What to Check When Using the URL 301 Redirect Checker?

When you are using our URL 301 Redirect Checker, do you make sure you are checking all 301 redirects each time you implement a 301 redirect?

For example, you implemented a 301 redirect on a website you are managing. It can be a server-side redirect or a redirect that your CMS or WordPress plugin does for you.

And, let’s say the redirect is from your non-www homepage URL to your preferred www version URL. Then you open your favorite web browser and you see that your old http://example.com now redirects to http://www.example.com. How many times out of 10 can you honestly say that you also make sure that a different webpage on that website such as http://example.com/page.html will also redirect to http://www.example.com/page.html when a website user comes to visit it?

If your answer is less than 10 then you definitely can use the checklists I am giving you in this post. It is because solving one redirect issue doesn’t necessarily solve all redirect issues and may sometimes remove an existing redirect. I highly recommend that you only stop working on 301 redirects on any website after you are satisfied with all your intended and expected SEO redirects.

All the checklists below use example.com as the website’s domain. All redirects are intended and expected to be search engine friendly 301 permanent redirects.

Case 1: HTTP to HTTP

A) Non-WWW to WWW – when you want to redirect all non-www urls to www preferred version urls and all are HTTP to HTTP.

1. The non-www homepage url must redirect to its www version.

   http://example.com => http://www.example.com

2. Any non-www page url which is not the homepage must redirect to its www version.

   http://example.com/category-page.html => http://www.example.com/category-page.html

   http://example.com/category/product-123.html => http://www.example.com/category/product-123.html

   http://example.com/about-us.html => http://www.example.com/about-us.html

   http://example.com/faq.html => http://www.example.com/faq.html

3. The non-www homepage index url must redirect to the www homepage url.

   http://example.com/index.html => http://www.example.com

   http://example.com/index.php => http://www.example.com

4. The www homepage index url must redirect to the www homepage url.

   http://www.example.com/index.html => http://www.example.com

   http://www.example.com/index.php => http://www.example.com

B) WWW to Non-WWW – when you want to redirect all www urls to non-www preferred urls and all are HTTP to HTTP.

1. The www homepage url must redirect to its non-www version.

   http://www.example.com => http://example.com

2. Any www page url which is not the homepage must redirect to its non-www version.

   http://www.example.com/category-page.html => http://example.com/category-page.html

   http://www.example.com/category/product-123.html => http://example.com/category/product-123.html

   http://www.example.com/about-us.html => http://example.com/about-us.html

   http://www.example.com/faq.html => http://example.com/faq.html

3. The www homepage index url must redirect to the non-www homepage url.

   http://www.example.com/index.html => http://example.com

   http://www.example.com/index.php => http://example.com

4. The non-www homepage index url must redirect to the non-www homepage url.

   http://example.com/index.html => http://example.com

   http://example.com/index.php => http://example.com

Case 2: HTTP to HTTPS

A) Non-WWW to WWW – when you want to redirect all non-www urls to www preferred version urls and all are HTTP to HTTPS.

1. The less secure HTTP non-www homepage url must redirect to its secure HTTPS www version.

   http://example.com => https://www.example.com

2. Any less secure HTTP non-www page url which is not the homepage must redirect to its secure HTTPS www version.

   http://example.com/category.html => https://www.example.com/category.html

   http://example.com/top-selling-product.html => https://www.example.com/top-selling-product.html

   http://example.com/contact.html => https://www.example.com/contact.html

   http://example.com/terms.html => https://www.example.com/terms.html

3. The less secure HTTP non-www homepage index url must redirect to the secure HTTPS www homepage url.

   http://example.com/index.html => https://www.example.com

   http://example.com/index.php => https://www.example.com

4. The less secure HTTP www homepage index url must redirect to the secure HTTPS www homepage url.

   http://www.example.com/index.htm => https://www.example.com

   http://www.example.com/index.php => https://www.example.com

B) WWW to Non-WWW  – when you want to redirect all www urls to non-www preferred urls and all are HTTP to HTTPS.

1. The less secure www homepage url must redirect to its secure HTTPS non-www version.

   http://www.example.com => https://example.com

2. Any less secure www page url which is not the homepage must redirect to its secure HTTPS non-www version.

   http://www.example.com/blog/category/sample-post/ => https://example.com/blog/category/sample-post/

   http://www.example.com/privacy-policy => https://example.com/privacy-policy

   http://www.example.com/products/ => https://example.com/products

   http://www.example.com/testimonials => https://example.com/testimonials

3. The less secure HTTP www homepage index must redirect to the secure HTTPS non-www homepage url.

   http://www.example.com/index.html => https://example.com

   http://www.example.com/index.php => https://example.com

4. The less secure HTTP non-www homepage index url must redirect to the secure HTTPS non-www homepage url.

   http://example.com/index.html => https://example.com

   http://example.com/index.php => https://example.com

Case 3: HTTPS to HTTPS

A) Non-WWW to WWW – when you want to redirect all secure HTTPS non-www urls to secure HTTPS www preferred version urls.

1. The secure HTTPS non-www homepage url must redirect to its secure HTTPS www version.

   https://example.com => https://www.example.com

2. Any secure HTTPS non-www page url which is not the homepage must redirect to its secure HTTPS www version.

   https://example.com/downloads => https://www.example.com/downloads

   https://example.com/smartphones => https://www.example.com/smartphones

   https://example.com/contacts => https://www.example.com/contacts

   https://example.com/rewards => https://www.example.com/rewards

3. The secure HTTPS non-www homepage index url must redirect to the secure HTTPS www homepage url.

   https://example.com/index.htm => https://www.example.com

   https://example.com/index.php => https://www.example.com

4. The secure HTTPS www homepage index url must redirect to the secure HTTPS www homepage url.

   https://www.example.com/index.htm => https://www.example.com

   https://www.example.com/index.php => https://www.example.com

B) WWW to Non-WWW – when you want to redirect all secure HTTPS www urls to secure HTTPS non-www preferred version urls.

1. The secure HTTPS www homepage url must redirect to its secure HTTPS non-www version.

   https://www.example.com => https://example.com

2. Any secure HTTPS www page url which is not the homepage must redirect to its secure HTTPS non-www version.

   https://www.example.com/blog/article/ => https://example.com/blog/article/

   https://www.example.com/tutorials => https://example.com/tutorials

   https://www.example.com/features/ => https://example.com/features

   https://www.example.com/videos => https://example.com/vidoes

3. The secure HTTPS www homepage index url must redirect to the secure HTTPS non-www homepage url.

   https://www.example.com/index.html => https://example.com

   https://www.example.com/index.php => https://example.com

4. The secure HTTPS non-www homepage index url must redirect to the secure HTTPS non-www homepage url.

   https://example.com/index.htm => https://example.com

   https://example.com/index.php => https://example.com

I hope you can find these checklists useful the next time you use our URL 301 Redirect Checker.

When put into a spreadsheet, this is how it can look like:

You may download a copy of my spreadsheet here.