Redirections

Redirections allow you to forward users from one URL to another, either within your application or to external websites. This is essential for SEO, especially when migrating from an old site to your WeWeb application or restructuring your URL patterns.

Accessing redirections

To configure redirections:

1. Click on the Settings icon (cog icon) in the Interface section sidebar
2. Under the Advanced section, click Redirections

This opens the redirections configuration modal.

Why use redirections

Redirections are useful for:

• SEO preservation — Maintain search engine rankings when changing URLs
• Site migration — Forward traffic from old URLs to your new WeWeb app
• URL restructuring — Change your URL structure without breaking external links
• Marketing campaigns — Create short, memorable URLs that redirect to specific pages
• Preventing broken links — Ensure external links to old URLs still work

Creating a redirection

To create a new redirection:

1. Open the Redirections settings
2. Click Add redirection or similar button
3. Configure the redirection settings:
   • Source path
   • Target type
   • Target destination
   • HTTP status code
4. Save the redirection

Redirection configuration

Source path

The source is the path you want to redirect from. Enter only the path portion, not the full URL.

Examples:

• /old-page — Redirects from yourdomain.com/old-page
• /blog/old-article — Redirects from yourdomain.com/blog/old-article
• /products/item-123 — Redirects from yourdomain.com/products/item-123

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Do not include the domain name in the source path. WeWeb automatically applies redirections to your published domain.

Target type

Choose where to redirect users:

Page (Internal)

• Redirect to a page within your WeWeb application
• Select the destination page from a dropdown
• Maintains users within your app

External URL

• Redirect to any URL on the web
• Enter the full URL including protocol (https://)
• Can redirect to other websites or applications

Target destination

For internal pages:

• Select the destination page from your WeWeb app
• The URL will be automatically constructed

For external URLs:

• Enter the complete URL including https://
• Example: https://example.com/new-location

HTTP status code

Choose the appropriate HTTP status code for your redirect:

301 — Moved Permanently

• The old URL has permanently moved to the new location
• Search engines transfer page rank and link juice to the new URL
• Browser caches the redirect
• Use for: SEO-friendly permanent changes

302 — Found (Temporary Redirect)

• The redirect is temporary
• Search engines don't transfer page rank
• Browsers don't cache the redirect
• Use for: Temporary redirects, A/B testing, maintenance pages

303 — See Other

• Redirect to a different resource
• Typically used after form submissions
• Use for: Post-submission redirects

307 — Temporary Redirect

• Similar to 302 but more strict
• Method and body of the original request are preserved
• Use for: Temporary redirects where request method must be preserved

308 — Permanent Redirect

• Similar to 301 but more strict
• Method and body of the original request are preserved
• Use for: Permanent redirects where request method must be preserved

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90% of the time, when you want to do an SEO redirect, use a 301 redirect to forward search engine rankings and link value to the new URL.

Here's an example of creating a redirection:

In this example:

• Source Is the path you want to redirect (not the full URL but the path after the domain name)
• Target status Is the HTTP status code you want to trigger on redirect
• Target type Is Page to redirect to a page in your app or External URL to redirect to any URL on the web
• Target page Or Target URL is the page in your WeWeb project or external URL you want to redirect to

Example redirections

Simple page redirect

Scenario: You renamed a page and want to preserve the old URL.

Source: /about-us
Target Type: Page
Target: About (new page name)
Status: 301 Moved Permanently

Blog migration

Scenario: Moving from an old blog platform to WeWeb.

Source: /blog/2023/my-first-post
Target Type: Page
Target: Blog Post (with appropriate ID)
Status: 301 Moved Permanently

External redirect

Scenario: Redirecting a path to an external service.

Source: /support
Target Type: External URL
Target: https://support.example.com
Status: 301 Moved Permanently

Marketing short link

Scenario: Creating a short, memorable URL for marketing.

Source: /promo
Target Type: Page
Target: Special Offer Landing Page
Status: 302 Found

Managing redirections

Viewing all redirections

Once you've added redirections, they appear in a list showing:

• Source path
• Target destination
• Status code
• When it was created

Editing redirections

To edit an existing redirection:

1. Open the Redirections settings
2. Find the redirection in the list
3. Click edit
4. Modify the settings
5. Save changes

Deleting redirections

To remove a redirection:

1. Open the Redirections settings
2. Find the redirection in the list
3. Click delete or remove
4. Confirm the deletion

Testing redirections

After creating redirections:

1. Publish your application — Redirections only work on published apps
2. Test the old URL — Visit the source URL
3. Verify the redirect — Ensure you're redirected to the correct destination
4. Check the status code — Use browser developer tools to verify the HTTP status code
5. Test with parameters — If applicable, test URLs with query parameters

WARNING

Redirections only work on published applications. They will not function in preview mode.

CONTINUE LEARNING

Learn about managing other app settings:

Learn about custom scripts →