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All about URL redirects

A URL redirect sends visitors hitting one domain to another URL. It's the easiest way to point dropflix.io at https://www.dropflix.io, or to move a site to a new domain.

This article describes how URL redirects work and the two switches that control how the original URL's path and query string are preserved.

Where to find URL redirects

In Core, the top-level 'URL Redirects' page lists every URL redirect across your clusters. Click 'Create' to add one.

Fields

  • 'Domain': the domain visitors are coming from.
  • 'Server Aliases': additional source domains that should also redirect to the destination.
  • 'Destination URL': where to send them.
  • 'Status Code': the HTTP status returned, for example 301 for permanent or 302 for temporary.
  • 'Keep Query Parameters': see below.
  • 'Keep Path': see below.

Domain uniqueness

The 'Domain' and each 'Server Alias' is unique across all URL redirects and virtual hosts on the cluster, so the same hostname can't be claimed twice.

A 'Server Alias' may not repeat the 'Domain' value. For every domain and every server alias, Core creates a domain router automatically.

Keep Path and Keep Query Parameters

These two toggles control whether the path and the query string from the original URL are carried over to the destination.

Keep Path

Toggle https://example.com/foo/bar redirects to
Off https://destination.example/
On https://destination.example/foo/bar

Keep Query Parameters

Toggle https://example.com/?utm=abc redirects to
Off https://destination.example/
On https://destination.example/?utm=abc

Both can be combined. With both on, https://example.com/foo?utm=abc redirects to https://destination.example/foo?utm=abc.

Pick based on what the destination expects:

  • Moving an entire site to a new domain: both on, so deep links and tracking parameters survive.
  • Consolidating to a single landing page: both off, so the URL stays clean.

Use cases by target group

Where URL redirects land per group

  • Web agencies: the most common job is a site relaunch, sending the old domain to the new domain with both 'Keep Path' and 'Keep Query Parameters' on and status code 301, so Google transfers ranking and inbound links keep working. Add every legacy alias, such as the www. version, the country TLD, and the old brand domain, to 'Server Aliases' so all of them also redirect to the new site.
  • Shops: set up a redirect between the apex (shop.example) and www.shop.example, in either direction. Without it, Google treats the two as separate sites, splits your ranking between them, and you lose visibility on both. Pick one canonical form and 301 the other.
  • SaaS: point marketing domains at the canonical product domain, for example getproduct.io to https://product.com, keeping the path so campaign links still work after the redirect.
  • Large platforms: redirect region-specific aliases such as product.de and product.fr to the canonical product.com/de and product.com/fr with 'Keep Path' on. Search engines then see one site with regional sections, instead of separate sites you have to maintain.