Step by Step Guide

Using the Smart Redirects

Step 1: Access Smart Redirects
From your WordPress admin menu, go to SEO Repair Kit → Links Manager → Smart Redirects tab.

This is where you enable, manage, and monitor automatic redirects for broken content.

Step 2: Enable Smart Redirects for Post Types

In the Smart Redirects settings section, you’ll see a list of available post types:

Post Type	Toggle	What Happens When Enabled
Posts	ON/OFF	Deleted posts redirect to /blog/ (or your posts archive)
Pages	ON/OFF	Deleted pages redirect to page archive (if available)
Custom Post Types	ON/OFF	Deleted CPT items redirect to their archive page

To enable:

• Locate the post type you want to protect
• Toggle the switch to ON
• Smart Redirects is now active for that content type

Example: If you enable Smart Redirects for Posts, whenever a blog post is deleted, visitors to that post’s URL will be automatically redirected to the main blog archive page.

Note: If a post type does not have an archive page, the toggle will be disabled or hidden.

Step 3: View Generated Redirect Records

Below the settings section, you’ll see a Generated Redirects table showing all automatically created Smart Redirects.

The table includes:

Column	Description
Source URL	The original broken URL (e.g., /blog/deleted-post/)
Target URL	Where visitors are redirected (e.g., /blog/)
Status	Active (working) or Inactive (paused)
Created Date	When the redirect was automatically generated
Actions	Buttons to edit, toggle, or delete

Step 4: Manage Individual Redirects

For each redirect in the table, you can perform these actions:

Toggle Status (Active/Inactive):

• Click the Status toggle (or Active/Inactive button)
• When Active – Redirect works normally
• When Inactive – Redirect is paused; visitors see 404 instead
• Use this to temporarily disable a redirect without deleting it

Delete a Redirect:

• Click the Delete button (trash icon) next to the redirect
• Confirm deletion
• This removes the redirect record AND deletes the linked redirect from Redirection Manager
• The redirect will no longer work

Step 5: Reset All Records

If you want to delete ALL Smart Redirects at once:

• Click the Reset All Records button
• Confirm that you want to delete every Smart Redirect
• All redirect records are permanently removed
• Smart Redirects will stop working for all post types until re-enabled or new redirects are generated

Use this when:

• You’re restructuring your entire website
• You want a fresh start with redirects
• You’re migrating to a new URL structure

Step 6: Reset Records by Selected Post Type

If you want to delete Smart Redirects for only ONE content type:

• Click the Reset by Post Type button
• Select which post type from the dropdown (e.g., Posts only)
• Confirm deletion
• Only redirects for that specific post type are removed
• Other post types’ Smart Redirects remain intact

Example: If you reset by “Posts”, all /blog/old-post/ → /blog/ redirects are deleted, but Product redirects still work.

Step 7: Manage Redirects in Redirection Manager

All Smart Redirects also appear in the main Redirection Manager:

• Go to SEO Repair Kit → Redirection
• You will see all Smart Redirects listed alongside your manual redirects
• Smart Redirects are labeled or identifiable by their source/target pattern
• From here, you can:
  • Edit the target URL
  • Change redirect type (301 to 302, etc.)
  • View hit counts and analytics
  • Delete or modify as needed

Note: Changes made in Redirection Manager will reflect back in Smart Redirects tab.

Step 8: Test That Smart Redirects Are Working

To verify Smart Redirects is functioning:

1. Delete a test post (or use an already deleted post)
2. Open an incognito/private browser window
3. Visit the deleted post’s URL directly (e.g., yoursite.com/blog/test-post/)
4. You should be automatically redirected to the archive page (yoursite.com/blog/)
5. Check that the redirect is a 301 (permanent) redirect

Step 9: Monitor and Maintain

• Regular Checks: Periodically review the Generated Redirects table to see which redirects have been created
• Clean Up: If you permanently remove an archive page, consider resetting redirects for that post type
• Manual Overrides: If an automatic redirect isn’t appropriate for a specific URL, toggle it inactive or create a manual redirect instead