PHP 301 Redirect Generator

A redirect in PHP is one function call. The important parts are the third argument, which sets the status code, and the exit that stops the rest of the script:

<?php
// Put this at the very top of the old page (/old-page), before any output.
header('Location: https://www.example.com/new-page', true, 301);
exit;

That is exactly what the generator writes for a single redirect. Leave out the 301 and PHP sends a 302, which search engines treat as temporary: the old URL stays indexed and the new one does not inherit its rankings.

For a list of redirects, repeating header() calls does not work: the first one always wins. In bulk mode the generator writes a lookup table instead, which you include once at the top of your front controller (usually index.php):

<?php
$redirects = [
    '/old-page' => ['/new-page', 301],
    '/blog/post-1' => ['https://www.example.com/articles/post-1', 301],
    '/sale' => ['/offers', 302],
];

$path = rawurldecode((string) parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], PHP_URL_PATH));

if (isset($redirects[$path])) {
    list($target, $status) = $redirects[$path];
    header('Location: ' . $target, true, $status);
    exit;
}

The generated version also matches old URLs that include a query string and passes the visitor's query string through to the new URL.

• Output before the header. Any character sent first, even a blank line above <?php, causes "headers already sent" and the redirect is ignored.
• No status code. header('Location: ...') alone is a 302.
• No exit. The script keeps running after the header is queued.
• Relative destinations. Browsers accept them, but an absolute URL avoids surprises behind proxies and is what the HTTP specification originally required.
• Redirect chains. Point each old URL straight at the final destination, not at another URL that redirects again.

The same tool is available preset for each server, plus a combined version:

• 301 redirect generator (all servers)
• .htaccess redirect generator
• Nginx redirect generator
• bulk redirect generator

After the redirects are live, confirm each old URL answers 301 and lands on a working page with the broken link checker, and submit a sitemap of the new URLs made with the XML sitemap generator.