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Redirects

Website Redirects​

FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION​

Last Update 12/28/23

OVERVIEW​

Reference information about redirect management on IPInfusion.com and in Pardot at marketing.ipinfusion.com

Redirects are used to point old URLs to new ones. Whether the links are outdated, replaced by something new or just being retired, the process for managing them is to setup a redirect to a working URL. This is generally to keep up healthy SEO best practices, but it can also alleviate marketplace confusion if there is old content that should no longer be accessible.

PAGES VS. MEDIA REDIRECTS​

  1. Page Redirects
  2. Media & File Redirects
  3. Pardot URLs

PAGE REDIRECTS​

In WordPress, a page url can be redirected easily at the application level, inside WordPress itself. A plugin called Redirection is used to manage this within the WordPress admin back end. It is the most popular redirect plugin for WordPress with a very capable free version. Login to the WordPress admin is required.

MEDIA AND FILE REDIRECTS​

Media files like PDFs, images, downloads of MS Office files (.docx, .xls, .ppt) are redirected at the server level. These are managed at the website hosting dashboard at WPEngine.com (login to the dashboard is required). Due to technical limitations with the way URLs of media files work in WordPress, these redirects are more reliable when they are done at the server level. Here is WPEngine’s Redirect Rule Configuration Guide.

PARDOT URLS​

Form links are managed separately within the Pardot system by the administrator. They are tracked on a tab within the GSheet.

REDIRECT PROCESS​

Redirects are implemented in the two methods noted above. The data tracking for the redirect content is maintained in a Google Sheet named IPInfusion.com Redirects Master List. This document is in a shared client directory in Mighty Digital’s Google account. Access permission is required for this doc.

The guidelines to maintaining the list are here and also in the first README tab of the sheet.

HOW TO USE THE REDIRECT GSHEET​

  1. Keeping a record of all redirects
  2. Doing bulk redirects

RECORD OF REDIRECTS​

The IPInfusion Redirect Google sheet is for general tracking of all redirects. As they are added with the plugin or on the server, they should also be tracked in the sheet.

BULK REDIRECTS​

The sheet can also be used for the BULK IMPORT feature of the Redirection plugin. If there are large enough quantity of redirects, they can be done in a batch import using CSV format for the data.

The farthest right tab labeled CURRENT Data 231207 is data that was downloaded from Ipinfusion.com to setup the correct format in the GSheet. That tab has the existing database of redirects at the time of download on Dec 7, 2023

Any new data that is imported to Redirection should keep the same format, and be done on its own tab. New data that is imported to the plugin will be added onto the existing data (appended). I.e., all imports will be appended to the end of the current database in WordPress, nothing is merged.

The next tab to the left is IMPORTED Data 231207. It contains a new batch of redirects that were appended to the current database on Dec 7, 2023.

Once a new tab of data is prepared and checked, download it as CSV file. While logged into WordPress, go to Tools > Redirection and use the Import tab to upload the CSV data. Ensure no errors occur, and that the new redirects are visible in the listing. Test the new redirects to ensure they are functioning correctly.

Individual redirects can always be added in the WP Admin back end inside the Redirection panel. It doesn't matter if some redirects are done in the UI and others by Import, since they are appended to the end of the database. To keep current records of all redirects, it is recommended to track all redirects on this sheet.download a full CSV from Redirection from time to time and log it here.

NOTE: Media file redirects are not done in WordPress, they are done in the WPEngine Admin backend. Due to technical limitations with the way URLs of media files work in WordPress, redirects are done at the server level. Those are in the Media Redirects tab. New items are added to end of the list in the sheet.