Rewriting URLs and Doing WordPress Redirects Without .htaccess
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Rewriting the URL is very important in any WordPress blog. The simpler the URL, the better it will be remembered by your site visitors. And the better it is remembered, the greater the chances of increasing the fan base and readership of your blog.
Redirection is different from rewriting your URL, although in the process of redirection, the URL will change. It is correct to say that rewriting your URL is part of the redirection process, but not the other way around. For example, it is not accurate to say that in rewriting any URL, you should be redirecting it.
From the search engine optimization point of view:
The simpler the URL structure, for example using static-looking URLs rather than dynamic URLs, the better the chances are that your site will be correctly indexed and that search engine spiders will experience only minimal problems in crawling your site.
The effective combination of a simple URL structure and redirection minimize serious blog problems such as duplicate content.
In WordPress, the default URL structure is not good. It gives you dynamic and ugly-looking URLs. If you do not set the proper URL structure, you can still sort out that problem using URL rewriting and redirection.
This article discusses the ways you can effectively rewrite and redirect URLs in a WordPress blog without using .htaccess file. This is only possible by using a WordPress plug-in.
What is an .htaccess file?
The hypertext file is called .htaccess; it controls and overrides the Apache server configurations. In short, this is a file uploaded to your Apache Linux-based server that can do the following very important jobs:
Instruct your server to rewrite URLs.
Provide some instructions pertaining to any redirection of URLs.
Provide security measures in your website, such as using passwords to restrict access.
Prevent hot linking, which will steal some bandwidth from your server.
Editing the .htaccess file is risky; sometimes, misuse of the file can create an internal server error and make your site completely inaccessible to visitors -- or even to yourself!
Please note that the .htaccess file is only applicable to Apache Linux-based server configurations; it is not applicable to IIS Windows-based servers.
Next: What is URL redirection? >>
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