Keeping Old Links Alive With Redirect Maps

Links live much longer than pages. A visitor bookmarks an article. A partner links to a product page from their site. A search engine stores an address it found years ago. When a page moves or a whole website is rebuilt, all of those links still point at the old address. If nothing answers there, people meet a "page not found" error and search engines slowly forget the page ever mattered.

A redirect map prevents that. It is a list of old addresses and the new addresses they should lead to. In our platform it is a first-class part of every website, and we treat it with the same care as the pages themselves.

What a redirect actually does

When a browser asks for an old address, the server replies with a short message: this page has moved, here is the new address. A permanent redirect, known by its status code 301, tells browsers and search engines the move is final, so they update their records and carry the old page's reputation to the new one. A temporary redirect, 302, says the move is short-lived and the old address should be kept.

For website rebuilds and migrations we almost always use permanent redirects. The old address is not coming back.

How we build the map

When we move a site into our platform or redesign one, we build the map deliberately instead of hoping visitors find their way:

1. List every old address that matters. Pages, blog posts, product pages and anything that other sites link to.
2. Decide the best new home for each. The closest match in content, not just the home page. A retired product page should lead to its replacement or its category, not to a generic landing page.
3. Group the leftovers sensibly. If an old section had many pages with no direct equivalent, a single rule can send them to the section's new overview page.
4. Keep the targets relative where possible. A relative target like "/about" keeps working when the site later moves to its own domain.
5. Record where each rule came from. Imported rules are labeled with their source, so they are not mistaken for stray manual entries.

That last step matters more than it looks. When a site owner saves their search settings, manual redirect rules that were removed from the list are deleted. Rules created by an import or a site build carry their source label, so a routine save cannot wipe them out by accident.

Checking redirects before page lookups

Our platform checks the redirect map before it looks for a page at the requested address. That ordering means a redirect always wins over an old page that might still exist in the trash, and it keeps the behavior predictable: if a rule exists, it applies.

We also avoid redirect chains, where one old address points to another old address that points to the final one. Each hop slows visitors and wastes a little of the trust search engines pass along. When we add a new rule, we point it straight at the final destination, and when a page moves a second time we update the earlier rules too.

Retired pages stay recoverable

When a rebuild replaces old pages, we move them to the trash rather than deleting them, and we add a redirect from each retired address. If the owner later decides an old page should come back, it can be restored. The redirect can be turned off in the same place it was created.

Testing after release

A redirect map is only useful if it works on the live site. After a release we spot-check the most important old addresses: the home page of the old site structure, top blog posts, product pages and any address a partner is known to link to. Each should answer with a permanent redirect that lands on a real page in a single hop.

Why this matters for everyone

For visitors, redirects mean saved links keep working. For organizations, they protect years of reputation in search results. For us, they are part of treating a website as something people already depend on, not a blank slate. You can read about the rest of that process in how we rehearse a website migration, and see the products we build on our Technology & Impact page.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?

A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines a page has moved permanently, so they update their records. A 302 says the move is temporary and the original address should be kept.

Should every old page redirect to the home page?

No. Each old page should lead to the closest matching new page. Sending everything to the home page frustrates visitors and search engines often treat it like a missing page.

How many redirects in a row are acceptable?

Ideally one. Each extra hop slows visitors down, so new rules should point directly at the final destination.