Categories
Consumer Tech

MindInsole Reviews

We normally review only those products that fall within the consumer tech space. However, we decided to make an exception for Mindinsole since there has been great interest for this product in a few of the message boards that I am a part of.

The data for this review has been captured through half a dozen interviews that I conducted with people I have known on these message boards – these are people whose integrity I can vouch for. It was insightful to listen to their stories about dealing with pain and their experience with various treatment methods and techniques. 

What is Mindinsole

Mindinsole is what you call an acupressure magnetic massage insoles. Basically, this is an insole that you slip inside your shoe so that your feet presses against this strip when you are walking. The insoles have intricate pressure points that are believed to activate the nerve endings that come from various parts of the body. The idea is that by activating these nerve endings, you increase blood flow (oxygen flow, that is) to these body parts. Increasing oxygen supply relieves these body parts of any malaises that you may be suffering from. 

In addition to the acupressure points, Mindinsole also has magnetic touchpoints that are placed strategically across the strip to improve oxygen supply to the more vital nerve endings on your feet. 

Mindinsole

According to the manufacturers, this is a combination of Chinese acupressure and Chi energy techniques that can heal common ailments like foot pain, back pain, and the like.

How We Measured Effectiveness

As a tech blog, GoRumors cannot comment on techniques like acupressure and reflexology. So in order to review Mindinsole, we decided to take a scientific approach. These are the questions we wanted to answer – does the user suffer from specific ailments before using the product? How long did they wear Mindinsole, and finally, what is the long-term impact on using Mindinsole? 

Our MindinSole Review

For our study, we worked with six customers all hand-picked from a health forum where I have known these people for a long time. These are people who have been chronically suffering from back pain, soreness, muscle stiffness or foot pain.

One trend emerged when I asked the person about their background – they all had jobs that needed a lot of physical exertion. One person I talked to is a field salesman – he spends the day traveling across the city and has developed back pain due to this. Another person is a mother of twins and has developed back ache due to carrying her kids and running around all day. There was one person who was 65 years old and had soreness and back pain simply due to his age.

Another pattern I noticed was that each of these users had been facing some sort of pain or soreness for at least six months or more. So it is not a recent issue. 

For the sake of the experiment, we used 8 pairs of magnetic insoles – four were Mindinsole while the other four were from copycats brands that we picked off Amazon. The objective here was to give us these six people one of these samples at random to see what worked and what did not. I retained one sample of both to test them myself. 

Here is what we observed. Even though Mindinsole and the copycat brands looked just the same to the naked eye, there was a noticeable difference in their effectiveness.

First off, Mindinsole created pressure points that were firm, but was still extremely comfortable to wear. The other sample was too pointy and was too uncomfortable for me – I couldn’t get past the second hour of wearing them. 

Secondly, I noticed that the magnets in the copycat sample were sort of wobbly. While it didn’t give away during the time I used it, it was sort of obvious to me that the magnets would have come off if I had to use this for a week or more.

So how did the work for people with pain management issues? For this experiment, we let each of our six test users use the insole we sent them for a period of six weeks. We interviewed them at the end of each week to understand how they felt about the product, if they faced any issues with the product, and any other insights that they could add. 

Mindinsole Works!!

So here’s the spoiler – Mindinsole works. Absolutely. 100%. All three people we sent the product to saw an immediate improvement in the pain that they were facing. The mother of twins who faced chronic back and foot pain issues called me proactively to tell how her life felt so much better now. 

The 65 year old customer who had been facing back issues too confirmed that his pain had significantly reduced after he started to use Mindinsole. 

Copycats had varying success rates

In his first call with us. the field salesman who had complained of back pain, told me that his pain had come down considerably since he started to use the insole we sent him. However, the other two customers we tested noticed so significant improvement to their pain after starting to use the insoles. 

Pain comes back if you don’t use it regularly

One thing is certain. This is not a product that you can use and discard once you are pain-free. The people we worked with had physically demanding jobs and so stopping use of the insoles only meant that the demands of their job caught up with them soon. 

