Redirects & 404 Monitoring

Manage URL redirects, monitor 404 errors, smart redirect suggestions, and automatic hit tracking to maintain SEO equity.

On this page

Redirect Manager Redirect Types 404 Monitor Smart 404 Suggestions Database Schema

Redirect Manager

The redirect module () allows you to create URL redirects that execute at the template_redirect hook — before WordPress renders any template.

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Redirect Manager Page

Screenshot: Redirect list with add form — 900 × 500px — assets/images/redirects-manager.png

Creating a Redirect

Navigate to Redirects

Go to Serpelo → Content & Links → Redirects (slug: serpelo-redirects).

Enter Source & Target

Enter the Source URL (the old URL) and Target URL (where visitors should go). Select the redirect type.

Save

Click Add Redirect. The redirect is immediately active.

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Free Tier Limit: Free users can create up to 10 redirects. Pro and Elite users have unlimited redirects.

Redirect Types

Code	Type	When to Use
301	Permanent	Content has permanently moved. Passes ~90% of link equity. Use for most SEO redirects.
302	Temporary	Content is temporarily at a different URL. Does not pass link equity permanently.
307	Temp (HTTP/1.1)	Like 302 but strictly preserves the HTTP method (POST stays POST).

Redirect Features

Hit Tracking: Each redirect counts visits in the hits column. View popular redirects at a glance.
Active/Inactive: Toggle redirects on/off without deleting them (is_active flag).
Timestamps: created_at and updated_at for audit trails.

404 Monitor

The 404 Monitor () automatically logs every 404 error on your site, capturing the URL, referrer, user agent, IP address, and hit count.

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404 Monitor — Error Log

Screenshot: 404 log table with resolve/delete actions — 900 × 400px — assets/images/404-monitor.png

404 Log Data

Column	Description
`url`	The 404 URL that was requested
`referrer`	Where the visitor came from
`user_agent`	Browser/bot identification string
`ip_address`	Visitor IP (IPv4/IPv6, up to 45 chars)
`hits`	Number of times this 404 was hit (auto-incremented for same URLs)
`last_hit`	Timestamp of the most recent hit
`is_resolved`	Whether a redirect has been created for this URL
`redirect_id`	FK to the redirect if resolved

Actions

Resolve: Creates a redirect for the 404 URL and marks it resolved. AJAX:
Delete: Removes the 404 entry from the log. AJAX:

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Free Tier Limit: The log retains up to 50 entries for free users. Older entries are automatically purged when the limit is reached. Pro/Elite users have unlimited storage.

Smart 404 Redirect Suggestions

The Smart 404 module () uses multi-signal scoring to suggest the best redirect target for broken URLs. Pro

How It Works

When a 404 is detected, the smart matcher:

Extracts slug segments from the broken URL
Searches published content titles, slugs, and excerpts
Scores matches using word overlap, Levenshtein distance, and content relevance
Returns the top suggestion with a confidence score

Database Tables

wp_serpelo_redirects

id BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY
source_url VARCHAR(500) NOT NULL
target_url VARCHAR(500) NOT NULL
redirect_type INT DEFAULT 301
hits INT DEFAULT 0
is_active TINYINT(1) DEFAULT 1
created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
updated_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE
INDEX idx_source (source_url(191))
INDEX idx_active (is_active)

wp_serpelo_404_log

id BIGINT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY
url VARCHAR(500) NOT NULL
referrer VARCHAR(500) DEFAULT ''
user_agent VARCHAR(500) DEFAULT ''
ip_address VARCHAR(45) DEFAULT ''
hits INT DEFAULT 1
last_hit DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
is_resolved TINYINT(1) DEFAULT 0
redirect_id BIGINT UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL
INDEX idx_url (url(191))
INDEX idx_hits (hits)
INDEX idx_resolved (is_resolved)