If you ever change a page URL (also known as the slug) or delete a page completely, a redirect is what makes sure your visitors still end up in the right place.
Quick side note: the slug is the bit that comes after your main website address. So, in www.example.com/about, the slug is ‘about‘.
Here’s a quick example.
Let’s say you had a page at: www.example.com/page1
and you’ve now moved it to: www.example.com/newpage
If someone clicks on the old link, they’ll hit a dead end.
A ‘404 Page Not Found’ error.
Not a great experience.
Redirects stop that from happening. They automatically send people from the old page to the new one. No dead ends, no confusion.
They also help with your search rankings. Search engines use redirects to update their index and keep your pages showing up correctly in search results.
The technical name for this is a 301 redirect, which just means it’s a permanent change.
If I’m working on a client’s website and I’m changing any page URLs, I always make sure redirects are set up properly so everything keeps working as it should.