Redirects

Redirects in Superlite are used when a URL has changed and visitors should automatically be sent to a new location.

Superlite currently supports permanent 301 redirects.

A 301 redirect tells browsers and search engines that a page has moved permanently. This is especially useful when you change the URL of an existing page or replace old content with a new destination.

Opening Redirects

Open Redirects from the main Superlite navigation.

The Redirects section shows the redirects currently configured for the website.

Each redirect contains:

• The old URL
• The new destination
• The redirect type
• The date it was created

In the current version of Superlite, redirects use status code 301.

What a 301 redirect does

A 301 redirect permanently sends requests from one URL to another.

For example, if a page previously existed at:

example.com/old-services/

and the new URL is:

example.com/services/

a 301 redirect can send visitors from the old address to the new one.

Anyone following an old link will therefore still reach the correct content.

Search engines can also use the redirect as a signal that the page has permanently moved.

When to use a redirect

A redirect is normally useful when:

• You change the slug of a published page
• You move content to another URL
• You replace an old page with a new page
• You remove a page but have a relevant replacement
• An old URL still receives links or traffic

Avoid creating redirects without a clear destination.

If there is no relevant replacement for deleted content, redirecting every removed page to the homepage is usually not useful.

Creating a redirect manually

Open Redirects and choose to create a new redirect.

Enter the old URL in the source field.

For example:

/old-page/

Then enter the destination:

/new-page/

Save the redirect.

Superlite will include the redirect when generating the server rules used by the public website.

Redirects when changing a page URL

If you change the slug of an already published page, Superlite can create a redirect from the previous URL to the new one.

For example, if:

/about-us/

changes to:

/about/

Superlite can create:

/about-us/ → /about/

This helps prevent broken links after changing established URLs.

Review the redirect before saving the change to make sure the old and new locations are correct.

Internal destinations

A redirect can point to another URL on the same website.

This is the most common use.

For example:

/old-contact-page/ → /contact/

Use the current public URL of the destination.

External destinations

A redirect can also point to an external URL when necessary.

For example:

/booking/ → https://booking.example.com/

Use external redirects carefully and make sure the destination is correct.

Visitors reaching the old URL will leave your website immediately.

Editing a redirect

Open the Redirects section and select the redirect you want to change.

You can update the source or destination where the interface allows it.

Before editing an established redirect, consider whether links may already depend on it.

Changing the destination affects everyone who continues to use the old URL.

Removing a redirect

A redirect can be removed if it is no longer required.

Once removed, requests to the old URL will no longer be sent to the destination.

Before deleting a redirect, check whether the old address still receives visitors or has links pointing to it.

Long standing redirects are often useful to keep even when the old URL has not been used internally for some time.

Redirect loops

A redirect loop happens when redirects send a visitor back to a URL that has already been visited in the same redirect path.

For example:

/page-a/ → /page-b/

/page-b/ → /page-a/

The browser can never reach a final page.

Superlite checks for obvious redirect loops and should prevent invalid redirect configurations where possible.

Redirect chains

A redirect chain occurs when one redirect points to another redirect instead of directly to the final destination.

For example:

/old-page/ → /new-page/

/new-page/ → /final-page/

A visitor first reaches one redirect and is then redirected again.

Where possible, update the first redirect so that it points directly to the final destination:

/old-page/ → /final-page/

Shorter redirect paths are easier to manage and avoid unnecessary requests.

Duplicate redirects

Two different redirect entries should not compete for the same source URL.

For example, the same old URL should not point to two different destinations.

Superlite checks redirect configuration to prevent obvious duplicates.

If you need to change where an old URL points, edit the existing redirect rather than creating another redirect with the same source.

Redirecting a URL to itself

A redirect should never send a URL to the same URL.

For example:

/contact/ → /contact/

This provides no useful result and can create problems for browsers and crawlers.

Superlite checks for obvious invalid redirects such as these.

Redirects and deleted pages

Deleting a page does not automatically mean that you should create a redirect.

First decide whether there is another page that provides a useful replacement.

If an old Services page is replaced by a new Services page, redirecting the old URL makes sense.

If a page has been removed and there is no equivalent content, there may be no suitable destination.

Choose redirects based on what is useful to the visitor rather than simply trying to avoid every unavailable URL.

Redirects and navigation

Redirects are not a replacement for updating navigation.

If a page moves, update menus and internal links to point directly to the new URL.

The redirect should mainly handle old links that you cannot control, such as bookmarks, search engine results and links from other websites.

This avoids sending normal visitors through unnecessary redirects.

Redirects and internal links

When you change a URL, review links from other pages on the website.

Internal links should normally be updated to use the new destination directly.

For example, if:

/old-services/

now redirects to:

/services/

links inside your own content should point to:

/services/

The redirect remains available for old external links and other requests to the previous URL.

Redirects and search engines

Search engines can follow 301 redirects when they discover that a URL has moved.

A redirect is therefore an important part of changing established URLs.

It does not mean that search engine results will change immediately.

Search engines still need to crawl the old or new URL and process the change.

Avoid changing URLs unnecessarily, especially on established pages.

Apache redirect rules

Superlite stores redirect information as part of the CMS configuration.

The public web server then needs rules that perform the actual redirect.

On Apache hosting, Superlite can generate the required server configuration from the redirects stored in the CMS.

You should normally manage redirects through Superlite rather than manually maintaining separate versions of the same rules.

This keeps the CMS configuration and the public redirect behaviour synchronized.

Testing a redirect

After creating or changing a redirect, test the old URL in your browser.

Enter the old address directly.

You should arrive at the expected new destination.

Also check the address shown by the browser after the redirect to make sure it matches the intended URL.

If the redirect does not work, check that the source and destination were entered correctly and that the public redirect rules have been updated.

Redirects after publishing changes

Some redirect changes may require Superlite to update generated server configuration.

If a new redirect does not become active immediately, make sure the relevant changes have been saved and the site configuration has been rebuilt where required.

Do not manually edit generated redirect files unless you specifically need to troubleshoot the installation.

The redirect configuration stored in Superlite should remain the source of the redirect rules.