SEO-Guidelines-Smartcrawl/smartcrawl/redirects.md

Redirects

SmartCrawl's Redirects module manages URL redirection from within WordPress, without editing .htaccess or server config. Found under Advanced Tools > Redirects.

Redirect Types

Code	Type	When to Use
301	Permanent	Page permanently moved. Passes ~90-99% of link equity. Default choice.
302	Temporary	Page temporarily moved. Does not pass link equity permanently. Use for A/B tests, maintenance.
307	Temporary (method preserved)	Like 302 but preserves the HTTP method and body. Rare use case.

Default recommendation: Always use 301 unless you have a specific reason for temporary.

Creating Redirects

Basic (Plain Text)

1. Go to SmartCrawl > Advanced Tools > Redirects
2. Click "Add Redirect"
3. Enter the source URL (old URL path, e.g., /old-page/)
4. Enter the destination URL (new URL, e.g., /new-page/ or full URL)
5. Select redirect type (301/302/307)
6. Save

Regex Pattern

Switch to "Regex" mode for pattern-based redirects:

Source: /blog/(\d{4})/(\d{2})/(.*)
Destination: /blog/$3
Type: 301

This redirects dated blog URLs to non-dated versions.

Regex tips:

• Test patterns on regex101.com before applying
• Use capture groups () and backreferences $1, $2, etc.
• Some users report regex patterns not working despite being valid — test thoroughly

Wildcard Redirects

Use regex mode for wildcards:

Source: /old-section/(.*)
Destination: /new-section/$1
Type: 301

This redirects all URLs under /old-section/ to /new-section/ while preserving the path.

Auto-Redirect Deleted Posts (v3.9.0+)

Enable this to automatically create a 301 redirect when a post or page is deleted. The redirect points to:

• The parent page (if it was a child page)
• The homepage (if no logical parent)

Recommendation: Enable this to prevent 404s when content is removed.

Bulk Import/Export

Export

• SmartCrawl exports redirects as JSON
• Useful for backing up redirects before changes

Import

• Import redirects from JSON file
• Useful when migrating between sites or restoring from backup

Bulk Edit

• Change redirect types in bulk (e.g., convert all 302s to 301s)
• Delete all redirects at once (use with caution)

Pro Features

Location-Based Redirects

With SmartCrawl Pro + MaxMind GeoIP database:

• Redirect visitors based on their country or region
• Example: Redirect Canadian visitors to a .ca domain
• Requires MaxMind DB configuration in settings

When to Use Redirects

Scenario	Action
Page URL changed	301 from old URL to new URL
Page deleted, replacement exists	301 to the replacement page
Page deleted, no replacement	301 to the most relevant parent or category page
Site migration (domain change)	301 all old URLs to new domain equivalents
HTTP to HTTPS migration	301 all HTTP URLs to HTTPS (better handled at server level)
www to non-www (or vice versa)	301 (better handled at server level)
Temporary maintenance	302 to a maintenance page
A/B testing	302 to the test variant
Consolidating duplicate content	301 all duplicates to the canonical version

Common Redirect Chains to Avoid

A redirect chain is when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C. This wastes crawl budget and dilutes link equity.

Bad: /old-page/ → /newer-page/ → /newest-page/ Good: /old-page/ → /newest-page/ (and /newer-page/ → /newest-page/)

When adding a new redirect, check if the destination already has a redirect pointing elsewhere. If so, update the chain to point directly to the final destination.

Known Limitations

Issue	Workaround
Cannot reorder redirects	Delete and recreate in the desired order
Regex patterns sometimes fail	Test on regex101.com first; try simpler patterns
No 404 monitoring (Free)	Pro includes a site crawler that detects 404s
No redirect chain detection	Manually audit for chains
Large redirect lists can be slow	Consider moving high-volume redirects to .htaccess or server config

Best Practices

1. Always redirect, never delete — A 404 loses all SEO value the old URL had
2. Redirect to the most relevant page — not always the homepage
3. Audit redirects quarterly — remove redirects for URLs that no longer receive traffic
4. Keep redirect lists manageable — if you have 500+ redirects, consider server-level handling
5. Test after creating — visit the old URL in an incognito window to verify the redirect works
6. Check redirect response code — use httpstatus.io or browser dev tools Network tab