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Mary
Wisp of the WP Loop
427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19

Need Help Setting Up 301 Wildcard Redirects

I’m using 301 Redirect Plugin. I have many bad URLs from my old site such as http://christiangays.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=0_23&products_id=31 and http://christiangays.com/blog/newfierev.php?itemid=598

I have tried using /store/product_info.php* and just /store/* and similar wildcards for blogs, to redirect these URLs to https://store.christiangays.com and https://blog.christiangays.com but it’s not working. Instead of redirecting I am still getting errors.

What am I doing wrong please?

Thanks!

Support access is granted.

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 1:18:49

Predrag Dubajic

Support

4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30

Hey Mary,

Can you try using something like this and see if that works for you:

RewriteRule ^http://christiangays.com/store/(.*)   https://store.christiangays.com [R=301,L]

RewriteRule ^http://christiangays.com/blog/(.*)   https://blog.christiangays.com [R=301,L]

Best regards,

Predrag

Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Thanks Predrag. I tried it changing within the 301 plugin and it didn’t help, so I tried putting it in the .htaccess file and that didn’t work either.
Dimitris Kalliris
- Support Team Lead
- 3,053 pts: Hero points 17,339 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 29
Hey there Mary,

hope you’re doing good today and don’t mind chiming in here! :slight_smile:

I reviewed your site and 301 redirects set in this plugin you use and I can the issue here.

I wonder if this is happening due to the fact that the actual /blog/ and /store/ pages lead to “internal server error 500” messages in browsers, thus the redirection don’t get triggered.

I’d rather advise to further investigate why this 500 error codes are showing up, using the basic troubleshooting steps described here: https://wpmudev.com/docs/getting-started/getting-support/#chapter-2

Warm regards,

Dimitris
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
I don’t understand Dimitris. I used to have URLs called https://christiangays.com/store/ and https://christiangays.com/blog/ but they no longer exist. They are now sub-domains of https://store.christiangays.com and https://blog.christiangays.com
Predrag Dubajic
- Support
- 4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30
Hi Mary,

Can you try using this redirect instead and see if that works:
```
Redirect 301 /store/ https://store.christiangays.com

Redirect 301 /blog/ https://blog.christiangays.com
```
Best regards,

Predrag
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
I already have that redirect and it works fine for /store/ but it gives a page not found if there is anything after /store/ such as the example I gave in the ticket.

Same things with /blog/
Predrag Dubajic
- Support
- 4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30
Hi Mary,

Where are those URL’s pointing exactly because I can’t access anything with such URL on both yoursite.com/store/ or store.yoursite.com?

Also, do you still have any other redirects active because I’ve tested these redirects on my installation and when I try to access domain.com/subsite/some-post/ it redirects me properly to subsite.domain.com/some-post

Best regards,

Predrag
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Please see attached. I don't know why it is not redirecting.

[attachments are only viewable by logged-in members]
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
I am wondering if I’ve reached their limit of 499. I am currently inquiring about SEO Redirection Pro plugin.

I will probably buy it after I get a response from my pre-sales questions so will close this ticket on the assumption that I will be purchasing it.

Thanks!
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Sorry, I thought I could fix this by trying another redirect plugin but I have now tried three without success. The last one is Safe Redirect Manager. I chose it because it is specifically for multisite. I thought that was the problem with the others, however it doesn’t work either.

Sorry. I need help. I cannot get some of my redirects to work, specifically the ones that used to be folders but are now sub-domains.

Example: /store/ should redirect to https://store.christiangays.com but it doesn’t.
Predrag Dubajic
- Support
- 4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30
Hi Mary,

I’m not sure about the plugins you are using as I was placing the code I mentioned directly to .htaccess file.

Can you disable all your redirect plugins and if they have any redirects added to your .htaccess clear those up and then add the code that I mentioned above to end of your .htaccess file:

https://wpmudev.com/forums/topic/need-help-setting-up-301-wildcard-redirects#post-1263611

Let us know how it goes after that.

Best regards,

Predrag
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
The .htaccess file code now works perfectly for store and blog and some others I added. Thank you so much!

