When you visit a redirected web page on WordPress, 301 WordPress flashes the pop-up message, saying that the page is permanently moved, and takes you to a new web page. There are other popular redirects like 302 and 307. However, 301 is the most preferred redirect, because of a variety of reasons.

Why is 301 WordPress redirect so special?

When your website or blog visitors increase, you may find the need to move that traffic to a new web page. With the 301 redirect WordPress tool, you can send users from the old to the new post. 

You will need to create a 301 redirect link before –

• You delete a page or a post
• You change the permalink/s on a page or post

If you ignore the creation of redirect links, your pages will flash the undesirable 404 error. This is a very damaging error, which ruins the credibility of your website. It affects your SEO, and damages your search engine ranking. 

Use of 301, redirects the search engines and users to a updated page. It also informs them that the web page or post is moved. It redirects them towards the content they came in search for. The good thing here is that, the backlink strength and traffic of the deleted or moved page gets transferred to the new page. 

Why not use .htaccess or cPanel instead of 301 redirect plugin?

Besides a plugin, there are other methods to redirect a webpage or URL. Instead of going through the efforts of installing a plugin, you can redirect from .htaccess or by using cPanel. It is faster, but performance is poorer in terms of maintainability, which is crucial in the long run. 

Fortunately, with a redirect plugin, you can monitor the redirects, group them and manage with ease. Before redirecting, You can also edit images online with ResizeMyImage and create new web pages that load and perform faster.

Reasons to use WordPress redirect plugin

Redirect every 404 pages 

When users come in search of content on a page of your website, and land on a 404 error page instead, they will simply leave. Now if you take steps to redirect them to your moved page, instead of making them leave, you can stop the damage to quite an extent. 

301 redirect will not impact your search engine ranking either. The ranking value gets transferred to the new page. It is a great opportunity to send users to a more engaging page for improving the sales conversion.

Change URLs

Normally, we do not change the URL or web address, but for some SEO reasons, you will find the need to change them. In these circumstances, ensure that your old URL gets redirected to your new one. Redirect 301 plugin is designed to monitor your old pages or posts for changes in their URL, and send users towards the new one. 

Deal with URL parameters

You cannot customize query parameters with the regular redirect tools on .htaccess and cPanel. Alternatively, a plugin makes it possible for you to ignore or strip and pass them towards your destination URL, if needed. It is also helpful in keeping track of all the redirection processes.

From the 301 redirect plugin controls you can manage all the functions and actions in a breeze. A great plugin! 

Donny white