Enhance WordPress redirect tools

In general, redirect should be used as a "fallback" for defunct URLs. Technically, they help users to find the correct page if they have bookmarked or typed in outdated URLs. Although this is a common purpose, it is not the only one. They may help site visitors and SEO in many other ways as well.

As a general rule, SEO redirects should be handled with caution. Failing to do so may have a negative impact on your SEO ranking. If the redirect fails, search engines will be unaware that the already indexed URL has been updated. As a consequence, when the old address disappears from search results, it will not be replaced by the new one.

Canonical redirect

In general, custom permalink modifications may result in a 404 ("not found") error. Changes to your URLs are unavoidable if you use Permalink Manager to reorganize your permalink structure. WordPress can identify and catch invalid URLs to some extent. That is, when an outdated URL is requested, WordPress looks for the new, updated URL and forwards the visitor if it finds it.

Nonetheless, the aforementioned WordPress functionalities do not always operate as expected. The plugin provides a solution for the old permalinks so that this problem may be avoided, which will also prevent a loss of visitors from search engines.

Canonical redirect
The original permalinks used before installing the plugin will automatically redirect visitors to the new modified URLs. The canonical redirect is covered in more detail in a separate article.
Automatic redirect
The native permalink (team/john-doe) was used before Permalink Manager was installed. It will lead to new custom permalink (staff/john-doe) set in Permalink Manager.

Extra redirects (aliases)

The features described in this article are exclusive to the Permalink Manager Pro and are not available in Permalink Manager Lite (free version)

Buy Permalink Manager Pro

If you need a more powerful solution for improving WordPress redirect tools, consider Permalink Manager. When it comes to controlling redirects, the plugin provides much more versatility than the standard WordPress capabilities.

To summarize, you may use the plugin to generate extra custom redirects (aliases) for each post/page/category or term. This might be particularly useful if you want to allow users to use an extra URL (alias) or redirect traffic from other, obsolete URLs.

The custom redirects panel is easily accessible from the URI Editor. To open it, click the "Permalink Manager" button located under the title field. Then, at the bottom, click the "Manager Redirects" button.

Extra redirects panel in URI Editor

Source URL
(redirect from multiple alias URLs)
Target URL
(redirect to one canonical URL/custom permalink)
http://example.com/product-alias ==> http://example.com/2001-a-space-odyssey-25th-anniversary-edition
http://example.com/uncategorized/2001-a-space-odyssey-25th-anniversary-edition-9780451452733
http://example.com/product/2001-a-space-odyssey-25th-anniversary-edition

Extra redirects can also be generated for previous versions of custom permalinks. This might come in handy if you decide to modify the URLs several times.

How does it work? If the "Save old custom permalinks as extra redirects" option in the plugin options is enabled, the fallback version of the URL will be saved as a "extra redirect" if the permalink is manually altered with URI Editor or bulk updated with the "Regenerate/reset" tool.

Save old custom permalinks as extra redirects
You can find more detailed information about this functionality in this article.

How to redirect post/term to external URL?

Permalink Manager Pro may also be used to redirect any public post, page, or term to any external URL. Unlike internal redirects, you must type the whole URL address into the input field:

External URL redirect in URI Editor

Source URL
(redirect from canonical URL/custom permalink)
Target URL
(redirect to external URL)
http://example.com/car/ford/ford-focus ==> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Focus

How to disable the redirects manager completely?

The extra redirects functionality is enabled by default in the plugin settings. However, if you decide not to use it (for example, if you use another plugin to manage redirects, such as Yoast SEO Premium or Redirection), you may disable it.

To accomplish this, navigate to the plugin settings and uncheck the "Extra redirects (aliases)" option.

Extra redirects (aliases) option in Permalink Manager settings

Can WordPress redirect functions affect your SEO performance?

There are several articles on the importance of redirects in SEO optimization. Please see the article on Ahrefs.com's blog for additional information about them. We also suggest you see the following video to learn how Google handles redirection.

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