So you have to keep using the insoles regularly to be constantly pain-free. 

But here’s the thing. The copycat brands that we used for the test simply did not last long. The field salesman we worked with for this review had the magnets in his insole come off within one month.

Mindinsole, on the other hand, had a top quality product. All the three insoles we used for the study continued to be in perfect condition at the end of our six week study.

When it comes to longevity and effectiveness of the product, I cannot recommend Mindinsole enough.

How easy is it to use

Mindinsole measures 310 mm * 125 mm * 15 mm. As such, this is ideal for both men and women with average feet sizes. If you have large feet (Men > US 14 and Women > US 12), this may probably not be as effective.

I found that Mindinsole was pretty comfortable to use regardless of what kind of shoes you wore. The Mindinsole that comes out of the box may be larger than what you need. However, you also get clear guidelines on how to cut the insole to fit the shoe of your size. Putting the insole into your shoe is easy, but can take a bit of time since you need to be careful about how you fit it in. 

Check out the manual that you get with the product for instructions – they are easy to read and follow; no complaints there. 

Mindinsole Price Review

Mindinsole is currently available at a 50% discount when you use this link. That is, one pair of Mindinsole will cost you $37.9 instead of the usual $63.32. 

I would however, HIGHLY recommend buying two pairs of MindInsoles. This is available at a price of $75.98 instead of the usual $126.63. This is because putting the insole inside your shoe and taking it out everytime is a pain. With two pairs, you can insert your Mindinsole into your two commonly used pair of footwear so you don’t have to take it in and out. 

Hold On – You Can Get An Extra Pair Of Mindinsole With This Easy Tip

When you click this link to the shopping page, try this – move your mouse towards the close button of your internet window. When you do this, you will see a ‘Free Offer’ pop up. Clicking on the “Click Here To Activate Your Free Gift” button will make you eligible for an additional pair of Mindinsole. 

Mindinsole Free Gift

This is very useful if you use more than 2 pairs of shoes and want to use a third pair of insoles as well.

Categories
Consumer Tech

SuperBoost WiFi Reviews

Ever wondered why none of us are happy with our internet connections? 

Here’s a little secret. Most routers you get in the market are designed for office spaces. Office spaces are large and open and this makes it easy for the router to reach your computers.

But within your homes, you have walls separating the different rooms. You may also have furniture that comes in the way of your signal and all this makes your WiFi very weak. 

The average router can reach a distance of 20-30 feet.  But this is further reduced in a home setting.

What do WiFi Extenders do

WiFi extenders are meant to solve this connectivity problem. They capture the signal from a router and distribute it further over a 20-30 feet radius. So when you place an extender around 15-20 feet from the router, you now are able to access its signal from even 40-50 feet away. 

Our previous experience with NetGear 

NetGear is one of the most popular names in the WiFi extender market. We have been using a NetGear product for over a year now and are not very happy customers. Here are some issues we have faced. 

Frequent disconnection

We had trouble in getting the extender to detect our router’s signal. Even when it did, it frequently lost connectivity and this meant we had to do the setup all over again. 

Inconsistent speed

We set up the extender just 15 feet away from the router and could detect full signal. Yet, the speed we got from the extender was significantly lower than what we observed when connected to the router directly. 

Poor customer support

There is simply no customer support to speak of. There is, of course, a message board you can post to, but speaking to an agent is not possible unless you pay for it.

Our SuperBoost WiFi Extender Review

We purchased a SuperBoost WiFi Extender in the last week of September and got the [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]product delivered within three days[/su_highlight]. Here has been our experience so far. 

Compact and nifty

First off, we are really impressed with how compact the device is. It is roughly [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]the size of a credit card[/su_highlight] with no antennas hanging out. This, we realized, is important because it makes it easy to fit the device in any power socket. With NetGear, the device didn’t fit a couple of places in our house that would have been ideal to place an extender otherwise.

SuperBoost WiFi Extender

Setup & Installation

One problem we had with our previous NetGear extender was that it was a little too technical for the average internet user. I would consider myself a tech nerd, and even I had to fumble around with the manual to figure the installation.

