Setup redirects from the Flywheel dashboard

Flywheel’s Redirect feature allows you to create site redirects right from the Flywheel dashboard without using a plugin.

Redirects dashboard

1. From the main menu, go to the Sites page and click on the desired site
2. Go to the Advanced tab
3. Under Quick Actions, click Manage Redirects

This dashboard displays all the redirects in place on your site, including an overview of each redirect’s details.

Configuring a redirect

Redirect name

Choose a simple title to describe what the redirect is for. This name is for identification purposes only and will not impact the redirect itself. This field is required.

Domain

Currently, redirects can only apply to the primary domain, so this field is locked.

Source

The source is whatever follows the domain. For example, when looking at http://myflysite.com/testing/123, the source would be: /testing/123

• Required field
• The original URL path that when requested will be redirected
• Supports RegEx (check out our RegEx guide, or verify your RegEx with RegEx Pal)
• You cannot match a query string or argument in the source input
• Do not enter the domain here

Destination

• Required field
• The URL path the redirect will result in
• Does not support RegEx

An example of a destination is http://myflysite.com/new-page or /new-page

Variables set in the source field can be called in the destination field. With a source input of ^/testing/(123) and a destination of http://myflysite.com/$1, the ending URL will be http://myflysite.com/123.

To setup a redirect from your current URL to an entirely new URL put a / in the source field and the new full URL in the destination field like the example below.

Match args

Click Advanced Settings to reveal this field.

An “arg” is another name for a URL query. You can spot them by a question mark in the URL. The arg is everything after the ? symbol.

Using the example URL myflysite.com/testing?input=this, the arg would be input=this.

Or, if the source is myflysite.com/testing?input=this and the destination is https://getflywheel.com/testingthis/, this will redirect the URL to https://getflywheel.com/testingthis/?input=this.

Redirect type

Click Advanced Settings to reveal this field.

301 Permanent – Default type. A 301 tells search engines to remove the old URL from the search index and update it with the new one. When you want to delete a page, use a 301 to forward visitors to the desired location.

302 Temporary – 302s tell search engines not to update their index (in order to maintain the SEO rank of the original source URL). A 302 could be used when temporarily redirecting your home page to a “coming soon” page, but is not widely implemented otherwise.

Break – A “break” redirects the user to a different page on the same domain, without updating the address bar or sending a response code such as a 301 or 302. A break is also called an “internal redirect” and can be used to effectively mask a redirect.

Order

Click Advanced Settings to reveal this field when editing an existing redirect.

This field allows you to prioritize your redirects (see below).

How to add a redirect

1. Click the Add Redirects button in the top left
2. Configure the redirect and click Add Redirect
   
   

How to edit a redirect

1. Find the redirect you’d like to update and click the 3-dot menu
   
   
2. Click Edit
3. Configure the redirect and click Save Changes

How to prioritize redirects

The order in which your redirects are implemented is essential. For example, suppose you’d like to add a “catchall” redirect. In that case, you’ll want to ensure that any other redirects with more specific matches are implemented first, so configure those with a higher priority (a lower number).

1. Find the redirect you’d like to update and click the 3-dot menu
2. Click Edit
3. Open the Advanced Settings pane
   
4. Type the desired value in the Order field
5. Click Save Changes

FAQ

What is a redirect?

Redirection is the process of forwarding one URL to a different URL. A redirect tells a visitor’s browser (or search engine) that the page they want to visit has moved. The browser will then automatically send the visitor to the desired page. Learn more.

When should I use redirects?

Redirects are great to use when you’re moving to a new domain, recreating site content on a new page, consolidating several pages, or altering the organization of your site.

Can I use the Flywheel redirects feature on a multisite?

The short answer is no, unfortunately, the feature is not currently available for multisites.

Need help?

If you have any questions our Happiness Engineers are here to help!