adminWhat Website Redirects Mean
A redirect tells the browser or search engine that one URL should send users to another URL. Redirects are a traffic control layer inside website infrastructure.
Where Redirects Sit In The Stack
Redirects can happen in Nginx, a CDN, WordPress, a plugin or application code. For production websites, important redirects should be simple, documented and placed at the correct layer.
How Redirects Work
When a request reaches the server, a redirect rule returns a status code such as 301 or 302 and provides a new location. The browser then requests the new URL.
Why Redirects Break Websites
Redirects break websites when different layers fight each other. For example, Nginx may redirect to www while WordPress redirects to non-www. HTTPS rules can also loop if the server does not understand the original request correctly.
How To Think About Redirects
Redirects are not decoration. They define the canonical path of traffic. A clean website should have one final URL format and avoid unnecessary redirect chains.
Infrastructure Layer
Web Server
Difficulty Level
Beginner
Core Concept
Redirects control how one URL sends traffic to another URL through HTTP status codes.
System Role
They define canonical traffic flow and prevent users or search engines from landing on the wrong URL version.
How It Works
A request reaches a redirect layer, the rule returns a 301 or 302 response with a new location, and the browser follows that new URL.
Connected Components
Nginx, WordPress, CDN, SSL, domain, www rules, non-www rules, permalink settings, browser cache.
Common Failure Points
Redirect loop, redirect chain, mixed www and non-www rules, HTTP to HTTPS conflict, old plugin redirect, CDN redirect conflict.
Verification Method
Use curl to inspect status codes and final destination. Confirm that HTTP, HTTPS, www and non-www all resolve to one final canonical URL.
Basic Commands
curl -I http://example.com;
curl -I https://example.com;
curl -I https://www.example.com;
nginx -t;
grep -R "return 301" /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/