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How to Add a Redirect in Joomla

Using WordPress instead? See How to Add a Redirect in WordPress.

When a page moves or is removed, a redirect sends visitors and search engines from the old address to a new one. Joomla 5 and 6 include a Redirects component for this.

Before you start: turn it on

The Redirects component needs its plugin enabled:

  1. Go to System > Manage > Plugins.
  2. Search for System - Redirect and enable it.
  3. Open the plugin and set Collect URLs to Yes if you want Joomla to log 404 (page not found) errors for you. It's on by default. Turn it off again if the list fills up with junk.

Joomla's help says Use URL Rewriting must be on in System > Global Configuration (Site tab, SEO settings), and on Apache servers the htaccess.txt file must be renamed to .htaccess, for redirects to work. Ask your web team if you're not sure.

Add a redirect

  1. Go to System > Manage > Redirects.
  2. Click New.
  3. Expired URL: the old address. Joomla's help says to enter the full URL as you'd type it in a browser.
  4. New URL: where it should go now.
  5. Set Status to Enabled.
  6. Leave the redirect as a 301 (permanent), which is the default. To pick a different code, first set Activate Advanced Mode to Yes under Options; a Redirect Status Code field then appears.
  7. Click Save & Close.

Test it by visiting the old URL in a private browser window.

Important: the old URL must not still load a working page. Joomla only redirects addresses that would otherwise be 404 errors.

Fix 404 errors Joomla has collected

If Collect URLs is on, broken addresses visitors hit show up in the Redirects list with no New URL. Open one, add the New URL, enable it, and save. The 404 Hits column shows which ones get the most traffic, so fix those first.

Several at once

Use Bulk Import in the toolbar to add many redirects at once. Or select several and use Batch update new URL(s) at the bottom of the list to point them all at one page.

Tips

  • Redirect to the closest matching page, not just the home page.
  • Avoid chains (A to B to C). Point the old URL straight to the final page.
  • Changing an article or menu item alias changes its URL, so add a redirect when you do.
  • Clean out disabled redirects with Purge Disabled.

Related

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