Redirects

Redirects

Redirects are a fundamental feature of MediaWiki, enabling administrators and experienced users to manage page titles and ensure a consistent user experience. They allow a page to automatically forward visitors to another page. This article provides a comprehensive guide to redirects, covering their purpose, creation, types, and best practices for utilizing them effectively within a wiki environment like this one. Understanding redirects is crucial for maintaining a well-organized and navigable wiki. We will also touch upon how redirects relate to Help:Linking, Help:Search, and Manual:Administrators.

What are Redirects and Why Use Them?

Imagine a scenario where a topic is referred to by multiple names. For example, "United States of America," "USA," and "America" all refer to the same country. Without redirects, each of these terms would require its own separate article, potentially duplicating content and confusing visitors. Redirects solve this problem by allowing you to create multiple entry points that all lead to the definitive article.

Here's a breakdown of the benefits of using redirects:

Consistency: Ensures that a topic is always accessed through a standardized page title.
User Experience: Visitors can use familiar or slightly incorrect terms and still reach the information they need.
Content Management: Reduces redundancy and simplifies content organization.
SEO Benefits: (Less relevant within a wiki, but conceptually similar) Helps consolidate "link juice" to the primary article, improving its visibility.
Handling Typos: Redirects can automatically correct common misspellings in page titles.
Moving Pages: When renaming a page, you can create a redirect from the old title to the new one, preserving existing links. This is vital for maintaining stable internal links. See Help:Moving pages for details.

How to Create a Redirect

Creating a redirect is a simple process. You essentially create a page that contains only a redirect instruction. There are two primary methods:

Method 1: Using the #REDIRECT directive

This is the most common and recommended method.

1. Create a new page with the title you want to act as the redirect (e.g., "USA"). 2. On that page, enter the following text:

   ```wiki
   #REDIRECT United States of America
   ```

   Replace "United States of America" with the title of the target page.  The double square brackets `...` are essential.

3. Save the page. The page "USA" will now automatically redirect to "United States of America."

Method 2: Using the "Redirect" button (if available, depends on skin/extensions)

Some wiki skins and extensions provide a dedicated "Redirect" button in the editing toolbar. This button typically inserts the `#REDIRECT` directive automatically, prompting you for the target page title. While convenient, it's good to understand the underlying `#REDIRECT` directive.

Important Notes:

The `#REDIRECT` directive must be the *only* content on the redirect page (except for wiki markup that doesn’t render visibly, such as comments). Any other text or code will prevent the redirect from working correctly.
Redirects are case-sensitive. "USA" and "usa" will be treated as different page titles.
The target page must exist for the redirect to function.
Redirects can point to other redirects, creating a chain. However, excessively long redirect chains should be avoided, as they can impact performance.

Types of Redirects

Redirects can be categorized based on their scope and purpose:

Simple Redirects: The most basic type, as described above. They redirect from one specific page title to another. Example: "Short term trading" -> "Day trading". This is often used for minor variations in terminology.
Title Redirects: Redirects that handle different capitalization or whitespace variations. For example, "Trading strategy" -> "Trading Strategy". MediaWiki generally handles case insensitivity automatically, but redirects can be used for explicit control.
Canonical Redirects: Used to establish a preferred page title when multiple titles are equally valid. This helps consolidate link equity. Example: "Technical Analysis" -> "Trading Analysis". Consider this when choosing between similar titles. Related to Help:Page titles.
Soft Redirects: These are less common and generally involve JavaScript or other client-side techniques. They are not as reliable as server-side redirects (using `#REDIRECT`) and are not recommended for critical navigation.
Temporary Redirects: While MediaWiki's `#REDIRECT` is inherently a permanent redirect, you can sometimes simulate temporary redirects using external tools or extensions, but this is rarely necessary within a standard wiki setup.

