Redirecting old pages to new URLs is a common phenomenon in the web development world. Oftentimes, a link redirect becomes essential because you may need to create a scheduled post or page, delete a post, fix broken links, etc. Thankfully, WordPress offers many tools to redirect old URLs. So, in this post, we will be looking at the best WordPress redirect plugins.
But before that, let’s understand a bit about redirects and the different types of URL redirects. So, let’s get started!
What is link redirection in WordPress?
URL redirection, also called link redirection, is a technique that lets you access a web page from more than one URL address. When a user tries to open a page with a redirected URL, the browser automatically displays the page at the new URL.
With URL redirection, you can direct people from pages that don’t work to another page. There are two ways to change your website’s URLs: You can use your host cPanel or a WordPress redirect plugin.
Moving on, there are different kinds of redirections, and not every plugin handles them. Here are a few examples of the most popular redirects:
301 Redirects
This redirection is good for SEO because it tells the web browser and search engine that the content has been permanently moved. It gives all the old URL’s ranking power to the new URL. These kinds of redirects last forever and are the most common.
302, 303, 307 Redirects
These redirections are usually temporary in nature and inform users that the page they are trying to visit is temporarily unavailable.
304 Redirects
304 redirections direct users to a cached version of the page because there haven’t been any new modifications to the webpage.
308 Redirects
This redirection is an alternative to 301 redirections. It does the same thing, but 301 redirections are still the most common choice.
404 Redirects
404 is a very common redirect that you all must have experienced. Basically, 404 returns a not found page. This happens when a page no longer exists, but the links to that page are still operational. 404s are not good for SEO, and if search engines find 404s on your site, it will rank poorly.
So, these were some of the most basic types of redirects. Now, let’s try to understand why we need a plugin to manage redirects in WordPress.
Why Use a redirect plugin for WordPress?
Maintaining intact links is essential because they can help your site’s rankings and make it easier for people to reach you. When you click on a broken link on a website, it’s like when your GPS takes you to a dead end: it’s annoying and a waste of time. You want to avoid that happening to those visiting your site.
Even though you should constantly examine your website for broken links, doing so is especially crucial when switching from another platform to WordPress. Moreover, it’s also critical to remove subfolders if you intend to modify the URL structures of your pages.
Managing URL redirection manually is difficult for people who don’t have much coding knowledge. However, you can easily automate the redirection process and keep track of all the links with a link redirection plugin. The following are the main advantages of using a redirect WordPress plugin for your website:
- You can easily create, delete, or change redirected URLs from the dashboard of your WordPress site.
- Since the website will manage the redirect options from the inside, there is less chance of a data breach on the website.
- When you use a plugin to manage link redirection, you can easily change the type of redirection from your site without any coding.
So, now you know why using a WordPress redirect plugin can help you easily manage your URL redirects. Next, let’s see what things you should look for in a redirect plugin.
Things to Look For In redirect plugins
There are a lot of WordPress redirect plugins that you can find just by looking through the WordPress plugin library. We’ve made a list of questions to help you decide whether the redirect WordPress plugin you are looking at is worth it or not. Let’s check it out.
1) Effect on site loading
You should first check whether or not the redirect WordPress plugin is slowing your website. Due to bad code and extra features, the redirection plugin can make your website load slowly. In turn, a slow website can make people leave more often and hurt your SEO ranking, among other things.
So, you should see how fast the WordPress redirect plugin works before buying one.
2) Memory usage
The plugin’s use of server space is the second issue you should look into. If you have a WordPress site, you will already be using many other plugins. And if the WordPress redirection plugin takes up a lot of memory space, it hurts the site.
So, you should use a redirection plugin that only takes up a little space.
3) Plugin status on the WordPress community
The WordPress community tries to help people find simple ways to keep their websites running. To help with this, the WordPress plugins library has a rating system for plugins, review options, the ability to create issues, and much more.
So, before choosing a redirect plugin, it is wiser to look at all this information in the WordPress plugins repository.
4) Essential features for WordPress redirect plugins.
While looking for a WordPress redirect plugin, make sure it has all the features you need for redirection. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the essential WordPress redirection features for you.
- Availability of all redirection types (301,302,307 etc.)
- Option to import/export data from the plugin.
- Able to do dynamic and bulk redirections.
- Option to create new redirected links.
- Custom link shortening.
- Able to transfer data from other redirection plugins.
Now, let’s talk about the best WordPress redirect plugins.
Best WordPress redirect plugins
The plugins we will discuss in this article include:
- Redirection
- Simple 301 Redirects
- All in One SEO
- Yoast SEO
- Safe Redirect Manager
Let’s have a look at the features of each of these plugins one by one.
1) Redirection
If you want to manage 301 redirects and keep track of your 404 errors, Redirection is the plugin for you. With Redirection, you can create a redirect automatically when the permalink of a post or page changes or when certain other conditions are met.
Moreover, you can also use the configurable logging feature of redirection to see all redirects on your site and keep track of information about the visitor, the browser they used, and the site that sent them to your site.
Here are some key features of this plugin.
Features
- Categorize link redirection based on logged-in/out.
- It can redirect based on the browser.
- 301 redirects.
- 404 error tracking.
