Redirect Map Builder

Build a 301 redirect map for site migrations or URL restructuring. Paste old and new URLs, auto-match by slug path, and export as CSV, JSON, or .htaccess rules.

URL Input

Current URLs that need to be redirected. Must start with http:// or https://.
Destination URLs for the redirects. Must start with http:// or https://.

Tip:Press Ctrl+Enter or ⌘+Enter to build the map quickly. Results update automatically as you type in both fields.

How This Tool Works

How This Tool Works

The Redirect Map Builder works entirely in your browser — no data is sent to our server. You paste your old and new URLs, choose a matching strategy (positional pairing or auto-match by slug), and the tool generates the map instantly. You can then export the results in your preferred format:

  • CSV Export — A comma-separated file with Old URL, New URL, and Status columns. Import this into spreadsheet software or use it as a reference document.
  • JSON Export — Machine-readable format for programmatic processing or integration with migration scripts.
  • Copy Report — Formatted text report of the entire redirect map, ready to paste into documentation.
  • .htaccess Rules — Apache 301 redirect rules that you can paste directly into your .htaccess file. Each rule uses the Redirect directive with the old URL path and new full URL.

Frequently Asked Questions

A redirect map is a structured list pairing every old URL with its corresponding new URL during a site migration or URL restructuring. It is critical for SEO because without proper 301 redirects, you lose the accumulated link equity (ranking power) from backlinks, social shares, and user engagement signals. A comprehensive redirect map prevents 404 errors, preserves search rankings, maintains user experience, and ensures search engines discover and index your new URLs efficiently. During a site migration, every URL from the old site should have a corresponding destination in the new site.
Building by position pairs URLs line-by-line: the first old URL pairs with the first new URL, the second with the second, and so on. This works when your old and new URL lists correspond exactly in order. Auto-matching by slug compares the last path segment (the "slug") of each URL and pairs URLs with matching slugs. For example, /about-us matches /about and /pricing matches /plans. Auto-matching is useful when the URL structure changes significantly but some URL slugs remain similar. You can also manually review unmatched URLs and create custom pairings.
Always use 301 (permanent) redirects for site migrations and URL restructuring. A 301 redirect tells search engines that the content has permanently moved and passes approximately 90-99% of the original page's link equity (ranking power) to the new URL. The old URL is deindexed and replaced with the new one. A 302 (temporary) redirect does not pass full link equity and the old URL remains indexed — use 302s only for temporary situations like A/B testing, maintenance pages, or seasonal content. For a permanent migration, 301 redirects are the correct choice, which is why our tool generates 301 rules by default.
Copy the generated .htaccess rules and paste them into your website's root .htaccess file. Place them at the top of the file, before any other rewrite rules. Make sure mod_alias is enabled on your Apache server. Always test on a staging environment first — a single syntax error in .htaccess can cause a 500 Internal Server Error, taking your entire site offline. Keep a backup of your working .htaccess file before making changes. After deployment, use our Redirect Checker tool to verify that your redirects are working correctly.
Common pitfalls include: (1) Redirect chains — creating A→B→C redirects instead of direct A→C, which slows page loads and dilutes SEO value. (2) Redirecting all old URLs to the homepage instead of matching them to relevant new pages — this provides a poor user experience and loses targeted SEO value. (3) Forgetting URL parameters — URLs with query strings (?id=123) need separate redirect rules. (4) Missing trailing slash consistency — if your old site uses trailing slashes and your new site does not (or vice versa), ensure your redirects account for this. (5) Not updating internal links — redirects only cover external requests; update internal links to point directly to new URLs. (6) Not testing — always validate your redirect map after deployment.
Apache does not have a hard limit on the number of Redirect directives in a .htaccess file, but performance considerations apply. Each redirect adds minimal processing overhead, but with thousands of rules, you may notice increased server response times. For sites with more than a few hundred redirects, consider moving rules to the Apache virtual host configuration (httpd.conf or site config) rather than .htaccess, as this bypasses per-directory .htaccess processing. Alternatively, use a RewriteMap for very large redirect sets (10,000+). For most site migrations (hundreds to low thousands of URLs), .htaccess rules work fine.
The best strategy follows the "content-first" approach: (1) Audit every old URL to understand what content it contains. (2) Create a new site structure and map each old URL to the most relevant new URL — avoid blanket redirects to the homepage. (3) For pages where content has moved to a different section, find the closest match. (4) For removed content, redirect to the most relevant category page or a search results page (never let important URLs return 404). (5) Use our Auto-Match by Slug feature as a starting point, then manually review unmatched URLs. (6) Validate the complete map before deployment. A well-planned redirect map preserves 90%+ of your SEO value during a migration.
After deploying your redirect map, validate it using these methods: (1) Use a redirect checker tool (like our Redirect Checker at yourseotoolbox.com/redirect-checker/) to test individual URLs from your old site and verify they reach the correct destination. (2) Crawl your old site URLs using a SEO crawler and check the HTTP status codes — every old URL should return a 301 redirect (not 200, 404, or 500). (3) Check your server access logs for unexpected 404 errors. (4) Verify that redirect chains are short (ideally 1 hop). (5) Monitor Google Search Console for crawl errors and indexing issues after the migration. (6) Export your redirect map from this tool as a CSV and use it as a validation checklist.
Yes, the redirect map itself (the CSV export) is server-agnostic. While this tool generates Apache .htaccess format rules, the CSV export contains the same old→new URL pairings that can be implemented on any server. For Nginx, you can convert the CSV data to rewrite rules in your server block configuration. For IIS, you can use the URL Rewrite module and import the rules via the IIS Manager interface. The underlying data — the old-to-new URL mapping — is what matters, and the CSV export captures that in a portable format that works with any server platform.
A redirect map and a sitemap serve different purposes. A redirect map tells search engines and users where old URLs have moved to — it handles requests to old URLs by forwarding them to new destinations with a 301 status code. A sitemap is a list of all important URLs on your current site that you want search engines to discover, crawl, and index. During a site migration, you need both: a redirect map to handle traffic to old URLs, and an updated sitemap to help search engines discover your new URLs. They work together — the sitemap ensures new URLs get indexed quickly, while the redirect map preserves value from old URLs.
Reviewed Jun 2026 · Sources and limitations

Review details: 2026-06-10 · Marc LaClear · v1.0

Reference sources:

Known limits:

  • Checks are based on publicly fetchable HTML, response headers, and browser-side input. They do not use private Google Search Console, analytics, or ranking data.
  • Scores and warnings are diagnostic aids, not guarantees of ranking improvement or Google indexation.
  • Pages blocked by robots.txt, login walls, bot protection, heavy JavaScript, or network timeouts may return incomplete results.
  • Validate critical fixes with official Google tools such as Search Console, Rich Results Test, Lighthouse, and your own crawl data.

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