How to Easily Redirect Your WordPress Site to Another Website
You may have heard of the term “content recycling” when referring to a company that re-posts older, unbranded content to generate more leads. While this may be effective in the short term, eventually, this method proves to be less effective than creating brand-new material for your blog. When it comes to SEO (search engine optimization), or getting your blog posts to show up on the first page of search results, you should always strive for original content that will resonate with your target audience.
If you’re already running a WordPress website, you know the struggle of trying to figure out how to easily redirect your site to another without having to manually type in the redirect URL for each post. Luckily, there is a solution: You can use WordPress’ built-in 301 redirect capabilities to create dynamic redirection that takes into account the context of the page. In this tutorial, we will discuss the basics of creating a 301 redirect from one WordPress site to another.
What Is A 301 Redirect?
When a user enters a URL into the search bar on a website, the resulting page is called the “result set”. The search engine tries to determine what content is most relevant to the search term entered by the user. For example, if a user types in the search bar “best movies on Netflix”, the search engine will try to figure out what are the best movies on Netflix. After considering a number of factors, the search engine will present the user with a list of URLs. These are the websites that it has deemed to be relevant to the search term “best movies on Netflix”. When the user clicks on one of these entries, the browser will automatically make a request to that URL, which will then load the corresponding blog post or website.
When a blog post or website gets a certain amount of traffic, the owner may decide to create an archive of this content. An archive is a collection of old blog posts and website content that is not updated regularly. Blog posts and website content that is more than 6 months old may get removed from the primary website, and replaced by the archive. If the blog posts and website content in the archive are more interesting or helpful than the newer material, the archive may eventually become the “parent” or “home” page for the blog.
Why Should You Create A 301 Redirect For Your Blog?
Creating a 301 redirect for your blog is a great way to ensure that your older content gets the exposure it deserves. When users or search engines visit your blog’s homepage, they will automatically see a list of your previous posts. If a user finds an article that is more than six months old, they may assume that the content has been removed from the blog or is no longer available. A 301 redirect ensures that this content is still accessible to the user, even though it may have been moved to the blog’s archive page.
If you’ve ever created a blog for your employer or school, you know that old material may appear to be “stale” at first, as you try to establish yourself as an authoritative voice in your industry. While it may be tempting to delete old blog posts or website content that does not receive a lot of views, a 301 redirect is a great way to keep this content alive and make it easier for users to find what they are looking for.
How To Create A 301 Redirect In WordPress
WordPress makes it easy to create a 301 redirect. Simply go to Settings → Permalink and click on the Save button. Now, whenever you create a blog post or update a website, you will see a drop-down menu with a list of existing posts and websites that you can redirect to. Simply choose the destination URL for each entry, and you’re good to go. Once you’ve created your redirects, you can test them by clicking on the Preview button. You should see the results of your redirects immediately, as long as you’ve got the correct settings in place.
More Information On Redirects
If you’d like, you can find more information on 301 redirects in the WordPress documentation or on the web.