Redirect Mapping Template with Auditite

Overview

Redirect mapping is critical during site migrations, URL restructures, and domain changes. A single missed redirect can lose years of accumulated link equity and ranking signals. This template provides a systematic approach to planning, implementing, and validating redirects.

Redirect Type Selection

Type	Status Code	When to Use	SEO Impact
Permanent	301	URL permanently moved, domain change	Passes ~95% link equity
Permanent	308	Same as 301, preserves HTTP method	Same as 301
Temporary	302	Short-term move, A/B testing	Does not pass link equity
Temporary	307	Same as 302, preserves HTTP method	Does not pass link equity
Gone	410	Page permanently removed, no replacement	Signals removal from index

Default rule: Use 301 for all permanent URL changes. Only use 302/307 when the original URL will return.

Redirect Mapping Worksheet

#	Old URL	New URL	Redirect Type	Old Page Title	Old Backlinks	Old Traffic (monthly)	Priority	Validated
1			301				High	☐
2			301					☐

Priority Classification

Priority	Criteria	Action
Critical	Pages with backlinks OR pages with organic traffic	Must have exact 301 redirect
High	Pages indexed in Google with no traffic	Should have 301 redirect
Medium	Old URLs that may have been bookmarked	Redirect to closest equivalent
Low	Internal-only pages, admin URLs	Redirect to category or homepage
None	Pages returning 404 already	No action needed

Redirect Chain Detection

Chains occur when URL A redirects to URL B, which redirects to URL C. Each hop loses equity and slows crawling.

Chain Start	Hop 1	Hop 2	Hop 3	Final Destination	Hops	Action
					3	Update to direct 301

Rule: Maximum 1 redirect hop. All chains must be resolved to direct redirects.

Redirect Loop Detection

Loops occur when redirects create a circular path (A → B → A).

URL A	Redirects To	Which Redirects To	Loop?	Fix
			Yes/No

Pattern-Based Redirects

For large-scale URL changes, use regex patterns instead of individual redirects.

Pattern Name	Old URL Pattern	New URL Pattern	Example Old	Example New	Count
Blog migration	/blog/YYYY/MM/slug	/blog/slug	/blog/2024/03/seo-tips	/blog/seo-tips
Category rename	/old-category/*	/new-category/*	/old-category/page1	/new-category/page1

Pre-Migration Checklist

• Exported all URLs from current sitemap
• Crawled the site for all discoverable URLs
• Pulled backlink data for all URLs
• Pulled traffic data from analytics for all URLs
• Mapped every URL to its new destination
• Identified and resolved redirect chains
• Tested redirect rules on staging
• Prepared rollback plan

Post-Migration Validation

Check	Tool	Status	Date
All old URLs return 301 (not 404)	Crawl tool / Auditite
No redirect chains exist	Crawl tool
No redirect loops exist	Crawl tool
XML sitemap updated with new URLs	Manual check
Google Search Console updated	GSC
Internal links updated to new URLs	Crawl tool
Canonical tags point to new URLs	Crawl tool

Monitoring Schedule

Timeframe	Action
Day 1	Verify all redirects are live, check for 404s
Week 1	Monitor crawl errors in Search Console daily
Week 2-4	Track ranking changes for priority pages
Month 2	Full crawl to detect any missed redirects
Month 3	Compare organic traffic to pre-migration baseline
Month 6	Evaluate whether redirects can be removed (if internal only)

Auditite detects redirect chains, loops, and broken redirects automatically during every audit. During migrations, Auditite can validate your entire redirect map against the live site.