As a website owner, you’ll sometimes need to change the URL of a category page. When this happens, you need to follow best practices to retain your SEO rankings. One of such practices is redirecting the old category URL to the new one to avoid broken links.
With Rank Math, a powerful SEO plugin for WordPress, this process becomes easy, straightforward, and more efficient. By modifying the URL of a category page, you can create a more descriptive and keyword-rich address, improving the overall SEO performance.
In this guide, we will show you in simple steps how to leverage Rank Math to change the URL of a category page on your site. This ensures a smooth transition while preserving existing SEO rankings and minimizing any potential negative impact on your website’s traffic.
Table of Contents
- 1 The Need for Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
- 2 How to Redirect Category Page URL Using Rank Math SEO.
- 2.1 Getting Started
- 2.2 Configuring Rank Math for URL Redirection
- 2.3 Set up the Category Page URL Redirection
- 2.4 Double-Check for Errors – Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
- 2.5 Test the Category Page URL Redirection
- 3 Wrapping Up – Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
The Need for Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
Changing your old category page URL is necessary for various reasons.
Firstly, redirecting your old category page URL to a new one enables you to improve the structure and user-friendliness of your site’s category page URLs.
By implementing category page redirects, your website visitors and search engines can easily access the correct category content in the new layout during your website’s reorganization.
Also, redirecting your old category page URL to a new one preserves the old URL’s SEO value. This helps to maintain search engine rankings and transfer every incoming link authority to the new URL.
It also helps to improve the overall user experience of your website and maintain the integrity of your website’s linking system.
How to Redirect Category Page URL Using Rank Math SEO.
In the next section of this article, we will guide you through each necessary step to effortlessly change your category page URL to a new one. Let’s dive in!
Getting Started
To get started on this, you will need the Rank Math plugin on your WordPress site. If you are new to WordPress and haven’t installed the Rank Math plugin. We’ll guide you through the steps involved.
Installing and Activating Rank Math
To install the Rank Math plugin,
Log in to your WordPress Dashboard
From the Dashboard menu, navigate to the Plugins tab and click on Add New.
Next, type in Rank Math in the search bar on the new page.
Click the Install Now button next to Rank Math SEO to install the plugin. Once the installation completes,
Click Activate to activate it after it has been installed.
After installing and activating the plugin, click the Rank Math menu to access the plugin’s settings page.
You can choose to connect your account or skip the process. The setup is a straightforward process.
If you are not certain about how to go about the setup, check out this article.
Configuring Rank Math for URL Redirection
The next step is to configure the URL redirection module.
Enable the Rank Math Redirection Segment
To start, go to Rank Math and click on Dashboard to access the plugins page.
Next, scroll down, and locate the Redirections module. Once there, toggle the button beside Settings to activate it.
Set up the Category Page URL Redirection
After enabling and configuring the Redirection module, the next step is to set up the category page URL redirection.
Here you will be required to provide the source URL that you want to change as well as the destination URL, which is the new URL that you want to switch to.
Enabling the Rank Math SEO Module.
Before attempting to change your category page URL using Rank Math, you must first enable the Rank Math SEO module. Doing this ensures you retain your search engine rankings and transfer every incoming link authority to the new URL.
To do this,
Navigate to the Rank Math plugin menu and Click on the Dashboard
From the module lists, navigate to the SEO Analyzer Module and enable it.
After enabling it, you’ll need to add a new redirection rule.
Adding a New Redirection Rule – Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
To add a new redirection rule,
Navigate to the Redirection tab on the Rank Math menu and click on it.
On the new page, click the Add New button in the top left corner of your screen.
Filling Out the Required Redirection Fields
On the next page, you’ll need to provide the following information:
- The Source URL: It is the Category page URL you want to change
- The destination URL: It is the new URL you want to redirect to.
- The redirection type
- The maintenance code
To continue on this track, we’ll show you how to fill each field to ensure you succeed in redirecting your Category page URL to a new one.
For every source URL field, you will insert the Category page URL (old URL) you want to change. So also, for every destination URL, you will insert the new URL (new URL) that you want to redirect to.
For example;
#1. Source URL: https://example.com/category/games/
Destination URL: https://example.com/topics/games/
#2. Source URL: https://example.com/category/movies/
Destination URL: https://example.com/topics/movies/
#3. Source URL: https://example.com/category/dramas/
Destination URL: https://example.com/topics/dramas/
Keep in mind that you can only set up one Redirection for each Source URL.
Checking the box beside the Ignore Case allows you to make the redirection even if the texts in the field have upper or lower case letters that differ from the actual URL.
Selecting the Type of Redirection – Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
You have a list of Redirection types to pick from.
Select the 301 permanent move button.
We recommend that you leave the maintenance code the way it is. It is not necessary for this process.
Status Activation and Addition of Redirection
The status is automatically activated. Therefore, there is no need to change it unless you intend to deactivate it, which we don’t recommend.
After configuring the redirection rules, click the Add Redirection button.
To ensure that each category page URL is redirected to its corresponding new URL, you can create different redirection rules with different destination URLs.
Don’t forget to select the appropriate redirection type (i.e. 301 Permanent Redirect) for each redirection rule based on your requirements.
Double-Check for Errors – Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
The next step is to double-check all the redirection rules that you have set up. This is to ensure that there are no errors in your configuration.
This is done before testing if the whole redirection works.
To do this,
Click on the Redirections tab on the Rank Math sidebar menu.
From the new page, you’ll see all the existing redirection rules you have set up.
The list displays all the details of your setup. The source URL (old URL) is under the FROM category. While the destination URL (new URL) is under the TO category for each rule.
You can scroll through the list to monitor and review all your redirections.
If you want to make any corrections, click the Edit button under the rule you want to modify.
You can also delete a rule by clicking the Trash button under the corresponding redirection rule.
To Deactivate a rule click on the Deactivate button under the rule redirection rule you want to deactivate.
By accessing the Redirections settings in Rank Math, you can easily double-check for errors and manage the existing redirection rules for your website.
Test the Category Page URL Redirection
To ensure that your old URL has been successfully redirected to the new one, you should test the redirection rule after double-checking it.
There are 2 ways you can do this.
The first one is by clicking on the View button under the corresponding redirection rule from the list.
When you click the View button it automatically opens up a new webpage confirming whether the redirection was successful.
The second option is the one we recommend. It requires you to use a different browser that you have not recently used to access the old URL.
Then, enter the old URL in the address bar. For example, https://example.com/category/Games/
The browser should automatically redirect the old URL to the new one (https://example.com/topics/Games/) based on your configured rule.
Make sure the page functions correctly and displays the expected information. Repeat these steps for all the old URLs you have set up redirection rules for.
Doing this ensures you don’t have any broken links which could affect your website performance, user experience and SEO.
Read Also: How To Migrate from WordPress.com to wordPress.org
Wrapping Up – Redirecting Category Page URLs Using Rank Math
Using Rank Math to redirect your category Page URLs is a valuable technique for optimizing your website structure, preserving your SEO value, improving your site’s overall user experience, and maintaining link integrity.
You can effectively manage changes to your site’s category page URLs, such as URL structure optimization by implementing the redirection rules. Implementing this prevents broken links, and guarantees a seamless redirection to the correct content for search engines and users.
Additionally, it is essential to monitor and troubleshoot any conflict or error that may arise during the redirection process to achieve the desired outcome.
Overall, Rank Math provides an effective solution with proper configuration and testing for managing Category page URL redirections. And it also enhances the overall performance and usability of your website.
