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Every SEO specialist has encountered the concept of a redirection map. If he has not yet learned what the said map is on his own, then certainly after reading the following post, he will find out exactly what it is about.
Redirection map – what’s that?
Explaining the concept of a redirection map in telegraphic terms would be to write that a redirection map is a file that juxtaposes old and new website url addresses Well. Just why juxtapose old and new website url addresses at all?
Redirection-map – what does it serve?
Not infrequently, we come to the conclusion that, for example, it is necessary to change the site’s engine because a given technical solution no longer meets our expectations. Or, simply, our website created several years ago is no longer able to work as we would like it to. Well, something starts to break down, and the fixes could prove more expensive than creating a new website. And that’s when a redirection map comes to our aid.
So, when we implement planned changes to the site, we create a redirection map to ensure proper redirects within the changing URL.
Redirection-map – should you always do it?
As a general rule, a redirection map should be implemented when we change the url’s that are part of our website. However, it is worth analyzing first, whether it is really necessary to change url addresses. Definitely, a much more recommended and welcome solution would be to keep the site structure and URL addresses unchanged. Keeping the site structure unchanged and also the url unchanged avoids the need to implement redirects from the previous url to the current url. Thus, there is no need to prepare a redirection map. However, what when we cannot afford to keep the previous site structure and unchanged url addresses?
Redirects 3XX
If, for various reasons, we are forced to change the url addresses of our bookmarks when changing the site, having a map prepared, it will be necessary to implement proper redirects.
Implementing proper 3XX redirects—as a general rule—should help reduce fluctuations in site visibility changes resulting from the site change. Properly implemented redirects should also help the new version of the site or the new URL get indexed much faster in the organic search results.
When implementing redirects, remember to make them 301, that is, permanent. This is important because this type of redirect will help transfer some of the power from the existing linking to our site. We must also remember to match the old and new URLs of our site as closely as possible. Ideally, redirects should be implemented in a 1:1 ratio.
How to collect URL addresses to create a redirection map?
There are several ways to collect old url addresses and these include:
- using a site map
- use of Screaming Frog or another crawler, such as: OnCrawl or SiteBulb
In the site map – as a rule – we should find all the necessary and valuable url addresses that make up our site. Hence, even before changing the site, it is advisable to export to excel all the url addresses that are part of the site map. However, taking into account the fact that not always the site map – for various reasons – contains all valuable url addresses, as well as it may contain total unnecessary ones, it is worth using the tools as mentioned earlier to realize and save the technical crawl of the site, which is helpful in such situations. I will also add that at this point, not all URL addresses should be forcefully redirected. After all, a particular service, product or category may no longer exist on our new site.
Use subdomain
Something can be forgotten. It happens to everyone. Hence, an interesting and alternative solution would be to move the old site to, for example, the subdomain mentioned earlier, with, of course, blocking the subdomain from indexing. This type of solution—as long as we have the technical capabilities to do so—should be a kind of safety buffer in a surprising situation. After all, thanks to this solution, we will always be able to return to preview our old website.
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