301 Redirect: The Module for Redirects and Error Pages
A deleted page without a target loses everything it built up over years: rankings, backlinks, visitors. The module finds every URL on your website that needs a 301 redirect, a clean-up or a deliberate decision – and presents you a justified proposal per URL for approval. Nothing goes live unchecked.
A module that determines the right action for every URL
The module monitors your website via live crawl and detects six cases where URLs need a redirect or clean-up: deleted pages, 404 errors, redirect chains, relaunch and migration, domain mergers, cannibalisation. For each affected URL it decides the right action – 301, 302, 410 or keep – and justifies it with four data sources: live crawl, traffic from Google Search Console, backlinks and internal links.
The three status codes explained briefly: A 301 signals a permanent move — Google adopts the new URL as the canonical address and the old page’s accumulated signals come along. A 302 signals a temporary redirect — the old URL should stay in the index, for instance for a temporarily out-of-stock product. A 410 deliberately says: this page isn’t coming back, there’s no replacement, Google removes the URL from the index. How Google treats each type is described in the Google documentation on redirects.
Six cases that cost visibility without a plan
Each of these cases shows up regularly in crawls – inconspicuous until someone counts systematically.
Deleted pages without a target
The content is gone, the old URL stays in the index – and loses rankings, backlinks and visitors instead of passing them to a new target.
404 errors
Visitors and crawlers run into a dead end. Every internal or external link to such a URL wastes relevance.
Redirect chains
Several hops to the target cost load time on every request and dilute the signals that are supposed to arrive.
Relaunch and migration
If the entire URL structure changes without a redirect plan, years of visibility are gone overnight.
Domain mergers
Two grown link profiles have to be merged cleanly, otherwise part of the authority is simply lost.
Cannibalisation
Two URLs compete for the same keyword. Without a decision they weaken each other instead of ranking together.
“I’ve accompanied migrations from Wix to WordPress and from plentymarkets to Shopify. In the end everything hinged on the redirect plan: every old URL needed a target.”
— Viktor Pásztor, SEO freelancer in Berlin, over 15 years in digital marketingFive steps, always in this order
Collect candidates
The live crawl finds 404 errors, chains and orphaned URLs. It’s the source of truth – not the Search Console error report, which reports late and incompletely.
Determine value
Per URL: how much traffic still arrives according to Search Console? Which backlinks and internal links point to it?
Decide action
If the URL has value and a topically fitting target, it becomes a 301. If the content is only temporarily gone, a 302. If nothing is attached to the URL anymore, a 410. Everything else stays as it is.
Write to the review sheet
Every URL appears with recommendation, target and rationale in the “Redirects” sheet – you see the data behind every proposal.
Approval
Only when you approve a row does the CMS redirect adapter implement the redirect – in WordPress, Shopify, Shopware or TYPO3. Without approval, nothing happens.
DIY / pro / agency / automated
| Criterion | Do it yourself | SEO pro (manual) | Agency | How I do it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detection | Search Console 404 report, often weeks later | Crawl with Screaming Frog, occasionally on request | Crawl on the audit cycle | Continuous live crawl plus migration mode |
| Data basis per URL | Gut feeling | Crawl, GSC and backlinks, merged manually | Depends on the team’s process | Live crawl, GSC, backlinks and internal links |
| Decision per URL | Often blanket to the homepage | Cleanly weighed up | Clean, but rarely documented | 301, 302, 410 or keep – with a written rationale |
| Your time investment | High, checking every URL yourself | Coordination meetings | Briefings and reports | Approval in the sheet, a few minutes |
| Costs | Your working time | Hourly rate, €100 with me | Ongoing flat fee depending on contract | €99–399 per month, depending on module scope, plus credit usage as consumed |
| Implementation | Manually in the redirect plugin | A list to implement, often by you | Via the agency’s developers | Automatically via the CMS adapter after approval |
Four effects of an orderly redirect plan
How much visibility a clean redirect plan actually saves depends on your website – I won’t invent percentages. What the module delivers:
Signals are preserved
Rankings and backlinks come along in the move instead of decaying on forgotten URLs
A fitting landing
Visitors land on the right page – not on a 404 and not blanket on the homepage
Chains resolved
That saves round trips and thus load time on every request
Documented decision
In a year you can still look up why a URL points to its target
Questions about redirects and error pages
What’s the difference between a 301 and a 302 redirect?
The 301 signals a permanent move: Google adopts the target as the new canonical URL, the signals come along. The 302 signals a temporary redirect, the old URL should stay in the index. For permanently moved pages, the 301 is the right choice.
When is a 410 better than a redirect?
When a page is deliberately removed without replacement and the data shows nothing is attached to it anymore. A 301 to an unfitting target helps nobody – then a clean farewell via 410 is the more honest solution.
How long does a 301 redirect need to stay in place?
For URL moves, Google recommends keeping redirects as long as possible, at least a year. I leave them in place as long as there’s still traffic via the old address.
Does the module work with my CMS?
The redirect adapter implements approved redirects in WordPress, Shopify, Shopware and TYPO3. If there’s no suitable access, you get the list as an export – for the .htaccess, for example.
Back to the pillar
Redirects & Error Pages is a building block of MCP SEO, my system for automated SEO routine work. Right next to it works the internal linkingmodule: it points internal links straight at the final target, so the redirect only remains the safety net. The fundamentals behind it I explain under technical SEO.
If instead of ongoing checking a one-off system change is coming up, that belongs in its own project: what each route costs is on the SEO costs.
Request a redirect plan for your project
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