The SuperBoost WiFi extender is [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]designed specifically keeping the home internet user in mind[/su_highlight]. This is evident as soon as you press the ‘reset’ button to initiate the setup process. The entire [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]setup takes less than two minutes[/su_highlight] and can be done by anyone without help.

Absolutely impressed.

Data Transfer Speed

This is something I had a problem with on NetGear. The advertised speed on my device was 300 Mbps. This means that if your ISP provides internet at 100 Mbps, you should have no trouble seeing the same speed over your WiFi extender as well. Unfortunately for me (and as I can see on other customer reviews on Amazon), this does not seem to be the case. The internet speed falls considerably over the extender. 

With SuperBoost however, I did not notice any discrepancy whatsoever. Any time I experienced a fall in speed, I connected directly over my router to check if the issue was with the extender or my Internet Service Provider. Almost every time, it was the ISP’s problem. 

I have [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]faced no issues whatsoever[/su_highlight] with SuperBoost in this regard. 

Coverage Area

According to the manual that you receive with the SuperBoost WiFi extender, the working range for this device is 100 meters indoors and 300 meters outdoors. That’s a bold claim given that most WiFi extenders in the market only have an average range of 30-40 feet indoors (that’s like 12 meters).

To test this claim, I set up a WiFi extender in our front yard and tried to reach for the signal from as far as possible. I could comfortably see the full signal on my phone for up to 30 meters away. The signal started dropping after that and we could not see any signal from SuperBoost beyond 200 meters. 

That is still a lot of coverage area and after testing it at a friend’s massive bungalow, I can safely say that [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]this device can adequately reach any nook and corner of your house at full signal[/su_highlight]. Unless perhaps, if you live in the White House! Bad luck Mr. Trump 😉

Multi-Device Connectivity

Most WiFi extenders that I have tested in the past start to deteriorate once multiple devices connect to it. This is because each of these devices send internet data requests simultaneously. The extender puts all these requests in a queue and sends it one-by-one to the router. 

SuperBoost WiFi Extender works in very much the same way. But we were able to test with [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]nine simultaneous connections without any drop in performance[/su_highlight]. You can however expect a slight drop in internet speeds as more and more devices connect. Let me explain. SuperBoost WiFi has a speed of 300 Mbps. Let’s assume that your router too has the same speed. My ISP however serves their internet at 100 Mbps. This means that both the router and the WiFi extender have larger capacities than what my ISP provides. 

Let’s say we have 3 devices connected to it at once. Since the offered internet speed is only 100 Mbps and the capacity is three times that, we will still manage to see top speed over each of these devices. However, if you have 6 devices connected to it, there is simply not enough capacity to handle all these connections at the ISP’s speed. So in this case, the speed on each device will fall to 50 Mbps. 

This is at no fault of either the router, your ISP or the SuperBoost WiFi extender. This is how internet connectivity works everywhere. 

Security

During the initial setup of your WiFi extender, you are asked to set up a password for your connection (just like you have one for your router). There are different “protocols” that you can choose from like WPA, WEP, etc. 

To put it simply, these are different forms of encryption with which you can store your password. One thing that differentiates SuperBoost WiFi Extender from the other devices I have tested is that it comes with a WPS button. WPS stands for WiFi Protected Setup and this allows users to connect to their WiFi in an equally secure but an easy-to-use way. If you are in a secure home setup, there is no reason why you should not use WPS. SuperBoost WiFi Extender makes this possible for you.

[su_button url=”https://www.flrdra.com/6ZL7L49/4SLG22H/?uid=5177″ background=”#ed8407″ size=”6″ center=”yes”]Click Here To Get SuperBoost WiFi Extender @ 50% Discount[/su_button]

Interesting Features On SuperBoost WiFi Extender

Other than the features and specs that I have reviewed above, the SuperBoost WiFi Extender has a few other interesting features that sets it apart from other WiFi extenders available in the market today. Here is a brief note on what you get. 