- Redirect based on an HTTP header.
- Redirected link-based WordPress filter.
- Redirect if client IP matches
- Redirects another domain on the same server.
- Visitors from other pages can be redirected.
- Redirects with a cookie.
Price
Redirection is free to download.
2) Simple 301 Redirects
Simple 301 Redirects is another one of the best WordPress redirect plugins, with over 1 million downloads. This plugin makes it easy to direct visitors to a different page on your site or elsewhere.
It helps a lot when you move a site to WordPress and can’t keep the URL structure the same. If you set up Simple 301 Redirects, any incoming links and their page rank will easily be transferred from your old pages to your new ones.
Here are some features of Simple 301 Redirects.
Features
- Easy 301 redirects.
- Export/import redirects.
- Bulk redirects.
- Wildcard directory redirect.
- Easy and user-friendly interface.
- Use this plugin for blogs—eCommerce, magazines, small businesses etc.
Price
Simple 301 Redirects is free to download.
3) All in One SEO
All in One SEO is among the best WordPress SEO plugins if you want to create a top-performing website, including a 301 redirect manager. It has everything you need to make your website SEO-friendly. Besides, its paid version comes with a powerful redirection manager.
Redirection is a key feature for maintaining SEO on your WordPress site. You must redirect old links if you change your website’s URLs or delete content. Otherwise, search engines and visitors will receive a 404 error (Page not found). If your website has many 404s, it will hurt your site’s search ranking.
All in One SEO is a complete WordPress SEO package. If you have zero knowledge of coding, you can still use AIOSEO. With the plugin’s setup wizard, you can set up SEO basics on your site in less than 10 minutes.
With the Redirection manager of the plugin, you can easily track 404 errors, manage 301 redirects, and fix dead ends. To manage your redirects, copy and paste the old and new URLs into the right fields.
Here are some key features of AIOSEO.
Features
- Multiple redirect types (301,307 and more)
- 404 logging
- Automatic redirection
- Custom rules
- Redirect using tracking
- In-post redirect management
Price
AIOSEO is a premium plugin that comes in four different license tiers. The packages start from $749/year with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
4) Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is another commonly used WordPress plugin for link redirections. The free version has many great features. However, the redirect manager only comes with a premium plan.
With the help of the redirect manager, you can easily redirect your pages to a different location on your WordPress site. You can use the status codes 410 (Gone Error), 451 (Unavailable for Legal Reasons), 301 (Permanently Moved), 302 (Found) and 307 (Temporary Redirect).
You can also do this automatically for the already existing content on your site. The pro version of Yoast SEO will automatically create a redirect from the previous URL to the new URL if you want to modify an existing post or page.
On the other hand, if you delete a page or post, the plugin will notify you to create a redirect. For easy management, the main redirection section consists of three fields. The old URL, the new URL and the type of redirection.
Here are some key features of Yoast SEO.
Features
- Supports multiple types of redirection (301,302,307)
- Setup two HTTP statuses
- User friendly
- SEO friendly.
- Notify when a page moves to a new URL and automatically set up a redirect.
Price
Yoast SEO offers both free and paid versions. The premium version starts at $99/year.
5) Safe Redirect Manager
Safe Redirect Manager is a simple yet one of the best WordPress redirect plugins. With this plugin, you can easily redirect posts and pages to new URLs using HTTP status codes like 301 and 302.
Moreover, this plugin is different from the others because it allows you to set up redirects within the post. You don’t have to go to the settings for the plugin in the WordPress admin dashboard.
Safe Redirect Manager is a lightweight plugin used for major publishing websites. It is designed to handle a lot of traffic and is available in English and other languages.
Safe Redirect Manager is an easy choice for our list because it has everything you need to set up 301 redirects. It doesn’t have any extra features, like a 404 error manager, which would make it less valuable. However, that makes it a good plugin for website owners who want to avoid using heavy plugins to keep their site’s performance high.
Here are some key features of Safe Redirect Manager.
Features
- Wildcard redirects
- Multiple types of redirects
- Add notes to each redirect rule
- In the database, save redirect rules as custom post types
Price
Safe Redirect Manager is a free plugin.
Conclusion: BEST WORDPRESS REDIRECT PLUGINS
That’s it, folks!
In this article, we discussed some of the best WordPress Redirect Plugins and why they are essential for all websites, no matter how old they are and what they do. You may need to set up a few redirects as your website grows to ensure visitors get to the pages they want. Even 404 errors can have less of an effect on your site if you use redirects.
All that, though, is only possible with the right WordPress redirect plugin. All the above plugins can make it easier for you to set up redirects on your site so that you (and your visitors) can avoid ending up at a dead end.
Recommendations
You can go right with all these plugins, but we will make the choice even easier for you. We recommend Redirection for small and mid-sized business owners and freelancers who run a small-medium website because it is free and covers almost your every need.
However, if you want a complete SEO solution with powerful redirects, AIOSEO is for you.
Yoast SEO will work best for you if you own a small–to–large enterprise website that needs a powerful SEO tool with a robust redirect plugin.
We hope you have found this article helpful. Which redirection plugin do you use on your website? How often do you have to set up custom redirects in your WordPress website? Tell us in the comment section below.
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