Server settings via .htaccess

To activate redirects in an .htaccess file, the rewrite engine must be activated. This is done with the following command:

RewriteEngine On

This line must be placed before all rewrite rules for the redirects to work.

Depending on the application, redirects can be made with different status codes:

• 301 (Moved Permanently): This redirect signals that the address of the page is changing permanently. It is interpreted by search engines as meaning that an existing entry in the search index has been given a new address.
• 302 (Found): Temporary redirect. It should be used if the move or change is only temporary, e.g. during maintenance work or tests. Search engines retain the old URL in their index.
• 307 (Temporary Redirect): Works in a similar way to 302, but guarantees that the HTTP method (e.g. POST) remains unchanged. This is helpful for redirects that process form entries.
• 308 (Permanent Redirect): Similar to 301, but also retains the original HTTP method. This redirect is useful if the content moves permanently but specific methods must not be changed, e.g. for certain API calls.

The desired status code is specified at the end of the RewriteRule command in square brackets, e.g. [R=301,L]

If all pages of a domain are to be accessed exclusively via an encrypted SSL connection, this can be set up via an entry in the .htaccess file in the start directory of the domain:

RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

Explanation:

• RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on: Checks whether the connection is not via HTTPS.
• RewriteRule ^ %{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]: Redirects the request to the HTTPS version of the current domain and URL.

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$
RewriteRule ^ https://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

Explanation:

• RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST}^www\.(.*)$: Checks whether the domain begins with "www.".
• RewriteRule ^ %1%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]: Removes "www." and redirects to the version without "www.".

With the following entry, all calls for a domain without www are forwarded to the variant with www:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^ https://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

Explanation:

• RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.: Checks that the domain does not begin with "www.".
• RewriteRule ^ www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]: Redirects the request to the version with "www." in front of the domain.

Anchors" can be set as jump markers on a website. When called up, the browser does not jump to the beginning of the page but directly to the anchor point. The anchor is identified by a hash character # in the URL followed by the name of the jump label. Example of an address with an anchor:

domain.tld/current.html#article25

If direct reference is to be made to a jump label via .htaccess redirection, the additional parameter NE (No Encoding) must be specified in square brackets:

RewriteRule ^news\.html$ /current.html#article25 [R=301,L,NE]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?domain\.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://domain.de/unterseite.html [R=301,L]

The parameter [NC] in the RewriteCond line means "No Case", which means that the URL called up is case insensitive.

http://www.domainname.de/index.php?id=7

should be according to

http://www.domainname.de/impressum.html

should be redirected. The problem is the ? in the old URL. This must be queried via QUERY_STRING in the condition.

Solution:

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^id=7$
RewriteRule ^.*$ https://name-der-domain.de/impressum.html? [R=301,L]

The browser cache is also important. This should definitely be emptied, because if a call is still in the cache, you may still end up on the wrong page.

This prevents old URLs that no longer exist due to a move or reprogramming from leading to a poorer ranking in the search engines.