Create link redirects

Overview

If you are migrating from an existing website, you should ensure that visitors trying to access pages on your old website are properly redirected. Not only does this keep your visitors happy, but it also helps with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Steps

1. Look at the analytics for your existing website, and make a note of the page path (usually everything after “http://mysite.com”)
   • If you don’t have analytics to inform you, here are some pages to consider:
     • Primary navigation
     • Popular departments
     • Contact or directory pages
     • Critical transactions with the city
     • Pages that may be bookmarked
     • Pages that may have been advertised or sent in a newsletter
     • Google search your city and if there are quick links under results, you should add those as well
2. Find the corresponding page on your new ProudCity website, and
   • Create a redirect:
     • Go to ‘Tools’  on the left navigation bar
     • Click ‘Redirects’
     • Enter the old URL for ‘Redirect From:’
     • Enter the existing page to ‘Redirect To:’
     • Click ‘Publish’
   • 
3. For future use, you might have visitors use old URL links that navigate them to “page not found”, if the page they are looking for exists in your website, repeat step 2.

Do’s and don’ts

Do

• Have a list of your most visited web pages to redirect to the new site.
• Remember that this feature is most important before launch week but can still be used post-launch. If you have forgotten to include a web page that exists on your website, repeat step 2 of the guide.
• Remember this feature if someone reports a “page not found”. If they are using an old URL and can be linked to an existing page, navigate to the redirect manager, and follow step 2.

Don’t

• Forget this step needs to be done before the launch of your ProudCity powered government website.

Resources

• How to prepare for your ProudCity powered government website launch