Redirecting urls by editing .htaccess file is this the best option?

SelfSufficientMe

SelfSufficientMe

Well-known member
Basically, I'm going to move some content around on my forum (dumping one content creating addon for another one) and I was wondering if editing the .htaccess file was the best method to redirect search engines and people to the new pages/urls?

Is it really worth redirecting urls or will search engines pick the new pages up eventually anyway?

Also, is using .htaccess a simple process because I'm finding the various threads here quite difficult to understand what code to use exactly? If someone could point me to a resource explaining how to use .htaccess correctly for url redirects (and in layman's) I'd really appreciate it!
 
If the pages are established, and they have relevant links established from external and internal sources, then yes, redirecting is essential. How you do it is here nor there... a rewrite rule for a section will normally suffice if you move a section to a new content type... just name the pages the same, thus a single rule should suffice.

If the pages are all new... no real establishment, then sure, just move them. Yes, Google will just replace the URL as it will determine the page is the same as they already have cached, simply with a different URL. They will use the new URL providing the page content overall is near identical.
 
Thanks, so redirecting through a rule in .htaccess is the way to go then or is there a better way to redirect? I would have to research what code as I have absolutely no idea how to competently edit this file...
 
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