Changing the URL or permalink of an existing blog post or page on your site without setting up 301 redirects in WordPress will result in a ‘broken link’. And I’m sure you don’t want that. Correct? Well, broken links can be very bad for the overall health of your blog as they will send your readers and search engine crawlers to a page that no longer exists resulting in a terrible experience overall. So you’ll need a tool that can redirect those previous URLs to your updated URL links.
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What are 301 Redirects in WordPress?
A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect to a URL that forwards both traffic and search engine crawlers to a different URL. As far as the SEO approach is concerned, 301 redirects are always considered a best practice as they send 99% link authority to the redirected page, which contributes a lot to ranking your site.
Why do we need 301 Redirects in WordPress?
The process of redirection is designed to forward one URL to a different URL on the same blog or website. Its purpose is to direct your visitors to a different (and updated) URL than the one they searched for. When you want to pass as much link authority as possible from the old URL to the new URL, a 301 redirect is a permanent and safest redirect to use for blog SEO best practices.
How do 301 Redirects in WordPress Help us?
The number 301 indicates the HTTP status code that gives you the highest probability of maintaining your organic search ranking for the keyword phrases for which the old URL was ranking because they will be sent directly to the new URL. Actually, ‘301 redirect’ is the best HTTP status code if you want to redirect the content of a page or post of your blog to a new URL.
How to create 301 redirects in WordPress?
Most bloggers, including me, use a free WordPress plugin called ‘Easy Redirect Manager’ to quickly set up 301 redirects for any post or page to be taken to a new URL. Being beginner-friendly and easy to use, it keeps you away from the crowd and is definitely one of the best plugins aimed at redirecting your old URL to a new URL.
About Easy Redirect Manager
Redirects help you manage and create 301, 302, and 307 redirects for a WordPress site to improve SEO and visitor experience. Using 301 redirects in WordPress is not only important from an SEO point of view, but it also helps in developing a strong relationship with your readers.
Perfect for repairing new sites or links after rearranging your old content, or when your site’s content expires and you want to avoid sending visitors to a 404 error page and create a redirection instead. Use the 404 error log to identify the problematic link. The 301 Redirect GUI is located in WP-Admin – Settings – 301 Redirects. 404 Error Log Widget can be found in WP Admin – Dashboard.
301 Redirects in WordPress Settings
Once the plugin is installed, simply navigate to Settings and you will see a full list of all your 301 redirects, to apply them wherever you need to. I’m sure it’s not going to be difficult anymore. Correct? Once done, you can easily forward all traffic and search engines to the new destination URL and you can see that 99% of the link authority from your previous URL will be redirected to the new destination URL within a few weeks. Why? Because it takes time for the search engine to index the new URL and trace it towards the old URL.
Final Verdict on ‘301 Redirect’
Whether you are just starting your blogging career or you are already an established blogger, sooner or later you will need a tool to redirect your old URL to a new URL and here comes the importance of a free WordPress plugin called – ‘Easy Redirect Manager’. So why not learn how to use it well so that if you want to change the permalink of a previous post or page, you can easily create a new link for the same? Just think.
