Automatic redirects

Overview

Renaming a page breaks every link to its old address: in menus of other sites, in newsletters, in search results. RB Links Redirection notices when the address of a published post or page changes and adds a 301 redirect from the old address to the post.

It is on by default: Settings → Automatic redirects → Redirect the old address when a post’s address changes.

When it happens

The address of a published post, page or public custom post type changes because of:

a new slug — /pricing/ becomes /plans-and-pricing/
a new parent page — /services/design/ becomes /what-we-do/design/
a different date, when the permalink contains it

Drafts and private posts get no redirect: nobody could have linked to them.

The redirect points to the post, not to its new address as text — if the address changes again, the redirect follows. It is marked Address changed in the list of redirects, with a note naming the post.

Subpages

A page with subpages takes them along: /services/design/ moves with /services/. One pattern rule covers the whole branch, so every subpage keeps working too.

Going back

If a post gets an address it had before, the redirect that would now point to itself is removed, and a new one is made from the address it is leaving — no loops.

A redirect you made by hand for the same address is never replaced.

A new page at a freed address

When a post leaves /shared/ and later a new post is published at /shared/, the new post is shown — the automatic redirect from that address is removed. Automatic redirects — marked Address changed, and the ones Duplicate Post RB adds for removed duplicates — always give way to a page that exists at their address.

A redirect you made by hand, imported or added by another plugin keeps working even when a page exists at its address — redirecting a live page is something you may want on purpose.

Documentation