Dual Modes – SuperBoost WiFi Extender comes with two different modes that you can choose from – coverage mode and performance mode. When you pick the coverage mode, you are going to experience maximum spread of the signal. This is ideal when you are organizing an event and want to make WiFi available for as many people as possible.

However, when you are at home, you can pick the performance mode that will bring down the signal coverage area, but can provide you with an extremely strong WiFi signal. Your internet is going to be blazing fast no matter which corner of the house you access from.

Extra WiFi Access Point – Do you have guests at home ask for your WiFi password? It’s an awkward spot to be in, right? SuperBoost WiFi Extender comes with a mode that creates an extra WiFi access point when required. This way, you can create a new access point for your guests without having to give away your WiFi password.

Price

We purchased the SuperBoost WiFi Extender for $79 back in September last year. However, at the moment, SuperBoost WiFi is available on a discount. If you are purchasing one unit, the product is priced at [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]$49.99[/su_highlight]. However, there are bigger discounts on offer for customers who buy multiple units. For instance, if you buy four of these WiFi Extenders, you should [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]save as much as $180[/su_highlight] from the selling price. 

[su_box title=”Please Read This Before You Buy” box_color=”#ff3636″]Here’s a nifty trick to get more value for the money you pay. When you click on this link, you will be taken to the Checkout page on the SuperBoost website. While you are here, move your mouse cursor quickly towards the close button on your browser window (but do not close it). When you do this, you become eligible to claim a microSD memory card worth $30-$50 for free. Do not miss this when you buy the SuperBoost WiFi Extender. [/su_box]

[su_button url=”https://www.flrdra.com/6ZL7L49/4SLG22H/?uid=5177″ background=”#ed8407″ size=”6″ center=”yes”]Click Here To Get SuperBoost WiFi Extender @ 50% Discount[/su_button]

 

Categories
Consumer Tech

WashZilla Review After One Month – Does It Work?

How much do you spend each year in laundry? If you ask most people, their guess is going to be anywhere between $50 to $100. A lot of this spend is going towards buying laundry detergent. 

A popular laundry detergent maker claims that their 150 oz. jug can last for about 96 loads. That works out to around 4 jugs every year. In reality however, most consumers use a lot more detergent than the recommended amount which means that, on an average, [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]people spend $80 to $300 each year on laundry detergent alone[/su_highlight].

Unfortunately, that is only a part of all your expenses. Procter & Gamble conducted a survey among American consumers and found that the average family washes about 300-390 loads of laundry every year. That is at least one wash per day. Assuming an average consumption of 41 gallons of water per wash, you are looking at [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]16,000 gallons of water in laundry every year[/su_highlight].

Add to this, the cost of electricity, fabric softeners, dryer sheets and bleach, and you can see the cost quickly adding up. 

Not to mention that detergents contain a lot of chemicals that can irritate your skin over prolonged use.

WashZilla’s Marketing Claim

If you have been seeing ads for WashZilla recently, you may know their marketing claim – pay less than $7 a year on laundry using technology that is chemical-free, hassle-free and is safe for sensitive skin.

Is this all true? How good is WashZilla in real? We set out to find the truth behind the claims.

Ordering Process Review

[usr 3.5]

For the purpose of this review, we headed to Amazon to make the purchase. Unfortunately, there were [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]several sellers on Amazon who were not genuine[/su_highlight] and were selling copycat products. We ended losing $60 to one of these sellers and had a tough time getting it refunded from Amazon.

After a little bit of Googling, we found the original company website here. If you are interested in WashZilla and do, in fact, decide to buy it, we would advise you to purchase it from the company website. 

[If you want to avoid copycats and fake stuff, order WashZilla in its actual packaging from the company website here: WashZilla]

[Full disclosure: When you click the link and buy from the WashZilla website, we may be compensated a small amount for every sale. This is at no cost to you. The money we make from this is like a free cup of coffee every time someone makes a purchase from our link here. But do not worry – we are not so greedy that we will make false claims just so we make some money. Anything we claim here is from our experience with the product]

The market price of WashZilla is around $65. For the purpose of this review, we purchased the product at a good 40% discount using this link. But we missed a nice nifty trick that could have got us another 10% off.

