Create Redirects for Aggie UX Cascade Sites

About the Rewrite Rules Page

The rewrite rules page is an internal tool developed to enable you to redirect old addresses to new ones if you move or rename pages, folders or files on your website. This is important when you move a published page to a new location or change its file name. A redirect will take visitors to the new location if they click on an old link, enter an old URL into their browser, or click on outdated search engine results. Redirects also send a message to search engines instructing them to update their links to the new address.

Types of Redirects

Each type of redirect takes a requested URL and redirects the user to a new destination.

Single Page Redirect

Use single page redirects when only one specific page or file is being renamed or moved to a new location on your site.

In this example, both the folder and page names have been changed. The redirect will ensure anyone trying to visit the old “team” page will be redirected to the new “leadership” page.

Pages in Folder Redirect

Use folder-level redirects (called “Pages in folder” in Cascade) when everything inside a specific folder is being replaced with a single page.

In this example, all the pages in the old folder have been replaced with a single page, and anyone using the old URL will get redirected to the new page’s location.

Plan Your Redirects

When you are moving or renaming multiple pages at the same time, such as in a site redesign, it is helpful to create a spreadsheet to keep track of the pages, folders and files that are moving to new addresses. We have created a Google Sheet template you can copy to track any pages, folders or files that will need redirects.

For each redirect, record whether it is a single page redirect or a folder-level redirect. If you’re not sure which type to use, flag it in the notes column for review.

Get Our Redirect Planning Template

Formatting a Redirect in the Rewrite Rules Tool

The Requested URL should use a relative path (e.g. /folder/page.html).

The Redirect Destination can use a full URL (e.g. example.tamu.edu/folder/new-page.html) or another relative path (e.g. /new-page.html).

How to Use the Rewrites Rule Tool

1. 1. Wait up to 30 minutes for the cache to update before testing your redirects

1. 1. Open the rewrite_rules page (located at in the root folder at the top-level of your site) in the preview pane

1. 1. Click Edit

1. 1. Toggle Enable Custom Rewrite Rule to Yes

1. 1. Create multiple rewrite rules by clicking the plus sign (+)

1. 1. For each redirect rule, choose a redirect type and enter redirect details

      • • Single page: Redirects one specific URL to another
      • • Pages in folder: Redirects all pages within a folder to a single destination

1. 1. Click Preview Draft

      • • Note: The generated code on the page may look like “^/_testing.*html$ /test.html” — this is normal.

1. 1. Click Submit

1. 1. Enter version comments that will be saved in the asset’s version history

1. 1. Click Publish

1. 1. Wait up to 30 minutes for the cache to update before testing your redirects