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Redirects

Site check Checked hourly http, www and old domains
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People type your address in different ways: with or without www, with http or https, or an old domain from a business card. Each of them should forward to your site in one step. When one loops, doesn't answer, ends somewhere else or has no DNS record, the visitors who use it get an error or the wrong site.

What WP Moo looks at

We follow every address of your domain the way a browser does and see where it ends:

  • http and https, with and without www. A site on a subdomain such as shop.example.com has no www version.
  • http and https of every domain under "Other domains that should forward here" in Checks & pages. Add the www version of an old domain as a domain of its own.

Each address should end on your main address, normally over https, with permanent redirects (301 or 308) and no more hops than you allow under Maximum redirect hops (2 out of the box, up to 10). We also check the certificate of https addresses that forward to the site, since browsers warn before the redirect. The main address's own certificate belongs to the SSL & certificate check.

Where your site sends visitors after they reach the main address is left alone as long as they stay on it, like a language folder. Forwarding on to a subdomain or another domain counts as not ending on the site. On the site overview, the Redirects row lists every address with each redirect it took.

What the problems mean

An address of your domain redirects in a loop Urgent Check the redirect rules on the server, in Cloudflare or in your redirect plugin. A common cause is a WordPress address that doesn't match the server's https or www redirect.
An address of your domain doesn't end on the site Urgent Forward every address to the main address with one permanent redirect, on the server or in Cloudflare.
An address of your domain lost its DNS record Urgent Check the records at your DNS provider. A record may have been deleted by accident, the domain may have moved to another DNS provider, or it may have expired.
An address of your domain stays on http:// Important Forward http:// to https:// with one permanent redirect (301), on the server or with Always Use HTTPS in Cloudflare.
An address of your domain has an invalid certificate Important Add the address to the certificate (one certificate usually covers both www and the bare domain), or renew it. Ask your host if they manage it.
An address of your domain takes … redirects Notice Forward every address straight to the main address in one redirect, on the server or in Cloudflare.
An address of your domain forwards with a temporary redirect Notice Change it to a permanent redirect (301), on the server, in Cloudflare or in your redirect plugin.
An address of your domain has no DNS record Notice Add a record for it at your DNS provider and forward it to the main address.

Out of the box: Urgent on a redirect loop or an address that doesn't end on the site or a lost DNS record · Important when http doesn't forward to https or for an invalid certificate · Notice for extra hops or temporary redirects or an address without DNS. What each priority means: Problem priority.

How to fix it

Redirects are set in your hosting panel or server, in Cloudflare, or in a redirect plugin.

  • A loop: check that both addresses under Settings › General in WordPress match your main address exactly, with https and with or without www. Then remove the rule that sends visitors the other way.
  • http, temporary or extra redirects: forward every address straight to the main address with one permanent redirect (301). In Cloudflare, http to https is Always Use HTTPS. Redirect plugins often default to temporary (302) redirects.
  • No DNS record: add a record for the address at your DNS provider, or remove an old domain you gave up from "Other domains that should forward here".

WP Moo sees the change on its next check and the problem goes away by itself.

For your developer

Each variant is a GET with Range: bytes=0-0 and the WP Moo user agent, following redirects one hop at a time without verifying certificates. A variant ends on the main address when its last stop has the same scheme, host and port; path and query don't count. Hops after it first reaches the main address don't count towards the hop limit or as temporary redirects. A redirect back to an address already in the chain, or past our follow limit of 10 redirects, is a loop. To see the same chain:

curl -skL -A 'WPMooBot/1.0 (+https://wp-moo.com/bot)' -r 0-0 -o /dev/null -D - http://www.example.com/

The certificate of the first https address in the chain is invalid when it has expired, isn't valid yet or doesn't match the host. A DNS lookup that failed on our side makes the run "couldn't check" rather than a problem, and so does a run where no variant gets an answer, unless the redirects loop or none of the hosts has a DNS record. A variant that refuses the connection or times out while others answer doesn't end on the site once the same address fails two runs in a row. A variant whose own host doesn't exist is the no DNS record problem: Urgent when that host answered before, a Notice when it never did. A redirect to a host that doesn't exist counts as a variant that doesn't answer.

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