Redirects and Page Not Found Reports

Links break when you rename, move or delete articles, or when someone mistypes a URL. HelpGuides handles this in three ways: a smart 404 page that points readers to the closest articles, a report of every URL that wasn't found, and redirects that send old URLs to the right place.

The smart 404 page

When a reader requests a URL that doesn't exist, HelpGuides shows a 404 - Page Not Found page with the URL they asked for. It also searches your published articles using the words in the URL and lists up to three matches under We think you may be looking for:. For example, a request for /how-to-create-a-segment suggests articles about creating segments.

The 404 page tells search engines not to index it. Readers also land on it when they request an article that isn't published yet.

Every 404 is logged

Each time the 404 page is shown, HelpGuides records the requested path. Automated probes for things like wp-admin, .php or .env files are ignored so they don't clutter your report.

The Not Found report

To open the report, click Housekeeping in the left navigation, then click the Not Found (404) heading on the card. The card only appears when at least one URL has been logged. You can also go straight to /project/{projectuid}/reports/notfound.

The report has a Not Found Errors (404) chart showing 404s per day for the date range you choose with Filter, and a table of the URLs requested in that range:

Use Search ... to find a particular URL. Clearing an entry only removes it from the report; if readers keep requesting the URL, it's logged again.

Add a redirect from the report

Click a URL in the report, or on the Not Found (404) card, to open its detail page. The page is headed Article Not Found: followed by the path, and shows a chart of requests for that URL over time.

1. Look at Posts that possibly match and Categories that possibly match. These are the closest articles and categories to the missing URL.
2. Click a match to fill in Redirect To with its path. Or type your own: a path starting with /, or a full URL starting with https://.
3. Choose a Redirect Type: 301 Permanent Redirect or 302 Temporary Redirect.
4. Click Add Redirect. The button changes to Redirect Added.

The Redirects page

Click Redirects in the left navigation to see every redirect in your project, however it was created. Each row shows the Source path, the Destination and the Type (301 or 302).

• Type in Search by source or destination... to find a redirect.
• Use the type menu to show All types, 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary).
• Click Delete on a row, then confirm, to remove a redirect. The source URL returns a 404 again unless it belongs to an article.

Create a redirect

1. On the Redirects page, click New redirect.
2. Enter the source path without a leading slash, for example old-page.
3. Enter the destination: a path starting with /, or a full URL.
4. Enter 301 for a permanent redirect or 302 for a temporary one. 301 is the default.

A source path can only have one redirect. To change where an existing redirect goes, delete it and create it again.

Redirects HelpGuides creates for you

Some redirects are added for you:

• Deleting an article. In the editor, click Advanced, go to the Advanced tab and click Delete Post. In Confirm Delete, choose Delete and add a permanent redirect (HTTP 301) and enter a Redirect URL.
• Changing a page's URL. If you use Pages, changing a page's URL adds a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one.

These redirects appear on the Redirects page with the ones you created, and you can delete them there.

Related articles

• Keeping Content Fresh: Housekeeping and Stale Articles
• Finding Broken Links with the SEO Report
• Organizing Content with Categories
• Working with Links
• Site Map
• Setup Reverse Proxy