GoodHelp.AI

Redirect Management & Broken Link Fixes

Overview

The Website Audit in GoodHelp now automatically detects broken links (404 errors), redirect chains, and server errors on your website. When issues are found, you can create URL redirects directly from the audit results — no server access or technical knowledge required.

This feature works with WordPress (via the Redirection plugin) and Drupal (via the Redirect module). Support for additional CMS platforms is coming soon.

How It Works

Step 1: Run a Website Audit

Navigate to Marketing → Website Audit in your GoodHelp dashboard. Click “Collect Stats” to discover all pages on your site via Google Search Console, then select pages and click “Audit Pages” to run a full SEO audit.

The audit now includes an HTTP Status check for every page. You’ll see a color-coded status column in the results:

  • Green (200) — Page is working correctly
  • Red (404) — Page not found — needs a redirect or content restoration
  • Orange (301/302) — Page is already redirecting. Hover to see the redirect target.
  • Red (5xx) — Server error — investigate the server or hosting configuration

Step 2: Fix Broken Links with Redirects

When the audit finds a 404, you can create a 301 redirect to send visitors (and search engines) to the correct page:

  1. Find the 404 page in your audit results (sort by HTTP Status to see them first)
  2. Click the “Fix” button next to the broken URL
  3. Choose or enter the target URL — the working page you want visitors to reach instead
  4. Click “Create Redirect”

GoodHelp will create the redirect on your connected CMS automatically. The next time someone visits the old URL, they’ll be seamlessly sent to the new one.

Step 3: Verify Your Fixes

After creating redirects, re-run the audit on the affected pages. URLs that previously showed 404 should now show 301 (permanent redirect), confirming the fix is working.

Prerequisites

WordPress Sites

Your WordPress site needs the Redirection plugin installed and activated. This is the most popular redirect management plugin for WordPress (5M+ installations) and provides both a REST API (used by GoodHelp) and a management UI in WP Admin.

  1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New
  2. Search for “Redirection” by John Godley
  3. Click Install Now, then Activate
  4. Complete the setup wizard when prompted

You also need a WordPress connection configured in GoodHelp with Application Password credentials. See Getting Started for connection setup.

Drupal Sites

Your Drupal site needs the Redirect module installed and enabled. This is a core contrib module available for Drupal 9+ and 10+.

  1. Install via Composer: composer require drupal/redirect
  2. Enable in Drupal admin: Extend → search “Redirect” → Enable
  3. Ensure JSON:API access is configured for your GoodHelp connection

Understanding Redirects

Type Code When to Use
Permanent 301 The page has permanently moved. Search engines will transfer SEO value to the new URL. This is the default and recommended option.
Temporary 302 The page is temporarily unavailable. Search engines will keep the original URL indexed. Use this for maintenance or seasonal content.

Best Practices

  • Fix 404s promptly. Broken links hurt your search rankings and frustrate visitors. Run the website audit regularly to catch new issues.
  • Use 301 (permanent) redirects for pages that have moved permanently. This transfers SEO equity to the new URL.
  • Avoid redirect chains. If page A redirects to B, which redirects to C, update A to redirect directly to C. The audit will flag chains longer than 2 hops.
  • Redirect to relevant content. Don’t redirect everything to your homepage. Point each broken URL to the most relevant existing page.
  • Re-audit after fixing. Run the audit again to confirm your redirects are working and no new issues have appeared.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create redirects for any website?

You can create redirects on any WordPress or Drupal site that is connected to your GoodHelp account and has the appropriate redirect plugin/module installed.

What happens if the Redirection plugin isn’t installed?

The “Fix” button will be disabled for sites without redirect support. Install the Redirection plugin (WordPress) or Redirect module (Drupal) to enable this feature.

Can I use regex patterns for redirects?

Yes. When creating a redirect, you can choose “regex” as the match type. This is useful for URL pattern changes — for example, redirecting all URLs matching /blog/(.+)-\d{10,13} to /blog/$1/ to handle timestamp-based URL migrations.

Will redirects affect my SEO?

301 redirects preserve SEO value. Google and other search engines will transfer link equity from the old URL to the new one. In fact, fixing 404s with proper redirects improves your SEO by eliminating dead links and consolidating page authority.