. Several pricing plans are available depending on your needs. We offer a 14-day free trial for all new accounts. Sign up for urllo now.