Do you need URL redirects?

URL redirects can be used for a number of reasons, for example if you’re going through a website change and your business will need to use a new website address, then URL redirects can be the perfect solution. Through redirects your customers can type in your old URL and be automatically sent to your new website address.

Below we outlined all you need to know about URL redirects and how you can use it to support your business.

So, what exactly is a URL redirect?

A URL redirect is essentially a way for your old websites to direct visitors or users to your current URL. So, let’s say that your old website name was oldsite.com and you want to name it newsite.com, then through a URL redirect, the visitors that type in oldsite.com will be transferred to newsite.com immediately. In this way, they won’t receive an error message or become confused about what happened with their favourite website.

There are a few types of redirects for you to use depending on your website goals. There is a 301 redirect which is a permanent one and the most common method used for implementing redirects across your website. The 302 redirect is more temporary, if, for example, you want to move a page temporarily, but intend to go back to your old URL. The third type of redirects is a meta refresh which is typically used on page loading screens, meaning that will redirect on a page level, not on the server level.

When should you use one?

If you have duplicate content on your website, then you need to use a 301 redirect for the duplicate piece of content to direct visitors to the original page. Also, when you want to change your domain, you should always use a permanent redirect because it can help you keep all the links you’ve built, the search engine rankings and your regular visitors.

If you have multiple domains, then you should use redirects as well. Some of you may choose to purchase multiple domain names in order to protect the online presence of your brand and so using URL redirects can help visitors reach your new domain from any of your other domains. It’s a common solution used by companies in order to gain traffic and help those visitors that misspell their company name. Moreover, companies will often purchase anything similar to their domain name to avoid their competitors from buying those and steal their potential customers.

So, all in all, you should definitely use URL redirects, because they really are a smart way to maintain your traffic and a solid SEO strategy.

Tags :  domain names,  redirects,  URL