You should especially use it for your top ranked URLs. By default, Spark Pay online stores will redirect 404 errors (page not found)to the home page. If you already have content indexed, it will be good to point it to the corresponding content within Spark Pay.
Types of URL Redirects
There are three common types of redirects:301, 302,and a URL rewrite. We label them as Temporary, Permanent and URL Rewrite.
Temporary Rewrite
- Shows the site has been temporarily moved and prompts the user to visit the new address. This is not the most efficient method to redirect traffic to your site.
Permanent Rewrite
- Usually the best option. It tells the search engines that your old link will forever point to the new URL.The engine's index will be updated with the new URL, which is good because our URL is typically more keyword-oriented than your old URL.This option has no duplicate content issues, but you are not able to mimic the exact old path/URL this way.
URL Rewrite
- Never changes the URL. It redirects to the new page behind the scenes while allowing the URL to remain the same. This is useful if you want both the new format and old format to remain the same. Please be aware that this could have small technical issues due to possible duplicate content on your site.
How to Redirect URLs
To point your old URLs to the new pages, open our URL Rewriting Engine found under
Settings > Search Engine > URL Redirecting.
From there, add a redirect URL by clicking the NEW button.
The page you are redirecting to should be one of the supported types listed.
Find your old page and list it in the Redirected From URL box. Do not include http:// or ftp:// in the address. Next, choose where you would like to redirect that page. Last, select the best type of redirect from the choices defined above. (usually Permanent 301)
The Active box is enabled by default. Leaving it unchecked will disable the listing and won't redirect to the new page.
When finished, make sure that you Save your changes. You can test the results by entering the old URL and ensuring it redirects to the new page.