Do I need a 301 plugin or is it better to just add them all to .htaccess?

How do I create wildcards for links such as

https://christiangays.com/blog/index.php?catid=1&blogid=1&archive=1902-05

and

connections/index.php?page=showarticle&articleid=2
Dimitris Kalliris
- Support Team Lead
- 3,053 pts: Hero points 17,339 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 29
Hey there Mary,

hope you’re doing good today! :slight_smile:

The .htaccess file code now works perfectly for store and blog and some others I added. Thank you so much!

Do I need a 301 plugin or is it better to just add them all to .htaccess?

That’s actually your choice, you can keep rules in .htaccess or a plugin like Redirection to keep these tidy.

Still can’t tell why previous rules didn’t work with the other plugin you were using (guess that was a limit on usage in plugin’s code).

How do I create wildcards for links such as

https://christiangays.com/blog/index.php?catid=1&blogid=1&archive=1902-05

and

connections/index.php?page=showarticle&articleid=2

This rule

RewriteRule ^http://christiangays.com/blog/(.*) https://blog.christiangays.com [R=301,L] inserted already, should be enough for any /blog/* page.

As for /connections/* you can add something like

RewriteRule ^http://christiangays.com/connections/(.*) https://christiangays.com [R=301,L]

Warm regards,

Dimitris
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Thank you so much Dimitris. I had a few other issues re missing forward slashes but was able to figure it out and now I believe that everything is working as it should.

Thank you again!!!!
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Sorry Dimitris. I thought I had this all working but I’m still having problems with anything that requires a second slash after .com.

Example: I have a bad URL of

https://christiangays.com/blog/johnbrown.php?itemid=623&catid=27

In my .htaccess I have the following:

Redirect 301 /blog/ https://blog.christiangays.com/

When I click on the bad URL I am taken to

https://blog.christiangays.com/johnbrown.php?itemid=623&catid=27 and show File Not Found.

If I remove Redirect 301 /blog/ https://blog.christiangays.com/ and replace with

RewriteRule ^https://christiangays.com/blog/(.*) https://blog.christiangays.com/ [R=301,L]

nothing happens.

I have also tried using redirect plugins and can’t get them to work with any URLs that have a second slash after .com

Would appreciate your continued help. Sorry, I thought I knew what I was doing. I was wrong.
Predrag Dubajic
- Support
- 4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30
Hi Mary,

Based on your above explanation your redirect part is working properly, it redirects you to this URL:

https://blog.christiangays.com/johnbrown.php?itemid=623&catid=27

Which is proper URL redirect from this:

https://christiangays.com/blog/johnbrown.php?itemid=623&catid=27

Is that correct?

So if I understand this correctly the URL is properly redirected but what you’re after is not on that location?

When I check this URL for example:

https://christiangays.com/blog/index.php?catid=1&blogid=1&archive=1902-05

It redirects and opens properly so your location for above example is incorrect.

What should be opening on that URL?

Best regards,

Predrag
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
I don’t want it to redirect to https://blog.christiangays.com/johnbrown.php?itemid=623&catid=27 There is no such page. The new sub-domain URLs are completely different than the old ones so I just want it to go to “johnbrown’s” new blog which is https://blog.christiangays.com/author/brotherlawrence/ (John Brown is Brother Lawrence)

So all URLs that start with https://blog.christiangays.com/johnbrown

should now go to https://blog.christiangays.com/author/brotherlawrence/
Predrag Dubajic
- Support
- 4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30
Hi Mary,

Hmm, I’m not expert with redirects so I’m not sure what would be the best way to go here on your installation but perhaps one of the below solutions would work for you:

#1

RedirectMatch 301 https://blog.christiangays.com/johnbrown(.*) https://blog.christiangays.com/author/brotherlawrence/$1

#2

RewriteRule ^johnbrown/$ /author/brotherlawrence/?&%{QUERY_STRING}

#3

Redirect 301 /johnbrown/ /author/brotherlawrence/

#4

RedirectMatch 301 ^/johnbrown/(.*)$ /author/brotherlawrence/$1

#5

Redirectmatch 301 https://blog.christiangays.com/johnbrown/ https://blog.christiangays.com/author/brotherlawrence/

