WordPress Redirect Generator

Bulk redirects for WordPress, done right

Changing permalinks, merging posts, migrating from another CMS or restructuring a shop all leave old URLs behind. Without redirects, every bookmark, backlink and search result pointing to them becomes a 404 and the ranking signals they earned are lost. A 301 tells browsers and search engines the move is permanent and passes those signals to the new URL.

This generator takes a plain list — one old new pair per line, separated by spaces, tabs or commas — and converts it into rules for the layer that should handle them. Server rules (Apache .htaccess or Nginx) run before PHP and WordPress load, so they are the fastest. The PHP output hooks template_redirect and is ideal on managed hosts where you cannot edit server config.

Every line is validated. Malformed lines, duplicate sources and redirects that point to themselves are skipped with a clear message; chains (A → B → C) are detected and can be flattened so each old URL needs a single hop; loops are removed before they reach your server.

How to use the WordPress Redirect Generator

1. Paste your redirects, one per line. Old URLs can be full URLs or paths; an optional third column overrides the status code.
2. Choose the default status: 301/308 for permanent moves, 302/307 for temporary ones.
3. Review the issues table. Fix errors, and keep Flatten redirect chains on unless you need intermediate hops.
4. Choose the output — Apache, Nginx, PHP or CSV — then copy or download it.
5. Test a few old URLs with your browser’s network panel or curl -I and confirm a single 301 to the right destination.

Example

The input /index.php?page_id=12 /about/ needs mod_rewrite, because Redirect cannot see query strings:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
	RewriteEngine On
	RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^page_id=12$
	RewriteRule ^index\.php/?$ /about/? [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

Choosing the right output

• Apache Redirect (mod_alias) is the simplest, but it matches prefixes: Redirect 301 /blog /news also sends /blog/post to /news/post. Switch to RewriteRule for exact matches.
• Query strings cannot be matched by Redirect or Nginx location. The tool uses RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} for Apache and a map $request_uri block for Nginx, and drops the old query from the target with a trailing ?.
• PHP is portable and survives host migrations. It uses wp_safe_redirect(), which only allows your own domain by default — external hosts found in your list are added to allowed_redirect_hosts automatically.
• CSV (source,target,code) is handy for audits in a spreadsheet or for redirect plugins that import CSV files.

Redirect hygiene

Keep server-level redirects above # BEGIN WordPress — the .htaccess Generator explains the structure. Redirect to the final canonical URL (correct scheme, host and trailing slash) to avoid extra hops; the Canonical URL Generator helps you settle on one format. Do not block redirected URLs in robots.txt, or crawlers will never see the 301 — see the robots.txt Generator and the WordPress redirects guide.