URL Redirects Manager
Create and maintain 301 / 302 / 307 / 308 rules, optionally match with regex, import batches from compatible redirect plugins, export a CSV audit trail, and read per-rule hit counts plus rollupsβall under SEO Rank Genius β Tools & Analytics β Utilities β URL Redirects.
Before you start
Open WP Admin β SEO Rank Genius β Tools & Analytics, expand the Utilities group if your layout nests tabs, then choose URL Redirects. Deep links always honor tab=url-redirects on the Tools screen.
Navigation anchor
Utilities cluster keeps redirects beside medic + monitor tooling.
Mockup 1 Β· Tab rail mirrors the consolidated Tools page so writers know where redirects live beside URL Medic.
- Test major redirect changes on staging; flushing HTML or full-page caches after go-live avoids false negatives.
- Keep legacy redirect plugins inactive after importβthe UI can import batches, but double engines answering the same slug cause chaos.
- Pair this tab with the 404 Monitor guide when you promote hits from misses to intentional rules.
Redirects screen
The header row summarizes scope: master ON / OFF toggle for Rank Genius-managed redirects (stored with URL Medic settings), Export CSV for spreadsheets, Add Redirect, and KPI tiles for total rules, enabled count, summed hits, and disabled rules.
The table lists every rule with an On toggle, Source URL (red typography in-product), Target URL (green), HTTP Type badge, Hits, and edit/delete icons. Regex rows carry a subtle REGEX pill next to the source.
URL Redirects
Manage types, imports, hit tracking
| Source | Target | Type | Hits | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /old-services/ REGEX | /services/ | 301 | 612 | β π | |
| /promo?utm=β¦ | https://example.com/ | 302 | 44 | β π |
Mockup 2 Β· KPI band + condensed table echoes tab-url-redirects.php markup (pill, CSV, row badges).
Create or edit a redirect
Click Add Redirect or the pencil icon. The modal asks for mandatory Source URL and Target URL fields plus Redirect Type (301, 302, 307, 308), Status (Enabled vs Disabled), and an optional Regex Pattern checkbox for advanced matchers.
Prefer paths you control
Use root-relative paths (for example /legacy/) when both endpoints live on the same WordPress install; absolute URLs belong on cross-domain or CDN hand-offs.
Permanent vs temporary
Use 301 / 308 for canonical migrations and 302 / 307 for short promosβbut confirm marketing expectations because browsers and bots treat permanence signals differently.
Mockup 3 Β· Modal pairs mirror #ur-form: dual columns for type/status plus regex acknowledgement.
Bulk import & CSV export
When Rank Genius detects compatible redirect stacks, Import from Other Plugins renders chip buttons showing each vendor name and live rule totals; one click launches the AJAX import workflow and refreshes the grid on success. The server skips duplicates intelligentlyβexpect counts to differ if some URLs already existed.
Export CSV builds a client-side spreadsheet with headers source_url, target_url, redirect_type, is_regex, enabled, and hit_count pulled from visible rows. Use it as an audit artifact or offline QA matrix (this Utilities tab exposes plugin import chips plus export; spreadsheet upload may live elsewhere in your build).
Import from Other Plugins
Detected redirect plugins on your siteβclick to import rules into Rank Genius storage.
CSV export parity
Export CSV writes every visible column so finance + SEO teams can reconcile campaigns offline.
| source_url | hit_count | is_regex |
|---|---|---|
| /gone/ | 914 | 0 |
| ^/wp-content/old/.* | 221 | 1 |
Mockup 4 Β· Plugin chips mimic ur-import-chip controls; miniature CSV hints at exported headers.
Monitor hits
Each redirect row surfaces an integer hit counter Badge and the KPI row sums totalsβideal for spotting promos still receiving traffic versus dead wood you can prune.
| Source | Interpretation | Hits |
|---|---|---|
| /black-friday/ | Healthy seasonal traffic | 1,240 |
| /wp-json/legacy* | Watch API crawl | 118 |
| /retired-whitepaper | Retire? low signal | 4 |
Mockup 5 Β· Narrative readout tying KPI totals to row-level badges you see in-product.
Troubleshooting
Start with observable signals: toggle state, CDN cache tiers, conflicting plugins, and whether WordPress sees the request before Apache/Nginx-level rules elsewhere.
Master toggle shows OFF?
Hit the green ON pill to re-enable AJAX persistence; Rank Genius skips enforcement while OFF even if rows look enabled.
Hits frozen at zero?
Confirm caching layers (CDN, host micro-cache) are honoring dynamic PHP; static HTML surrogates may bypass server-side counters.
Redirects fight .htaccess or Nginx maps?
Stack order matters. Reconcile Rank Genius-managed PHP redirects with explicit server rules referenced in our .htaccess guide.
Mockup 6 Β· FAQ-style triage for the most frequent utilities desk tickets.