Best regards,

Predrag
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Thank you Predrag. I tried all five and none work. Any more ideas?
Predrag Dubajic
- Support
- 4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30
Hi Mary,

Here’s another one that I and my colleague tested and it worked fine on our installation:
```
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}  ^blog.christiangays.com$ [NC]

RewriteRule ^johnbrown/$ http://blog.christiangays.com/author/brotherlawrence/ [R=301,NE,NC,L]
```
If this still doesn’t work for you I’m afraid that you will need to investigate your installation further to see what’s blocking it from working.

I see that you have almost 500 lines in .htaccess and it’s possible that something from there is stopping the redirect from working so backup your .htaccess and do some cleanup to see if the above rule will work after that.

Best regards,

Predrag
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Thank you Predrag. I tried as you suggested but it didn’t help. I have given this to my Systems Admin so will leave the ticket open for a while, in case he is able to find the problem, in which case I will post it here for future reference.
Predrag Dubajic
- Support
- 4,417 pts: Hero points 32,655 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 30
Hi Mary,

Let us know what info you managed to get from them because the above one should work for sure as both installations we tested it with worked without any issue.

Best regards,

Predrag
Mary
- Wisp of the WP Loop
- 427 pts: Hero points 3,789 pts: Rep. points LEVEL 19
Thank you Predrag. My Systems Admin provided me with the following, which seem to work:

Here are the rules in .htaccess:

## start Redirect section by KS ##

# 1. http://christiangays.com/store/(.*) => https://store.christiangays.com [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /store/(.*) [NC]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://store.christiangays.com [R=301,L]

# 3. https://christiangays.com/connections/(.*) => https://dating.christiangays.com [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /connections/(.*) [NC]

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://dating.christiangays.com [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include johnbrown should be redirected to https://blog.christiangays.com/author/brotherlawrence/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/blog/johnbrown.php* [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/johnbrown.*(.*)

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://blog.christiangays.com/author/brotherlawrence/? [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include teri should be redirected to https://blog.christiangays.com/author/teri67/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/blog/teri.php* [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/teri.*(.*)

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://blog.christiangays.com/author/teri67/? [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include michael should be redirected to https://blog.christiangays.com/author/yyz/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /michael.*

RewriteRule ^.*$ https://blog.christiangays.com/author/yyz/ [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include bombera should be redirected to the main blog site https://blog.christiangays.com/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/blog/bombera.* [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/bombera.*

RewriteRule ^.*$ https://blog.christiangays.com/ [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include events-listing that are past the current date should be redirected to https://christiangays.com/events-list/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /events-listing/201([1-6])/([0-9]+)/.* [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /events-listing/2017/(0[0-6])/.*

RewriteRule ^.*$ https://christiangays.com/events-list/ [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include /newsletters/ plus date plus .pdf should be redirected to https://christiangays.com/subscribe-christian-gays-newsletters/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /newsletters/([0-9]+)/([0-9]+).([0-9]+).([0-9]+).pdf$

RewriteRule ^.*$ https://christiangays.com/subscribe-christian-gays-newsletters/ [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include /wisdom/ should be redirected to https://resources.christiangays.com/information/words-of-wisdom/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /wisdom.* [OR]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /wisdom/.*

RewriteRule ^.*$ https://resources.christiangays.com/information/words-of-wisdom/ [R=301,L]

# Any urls that include /reply/ should be redirected to https://christiangays.com/forum-descriptions/ #

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /reply/.*

RewriteRule ^.*$ https://christiangays.com/forum-descriptions/ [R=301,L]

# Rules are processed in order, so this is correct place for main rule 2

# Because we already have rules with /blog – this one should be the last

# 2. http://christiangays.com/blog/(.*) => https://blog.christiangays.com [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/blog/(.*) [NC]

RewriteRule ^.*$ https://blog.christiangays.com/? [R=301,L]

## end Redirect section by KS ##

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