Redirections are an essential part of any website’s SEO strategy. There are times when using a redirect are absolutely essential to one’s website. Website owners commonly make the mistake of not setting up a redirect when they move a page or change the domain of their site. Failing to setup a redirect will not only cause confusion for visitors who try to access an old URL, but it can also confuse the search engines if proper instructions are not given to them. A redirect is any method that automatically directs a user from one page to another.
Common methods for redirecting users are Meta Refresh, JavaScript Redirects, and 301 Redirects. Most website owners at one point or another will move a page, or even an entire site. It might be changing the name of a directory or a file name. Or it may be a more significant change, such as converting the site from older HTML files to modern PHP files. In some cases, the change may be drastic, changing the very structure and navigation of the website. It is essential that one sets up the proper redirection to avoid receiving a penalty from search engines.
Anytime one moves a page, or changes the URL that is used to access a specific page or set of pages, one need to setup a 301 Redirect. The 301 status tells the browser that the page has been moved permanently. This is extremely important to search engines as it tells them to update their database with the new link and to drop the old link. Whenever one changes the location of a page on one’s website, it is extremely important that one tell the web browsers that one has permanently moved the page.
Setting up a redirect can be very easy to do if one has a relatively small site or simple redirection. However, if one has a large website or are changing the way one links to one’s pages, setting up a redirection can be complicated. The .htaccess file is where most redirections take place. The .htaccess file is a file that resides in the root directory of one’s website (the same directory that holds the main page of one’s website). It is always listed as .htaccess.
