Server-side Redirect

Server-side Redirect

A server side redirect is a method of URL redirection using an HTTP status code (e.g., 301 Moved Permanently, 303 See Other and 307 Temporary Redirect) issued by a web server in response to a request for a particular URL. The result is to redirect user's web browser to another web page with a different URL.

One method of implementing server-side redirects is the .htaccess file supported by most Apache web servers. An example of the code used is as follows.

redirect 301 /index.html http://www.example.org/index.html

Common uses of server-side redirects include:

• redirecting people away from a discontinued server
• load balancing
• redirecting to error pages if a discontinued URL is used
• link use tracking, as done at the AltaVista search engine
• spamdexing
• ensuring old links and bookmarks still work when a page is renamed
• allowing users to use an abbreviated URL in place of a longer (perhaps less memorable) one