Guide: Set up a 301 Redirect and Notify Google [Step-by-Step SEO Training]
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URL slugs can pack a big punch when it comes to your SEO (no pun intended). The little description of your page that comes after the .com/ plays an important role in telling search engines what your page is all about.
But every now and then (and for a variety of reasons) you may need to change a URL slug. Perhaps you update a blog post and want the new URL to reflect your changes. Or maybe you want your about page URL to be something more descriptive than mysite.com/about.
Changing a URL slug is really simple to do in Squarespace— you’ll just need to set up a 301 redirect. In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to do it, and why you need to follow these steps in order to keep your SEO intact.
What is a URL Redirect and Why Should I Care?
If you’ve ever moved, chances are you’ve gone through the process of putting in a mail forward with your post office. A URL redirect (also called a 301 redirect) works similar to that, but for webpage addresses.
Let’s say for example you had a page or blog post on your site called mysite.com/how-to-write. Perhaps that page is getting low traffic and you’d like to it. However, you know that the link is out there in other places on the web and you don’t want to lead potential visitors to a dead-end 404 message (aka a broken link).
This is where 301 redirects come into play. They are VERY easy to put in place (especially in Squarespace). And, they will give you the freedom to move, rename, and delete pages, while preserving up to 99% of your SEO!
How to Create a 301 Redirect in Squarespace
Like we said, creating 301 redirects is extremely simple in Squarespace. Here’s how to do it:
Log into your Squarespace account
Go to Settings > Advanced > URL Mappings
You’ll need:
The URL of the page you’re redirecting, and the URL of the new destination page
Format your redirect like this:
/your-page-url-here -> /destination-page-here 301
And that’s it! Note that you won’t need to include your main domain name— just the slug. So for the example above, the full URL would be http://mysite.com/your-page-url-here. You can add one redirect per line in the URL mappings box.
How to Notify Google After you Add a Redirect
After you’ve created a redirect, you should let Google know, so they can index your new URL. You can do this by submitting the newly renamed page to Google through the Google Search Console, URL inspection tool. Here’s how:[Text Wrapping Break]
In your Google Search Console dashboard, select your website from the property menu in the top left corner.
Click URL inspection.
Enter the full URL of the page you’ve created the redirect for — this should be the new URL you created, not the old page URL.
Click Request Indexing.
Repeat for any additional redirects
According to Google, your newly submitted URL with be indexed within the next 1-2 weeks, but in our experience it’s been much less.
Now, you can rest assured your page is moved and your SEO will remain relatively unchanged.
Looking for more Squarespace SEO tips? Check out all of our helpful guides here.
