ProRank SEO

Regex Redirects (Pro+)

Pro+

Advanced pattern matching for powerful redirect rules

Pro+ Feature: Regex redirects require a Pro+ license. They allow you to create powerful pattern-based redirects that can handle thousands of URLs with a single rule.

What are Regex Redirects?

Regular Expression (Regex) redirects use pattern matching to redirect multiple URLs that follow a similar structure. Instead of creating individual redirects for each URL, you can create one regex rule that handles all matching patterns.

Benefits of Regex Redirects

  • Handle thousands of URLs with one rule
  • Dynamic URL parameter handling
  • Complex pattern matching
  • Reduce database size
  • Easier maintenance
  • Better performance at scale

Regex Syntax Basics

Common Pattern Elements

PatternMeaningExample
.Any single charactera.c matches abc, a1c, a@c
*Zero or more of previousab* matches a, ab, abbb
+One or more of previousab+ matches ab, abbb
?Zero or one of previouscolou?r matches color, colour
^Start of string^/blog matches /blog/post
$End of string.html$ matches page.html
()Capture group/(.*) captures everything
[]Character class[0-9] matches any digit
|OR operatorcat|dog matches cat or dog
\dAny digit\\d4 matches 2024
\wWord character\\w+ matches hello_world

Creating Regex Redirects

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Enable Regex ModeCheck "Use Regular Expression" when creating a redirect
  2. Write Pattern for Source URL
    ^/old-category/(.*)$
# Matches: /old-category/anything
# Captures: "anything" as $1
  3. Use Captured Groups in Target
    /new-category/$1
# If source matched /old-category/post-title
# Target becomes /new-category/post-title
  4. Test Your PatternUse an external tool like regex101.com to verify matches before saving
  5. Save RedirectThe redirect is active immediately after saving

Common Regex Redirect Patterns

Remove File Extensions

Source: ^(.*)\.html$
Target: $1
Example: /page.html → /page

Date-Based URLs to Flat Structure

Source: ^/\d{4}/\d{2}/\d{2}/(.*)$
Target: /blog/$1
Example: /2024/03/15/my-post → /blog/my-post

Category Migration

Source: ^/blog/category/([^/]+)/(.*)$
Target: /topics/$1/$2
Example: /blog/category/seo/guide → /topics/seo/guide

Lowercase URLs

Source: ^/Products/(.*)$
Target: /products/$1
Example: /Products/Widget → /products/Widget

Remove Query Parameters

Source: ^([^?]+)?.*$
Target: $1
Example: /page?utm_source=email → /page

WWW to Non-WWW

Source: ^https://www\.(.*)$
Target: https://$1
Example: https://www.site.com/page → https://site.com/page

Advanced Patterns

Complex Examples

Multiple Capture Groups

Source: ^/shop/([^/]+)/([^/]+)/item-(\d+)$
Target: /products/$1-$2/id/$3
Example: /shop/electronics/phones/item-123 → /products/electronics-phones/id/123

Explanation:
([^/]+) = Captures any characters except /
(\d+) = Captures one or more digits
$1, $2, $3 = References to captured groups

Optional Parameters

Source: ^/article/([^/]+)(?:/page/(\d+))?/?$
Target: /blog/$1?page=$2
Examples:
/article/seo-guide → /blog/seo-guide?page=
/article/seo-guide/page/2 → /blog/seo-guide?page=2

(?: ) = Non-capturing group
? after group = Makes it optional

Conditional Redirects

Source: ^/(en|es|fr)/(.*)$
Target: /$2?lang=$1
Examples:
/en/about → /about?lang=en
/es/about → /about?lang=es
/fr/about → /about?lang=fr

(en|es|fr) = Matches any of these options

Testing Regex Patterns

Testing Regex Patterns

A backend regex test endpoint exists at /prorank-seo/v1/redirects/test-regex (Pro+ only). For manual testing, use an external tool like regex101.com to validate your patterns before saving.

Performance Considerations

Optimisation Tips

Pattern Efficiency

  • • Use anchors (^ and $) to avoid unnecessary matching
  • • Be specific rather than using .* everywhere
  • • Use character classes [a-z] instead of wildcards when possible
  • • Avoid excessive backtracking with nested quantifiers

Pattern Ordering

  • • More specific patterns should have higher priority
  • • General catch-all patterns should have lowest priority
  • • Test order of execution with overlapping patterns

Regex redirects are processed after exact match redirects. Keep the number of active regex patterns reasonable (< 100) for optimal performance.

Common Mistakes

Forgetting Anchors

Wrong: /old/(.*)
This matches: /old/page, /folder/old/page

Correct: ^/old/(.*)$
This matches: /old/page only

Greedy Matching

Wrong: ^/blog/(.*)/(.*)$
For /blog/2024/03/post, captures: $1="2024/03" $2="post"

Better: ^/blog/([^/]+)/(.*)$
Captures: $1="2024" $2="03/post"

Escaping Special Characters

Wrong: ^/page.html$
The . matches any character!

Correct: ^/page\.html$
The \. matches literal period

Regex Redirect Limits

Pro+ License Features

  • Unlimited regex patterns
  • Complex pattern support
  • Multiple capture groups
  • Backreference support ($1, $2, etc.)
  • Backend test-regex endpoint (Pro+)
  • Import/export regex rules

Without Pro+ license, regex redirect options will be disabled in the interface. Upgrade to Pro+ to unlock this powerful feature.

Related Documentation

Managing Redirects

Basic redirect creation and management

Troubleshooting

Debug regex patterns and redirect issues