Htaccess Redirect Generator

It does: turn a list of old and new URLs into clean permanent (301) redirect rules for Apache or Nginx, and detect two costly mistakes - redirect chains (A goes to B which goes to C) and loops (A goes to A).

It does not: apply the redirects for you, or handle complex pattern-based rewrites. It is built for the common case: mapping specific old URLs to specific new ones during a migration or cleanup.

When you move or rename a page, a 301 redirect sends both users and search engines from the old URL to the new one and passes on the ranking signals the old URL had earned. Getting redirects right is the difference between a migration that holds its traffic and one that loses it. This tool builds the rules; you place them on your server.

A 301 means "moved permanently" and is what you want for almost every SEO redirect - it consolidates the old page into the new one. Use a 302 only for genuinely temporary moves. On Apache, the simplest form is Redirect 301 /old /new in your .htaccess; for anything involving patterns you would use RewriteRule. On Nginx it is a rewrite ... permanent; directive in the server block. This tool writes whichever you choose.

The mistake that hurts most is the redirect chain: over years of changes, /a redirects to /b, which now redirects to /c. Each hop adds latency and bleeds a little authority, and Google may stop following long chains. The fix is to always point every old URL straight at the final destination, so when you add a new redirect, update the older ones that fed into the old target. This tool flags chains and loops so you can flatten them before they ship. A few more habits: redirect to the closest equivalent page rather than dumping everything on the homepage, which Google treats as a soft 404; keep the rules in a sensible order; and after deploying, spot-check important URLs with a redirect checker to confirm a single 301 hop with no chain.