Q: Our wildcard redirect rule is sending unrelated pages to the wrong place. How do we stop the bleeding?
A: Caught it before real damage — good. Short answer: a too-greedy pattern (regex/wildcard) is matching URLs you never intended, firing redirects on pages that should stay put.
Long answer: Bulk rules like /blog/(.*) → /articles/$1 save time, but a loose pattern can swallow /blog-archive, /blogger-tips, or anything that merely starts with "blog." Suddenly good pages redirect to 404s or the wrong destinations. Order matters too: a broad rule placed above a specific one overrides it. This is the most common self-inflicted wound with rule-based redirects.
The fix:
— Anchor patterns tightly (use start/end boundaries, escape slashes)
— Put specific rules above broad ones
— Test the rule against a sample of URLs before deploying
Next step: crawl the site, find URLs redirecting unexpectedly, and tighten or reorder the offending rule.
Migration Helpdesk
@MigrationHelpdesk
Q: Our wildcard redirect rule is sending unrelated pages to the wrong place. How do we stop the bleeding?
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