Set up HTTP 301 redirects via .htaccess
In this help center article you will learn how to set up HTTP 301 redirects for your server using the Apache2 mod_rewrite extension and the .htaccess file.
General setup
A .htaccess file is required in your document root (root directory) to set up mod_rewrite rules. If no file has been created yet, please create an .htaccess file with the following content:
RewriteEngine OnTip: Structure your mod_rewrite rules to avoid multiple 301 redirects.
Example: Instead of http://domain.de → https://domain.de → https://ww.domain.de, you should immediately redirect from http://domain.de to https://ww.domain.de.
Forwarding of individual URLs
To redirect specific URLs, please use the following scheme:
Redirect 301 /old-product-detail-page/ https://www.domain.de/neue-podukt-detailseite/Example: www.domain.de/alte-produkt-detailseite/ 301 → www.domain.de/neue-produkt-detailseite/
Forwarding of individual directories
To forward entire directories including the existing subdirectories, please use the following rule:
RewriteRule ^old-product-category/(.*)$ /new-product-category/$1 [R=301,NC,L]Forwarding to www. subdomain
Please use the following rule to redirect all pages that are not accessed via the www. subdomain:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.domain\.de$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://domain.de/$1 [L,R=301]Example: https://domain.de/produkt-detailseite 301 → https://www.domain.de/produkt-detailseite
Forwarding to https://
Please use the following rules for redirecting all URLs to https://:
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule .* https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule .* https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]Examples:
Forwarding to new domain
To redirect an entire domain, use the following rule if the request URI remains identical:
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.alte-domain\.de$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* https://www.neue-domain.de%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]Troubleshooting
After setting up new mod_rewrite rules, these should be checked for all possible constellations. The external debugging tool https://help.creoline.com/de/tools/redirect-test is suitable for this. Enter all variants of the URL here to check the various redirects.
Attention: Current browsers use an internal cache for 301 redirects, which is not automatically emptied by emptying the browser cache.