6. Redirects
Redirects enable a substitute page to be displayed instead of the one specified in the url a visitor used to access the site.
Do not use this page unless you know what you are doing.
Some redirects could make your site or parts of it inaccessible.
This page allows several types of redirects to be performed. Some management operations, like renaming a non-hidden article or category, automatically create a temporary redirect valid for four weeks. Use this page to extend it, make it permanent or delete it if no longer needed. Expired redirects are automatically deleted after four weeks.
However, if needing to create redirects as a result of consolidating or splitting articles, carefully map out all the changes that have been (or to be) made, and carefully make a list of all the corresponding redirects to be created. Perhaps break the task down into sub-groups that can be planned, mapped and implemented independently. There can be unintended side effects, so if need be, get help from someone who is familiar with redirects to help you do the mapping, or at least check your intended redirects.
If wanting to redirect the whole site, use the All redirect type here rather than the cPanel option, as using the latter will prevent you from logging in to use the manage pages, which are excluded from any redirects created here.
| # | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Explicit | A specific article/category or feed is replaced with another. Both paths must end with a /. Automatically created when an article or category is given a new Headline/Heading, along with being Enabled |
| 2 | Replace | Replace the start of the path with another, allowing partial matches by what is not included in the match. Works best with articles and categories with well-structured names |
| 3 | Source | If matching to the start of the URL, redirect to a single URL. For redirecting multiple URLs to a new structure |
| 4 | All | Catch-all base URL for pointing all URLs to a new domain that has the same structure. Do not end the domain name with /. No From field shown |
| # | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | From | If the URL starts with this path, the redirect is actioned, and all others ignored. Not shown for All type |
| 2 | To | If From matched the URL, this is used to build the redirect path according to the type. If ~, no redirects are done, allowing specific exemptions for more generic redirects types that follow |
| 3 | Type | Whether the redirect is permanent or not. For Permanent (301) redirects, browsers will update their internal URL favourites to use the new URL, and search engines will transfer any ranking for the old URL to the new one |
| 4 | Expiry | Date redirect will be disabled. Master manager can extend by set periods |
| 5 | Status | Whether enabled. Manually-created redirects are Disabled by default |
| 6 | Delete | Delete the redirect. Only shown to the master manager |
| 7 | Remove all | Delete all Explicit redirects. Only shown to the master manager as the last row of the table |
Only the first part of the URL is altered by the redirect, leaving any included locale or accessibility values intact, so that users experiences are consistent for redirects to local or remote Smallsite Design sites. The exception is for the Source type, where if /-/ is included at the end of the To field of the type, the locale current at redirection time will replace the -, and the current explicit accessibility setting is added.
The default Type is Temporary (302). Leave as that until after the redirect has been thoroughly tested, as any errors in the redirect definition if the Permanent (301) option is used may result in pages being inaccessible to visitors as their browsers remain locked onto the erroneous new URLs. No actions at the site end will correct those permanent browser favourites changes.
While the Permanent (301) option will supposedly result in search engines transferring page rankings to the new URLs, that only benefits really popular pages. Without that option, search engines will recreate the rankings for the new URLs as visitors stay on them rather than the old ones.
Note that:
- a.Enabled non-expired redirects are indicated by a light orange background to the first cell of their row.
- b.All paths are typed in, rather than being selectable, because either the From or To paths may not actually exist at the time of creating or editing the redirect.
- c.The From field for an Explict, Replace and Source type must start with /art/, /cat/ or /feed/.
- d.The redirect is actioned for the first match in the order listed, ignoring all others after. For example, if both Explicit and Replace types are specified, and a path matches one of the Explicit types, that redirection will be used, ignoring any of the Replace types.
- e.If a new redirect's From or To paths match to any earlier redirects' paths, those earlier redirects are deleted so that no redirect loops are created, which could bog down the site.
- f.For all but the All type, if a ~ is used for the To path, no redirection will occur for matches to the From path, thus allowing specific exemptions to a more general redirection following.
- g.The Replace and Source wild-card types are best suited to when well-structured Headlines/Headings are used.
- h.External To URLs must use the secure https scheme, unless other non-https schemes have been specified in the Additional schemes field of the Settings section of the Settings page.
- i.The main home page, while it may have been put into the browser as a path of /, is converted to /art/h-main/ before redirects are checked, so the root of the site can be specifically targeted for redirection.
- j.Smallsite Design automatically redirects URLs with the insecure scheme http to the secure https well before checking for redirects, along with other measures to prevent changing to an insecure scheme.
| # | Type | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Explicit | From: /art/a-about/ To: /art/a-about-me/ |
| 2 | Replace | From: /art/p-write- To: /art/p-create- |
| 3 | Source | From: /art/a-element- To: /cat/elements/ (same site), or https://newdomain.com/cat/elements/ (new site) |
| 4 | All | To: https://newdomain.com |