Redirect an old address to the new one

What you get: that whoever enters an address that no longer exists ends up in the one that does, without seeing a 404 error and without Google penalizing you for it.

Before starting

Decide what type you need, because they don’t break down the same way:

  • Permanent (301) — “this has moved forever”. Google moves the positioning of the old to the new. It’s the one you almost always want.

  • Temporary (302) — “this is on another site for a while”. Google doesn’t translate anything.

Be careful with the 301: browsers save it. If you make a mistake and correct it, whoever has already visited it may continue to go to the wrong address for days. When you doubt, start with a 302 and change it to 301 when you see it correctly.

Steps

  1. Websites → Redirects menu.

  2. New redirect.

  3. Site — from which of your sites.

  4. Type — Permanent (301) or Temporary (302).

  5. From path — what is behind the domain. For example /tienda-antigua.

  6. To address — where do you send who enters? It can be another route of yours or a complete address from outside.

  7. Create redirect.

How to check it worked

Open the old address in a private window. In a normal one, if you had already visited it, the browser can show you what it had saved and you will think it does not work when it does, or vice versa.

It has to take you to the new one and the address bar has to end up showing the new one.

Common problems

The redirection does nothing

Review the origin route: it goes without the domain and starting with the bar. If you wrote the entire address, remove the domain and leave only what comes after.

I get “too many redirects” or the page never loads

You have made a loop: the new address goes back to the old one, directly or by going around. Delete the redirect, check by hand that the destination address loads alone, and create it again.

I created it wrong, I corrected it and it still goes to the wrong site

It’s your browser, which saved the permanent one. Try it in a private window or in another browser. The others will experience the same thing in a while; that’s why it’s better to try with a temporary one first.

I want to redirect the entire old website to the new one all at once

A redirection goes from one route to one address. To move an entire domain what you want is not this, it is to point to the domain; look at Point your domain here.

My website now redirects on its own and fights with this one

WordPress and company bring their own redirects. If you have both, the server one goes first and the web one can return it to you. Remove one of the two: better the web one.

Does this take away my visits on Google?

With a 301, no: Google understands that you have moved and moves the positioning. With a 302 it does not move anything, so for a real move always use the permanent one.

I need to redirect while keeping what is behind the address

That is no longer a simple redirect and it cannot be configured from here. Tell us by ticket what you want to achieve and we will set it up.