URL Redirects

When a path changes, redirect

Sometimes a path or URL alias change is necessary. You can minimize the impact of the change by taking these steps:

1. On your site, update links and references to the old path. You may find these within the text of your pages, in blocks, etc.
2. Change bookmarks, homepages, and shortcuts on your computer(s) to use the new path.
3. Set up a redirect to ensure that visitors requesting the old path are automatically sent to the new one.

Creating redirects

When a new site goes live, path changes and redirects are commonly necessary, especially if the old and new sites use different path patterns. Example:

• Old site path: http://www.example.org/page-name.html
• New site path: http://www.example.org/my-custom-path
• A redirect will help visitors who request http://www.example.org/page-name.html get to http://www.example.org/my-custom-path.

1. Go to Configuration > [Search and metadata] URL redirects
   
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2. Click Add redirect
   
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3. For "From," enter the old path. For "To," enter the new path.
   
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4. Click Save.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 as needed to create redirects for the old paths that are relevant to your site.
6. Monitor the "Fix 404 pages" tab for pages where you might consider setting up additional redirects.
   
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More about Redirects

These Drupal modules (available for all SCLS-hosted Drupal sites) manage your site's URL redirects:

• Global Redirect: searches for aliases of requested URLs and redirects if found.
• Redirect: manages redirection from old URLs to new URLs. (Redirect documentation)