How to Create a Redirect in SharePoint Online? 3 Best Methods

SharePoint administrator’s profiles become hectic when they need to perform several redirects. As such redirection is not required normally, but due to some situations SharePoint admins need to do this. For instance, when the current page content is moved to another site you modify the site’s name or others. If you are a SharePoint administrator and looking for how to create a redirect in SharePoint Online. Then stick to this guide here we will let you know the multiple methods to redirect URLs in SharePoint Online.

So, let’s just dive into it.

Reasons to Create Redirect in SharePoint Online

There are several reasons for creating the redirect in SharePoint Online. Some of them are as follows:

1. Avoid Broken Links – When the site moves to another location. so, to avoid the 404 error redirection is used.
2. Simplified Navigation – Redirects improve the navigation to find the resources quickly.
3. Custom URL – Redirect allows to create the custom and user-friendly URLs by maintaining the original URL’s in backend.
4. Handling External Links – SharePoint redirects allow handling of the external links pointed to the content. It ensures the visitors land at the right place

Method 1: Create a Redirect in SharePoint Online: Using Site Swaps Option

For redirecting the users from the old site to the new site, you can swap the sites. There is an option for Site swaps in SharePoint, by leveraging it you can apply redirection with the help of the SharePoint Admin Center.

Follow the below steps to do so.

• Step 1. Open the SharePoint Admin Center and then,
• Step 2. Identify the old and new sites that you want to swap.
• Step 3. Open the Sites and then the Old site.
• Step 4. Click on Setting and choose the option of site swap.
• Step 5. Open the Site swap settings.
• Step 6. Now, select the destination site or (site where you want to redirect users) from the drop-down list.
• Step 7. Click on Swap and the process of swapping begins.

Method 2: How to Create a Redirect in SharePoint Online Using News Links?

You can also use the News link option to redirect the users to the correct destination site. News link provides a seamless approach to performing temporary redirects for a particular period. Use the below steps to use News links.

Step 1. Sign in to the SharePoint Online site, and hit the New option.
Step 2. Choose the News Link option.
Step 3. Provide the details such as URL(where the users are going to be redirected), title, or description, and click on Post.
Step 4. Now open the Site pages and press right-click on the page that you have created.
Step 5. Select the “Make homepage” option to redirect homepage-landed users to another page.

Method 3. Use PnP PowerShell Script to create a News Page in SharePoint

If you are good at PowerShell, then you can also use this method to apply the redirection.

Connect-PnPOnline -Url "destination URL" -Interactive

$NewPage = Add-PnPPage -Name "SPDoc.aspx" -LayoutType RepostPage -Title "SharePoint Updates"
$NewPage.RepostSourceUrl = "https://learn.microsoft.com/sharepoint"
$NewPage.Save()
$NewPage.Publish()

Set-PnPHomePage -RootFolderRelativeUrl SitePages/SPDoc.aspx

After applying the redirection, you should also monitor the website analytics to identify the working of the applied redirects.

Although SharePoint is a full-fledged tool that can meet the organization’s requirements seamlessly. But sometimes you may counter some complex situations, where you need to perform SharePoint tenant to tenant migration.

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1. Install the tool and add Source & Destination platforms.
2. From the workload section, select the Sites option.
3. Enter both Source and Destination O365 account details.
4. Lastly, add users and Start Migration.

Conclusion

Redirects are a quick and reliable way to prevent users from not finding the appropriate information. Here we have elaborated on the different ways through which you can apply the redirection. Now the query of “How to create a redirect in SharePoint Online” has been resolved.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How do I redirect users from the homepage to another site?
A – You can do so by creating a news link. Add the destination URL of the site in the news link and make it a homepage.

Q2. Are there any PowerShell commands so I can automate the process of redirection?
A- Yes, you can use PowerShell and modify the script to use the automated and custom redirects in SharePoint.

Q3. Can I remove the redirection from the news link site?
A – Yes, the news link is a temporary redirection, you can modify or delete it whenever required.

Q4. What is the difference between permanent (301) and temporary (302) redirects?
A – The permanent redirect(301) is to move the users from the old site to the new site permanently. Google also updates its index and saves the new URL as permanent.

On the other hand, the temporary redirect(302) can be for a limited time, so Google does not update its index for this redirection.