Advanced Redirect Techniques

Beyond the basic `#REDIRECT` directive, there are several advanced techniques you can employ:

Redirects with Fragments: You can redirect to a specific section within the target page using a fragment identifier (#). Example: `#REDIRECT Trading Analysis#Indicators` will redirect to the "Indicators" section of the "Trading Analysis" page.
Redirects with Parameters: While less common, you can pass URL parameters through a redirect, although this requires careful consideration and may not always work as expected.
Category Redirects: You can create redirects that point to categories. This allows users to find categories using alternative names. Example: `#REDIRECT `.
Redirects for Deleted Pages: If a page is deleted, a redirect can be created from the old title to a relevant alternative page or a notice explaining the deletion.
Using Regular Expressions (with extensions): Some extensions allow for more complex redirects based on regular expressions, enabling you to redirect patterns of page titles. This is an advanced technique and requires careful configuration.

Best Practices for Using Redirects

To ensure your wiki's redirects are effective and maintainable, follow these best practices:

Document Your Redirects: Keep a record of all redirects you create, along with their purpose. This will help with future maintenance and troubleshooting. A dedicated Help:Redirect log page can be useful.
Avoid Redirect Chains: Minimize the number of redirects in a chain. Long chains can slow down page loading and create confusion. If you encounter a long chain, try to redirect directly to the final target page.
Use Clear and Descriptive Redirect Titles: Redirect titles should be easily understandable and reflect the common terms users might use to search for the information.
Test Your Redirects: After creating a redirect, always test it to ensure it functions correctly.
Be Mindful of Circular Redirects: Avoid creating redirects that loop back on themselves, as this will cause an error.
Don't Redirect to Non-Existent Pages: The target page of a redirect must exist.
Consider the User Experience: Ensure that redirects lead users to the most relevant and helpful information.
Regularly Review and Update Redirects: As your wiki evolves, review your redirects to ensure they are still accurate and relevant. Remove redirects that are no longer needed.

Redirects and Wiki Maintenance

Redirects play a crucial role in ongoing wiki maintenance. Here's how:

Page Renaming: When renaming a page, *always* create a redirect from the old title to the new one. This ensures that existing links continue to work and that users who bookmark the old title are automatically redirected to the new location.
Content Merging: When merging two articles into one, create redirects from the original titles to the merged article.
Handling Duplicate Content: Redirects can help resolve issues with duplicate content by consolidating information under a single, authoritative page.
Error Correction: Redirects can automatically correct common misspellings or typos in page titles.

Troubleshooting Redirects

If a redirect isn't working as expected, here are some common troubleshooting steps:

Check the `#REDIRECT` Syntax: Ensure that the `#REDIRECT` directive is correctly formatted and that the target page title is enclosed in double square brackets.
Verify the Target Page Exists: Confirm that the target page actually exists.
Check for Other Content on the Redirect Page: Make sure the redirect page contains *only* the `#REDIRECT` directive.
Clear Your Browser Cache: Sometimes, your browser cache can interfere with redirects. Clearing the cache can resolve the issue.
Check for Circular Redirects: Verify that the redirect doesn't create a loop.
Inspect Redirect Chains: If the redirect is part of a chain, examine the chain to identify any potential problems.
Consult the Wiki's Logs: Check the wiki's logs for any errors related to redirects. (Requires administrator access)

Redirects and SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Although a wiki is primarily for internal knowledge sharing, understanding the SEO implications of redirects can be beneficial. Search engines treat redirects as signals of page importance. A permanent redirect (using `#REDIRECT`) tells search engines that the original URL has been permanently moved to the new URL, and they should transfer the "link juice" (authority) from the old URL to the new one. This is why using `#REDIRECT` instead of simply deleting a page and creating a new one is generally preferable for SEO. However, remember that the primary goal of redirects within a wiki is user experience and content management, not search engine rankings. See also Help:Search Engine Optimization.

Help:Contents Help:Links Manual:Administrators Help:Moving pages Help:Page titles Help:Search Help:Redirect log Help:Search Engine Optimization

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