NOTE: This plugin allows you to create redirects only under your department’s main URL.  If you wish to have a top-level redirect (aka “Marketing URL“) under www.bu.edu, please submit that as a service request to IS&T.  All top-level marketing URLs incur a $100 cost-recovery fee per URL for setup and configuration.

ALSO NOTE: Safe Direct Manager only works for pages and posts created in WordPress. This DOES NOT WORK for files uploaded to your media library. You cannot create redirects for media files. Delete or replace old media files and change the originating links. Pro Tip: Don’t publicize links to media files directly. Put relevant links to your media files on a page, and widely share the link to the page. That way, you can always change the file links and keep the same “landing page” that points to your media files.

Safe Redirect Manager allows you to send a URL on your site to a custom destination. This gives you full control over what previously would have been a request for a custom URL. Before beginning the steps below, please request that the Safe Redirect Manager be enabled for your site. To set up a new redirect, simply follow the steps below:

  1. From your WordPress dashboard go to Tools > Safe Redirect Manager
  2. Click “Create Redirect Rule”.
    Safe_Redirect_Manager_‹_WPMU_—_WordPress
  3. On the next screen, in the “Redirect From” field enter only the keyword you’d like to use as a redirect URL.
    • For example:
      • If you want a custom URL at http://www.bu.edu/mydepartment/fallregistration/ then…
      • Enter only the keyword fallregistration as the Redirect From.
  4. Next, enter the full destination address of the redirect in the “Redirect To” field. Here you enter the address of the page you want visitors to see. This can be a full URL with the “https://” at the beginning, or a relative URL that includes your site name. If you want visitors to land on https://www.bu.edu/mydepartment/registration/ you can enter that full URL or just “/mydepartment/registration/”
    Safe_Redirect_Manager_‹_WPMU_—_WordPress
  5. Click “Publish.” Your redirect is now live.
  6. Test it!  Open a browser, type in your redirect URL, and ensure it redirects to the destination page you intended.