[su_button url=”https://www.edlwss.com/6ZL7L49/4Q51T85/” background=”#ed8407″ size=”6″ center=”yes”]Click Here To Get WashZilla @ 40% Discount[/su_button]

This is what you do to get an extra 10% off

  1. Visit this section on the WashZilla website where you get 40% discount:
  2. Now, move your mouse towards the close button on your browser (but do not actually click anything) – make it look like you want to exit the website
  3. When you do this, you will get a notification for another 10%. Click on the ‘Yes, Give Me An Extra 10% Off” button and enjoy the discount!

Product Packaging Review

[usr 4]

We received our WashZilla laundry ball around three days after order. This is fast considering that this is an order that was placed directly on the company website. We were eligible for same day delivery on Amazon – if only they didn’t have so many fake stuff. 

WashZilla comes in a nice blue and white box that reiterates all the claims that you may have already come across – that it cleans clothes without soap or detergent, that it is perfect for sensitive skin, and also that it is compatible with any washing machine. 

Inside the box, you have the blue laundry ball in all its glory. You can, in fact, open the laundry ball and feel the ceramic pellets inside. That gives you a reassuring feeling that this product can perhaps get the job done. 

All in all, from a product packaging perspective, this was simple and effectively done. Kudos to the team who designed it.

Does WashZilla Work

[usr 5]

So, the moment of truth. Does WashZilla do what it claims? We have been using WashZilla for the past one month and must have completed around 20 laundries in this period. For the sake of comparison, we also did 10 side-by-side washes where we ran clothes with similar stains and dirt under regular detergent load and under WashZilla. 

Here is a quick summary of our findings. 

Does it work?

We must perhaps preface this question with another question – how does it actually work? According to the WashZilla website, the tiny pellets inside the laundry ball are called bio ceramides that are alkaline in nature. When you drop the WashZilla laundry ball in your washing machine, the alkalic pellets change the pH levels of the water without use of any chemicals. 

In fact, changing pH levels is exactly how regular detergents remove stains and odors from your clothes too. The only difference here is that you are not spending so much money and it is free of chemicals. In addition to the pellets, the ball itself is abrasive and helps with scrubbing your clothes and thus making them extra-clean. 

So to answer the question at hand – yes, it does work. We live in a very humid city and it is extremely common to find brown sweat stains on your collars and sleeves after a long day at work.  While I was convinced that WashZilla could get regular clothes washed, I was really skeptical about getting these sweat stains removed. 

While stains did not always get removed 100% in one wash, we are [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]happy to report that WashZilla is just as effective as detergents when it comes to stain removal[/su_highlight]. We also surveyed our family members to guess which of the two shirts were washed with WashZilla and which one with the detergent- they were not really able to find this out without smelling the shirts for the detergent’s distinct fragrance.

For the purpose of this test, we ruined one of our shirts with lots of petroleum grease and oil. And while we didn’t expect it to clean them completely, we were happy to see a lot of grease come out after the first wash. One little trick we discovered was to pre-treat these shirts with dishwashing liquid before putting them in the washing machine – WashZilla worked amazingly well and [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]removed all the stains completely[/su_highlight]. 

We really saved a lot of water and electricity – A lot of water (and electricity) is consumed during the rinse cycles. With WashZilla, there is not a lot of suds and residues from the wash. So you can totally avoid the rinse cycles and this alone can [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]save you thousands of gallons in water each year[/su_highlight]. 

Another thing – dirty clothes are generally washed with hot water. [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]WashZilla does not really require hot water[/su_highlight]. You can wash clothes, no matter how dirty they are, with regular cold water. We found this to be a very ecologically friendly product. 

Our calculations showed that compared to detergents, [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]WashZilla consumes 40-75% less water in the case of top-load washing machines and between 30-85% in the case of front-load washers[/su_highlight].

Is WashZilla safe to use- WashZilla claims that it is safe on sensitive skin. When we started trying the product, we realized that this is really a no-brainer. WashZilla is just a plasticky ball with a bunch of ceramic pellets. There is no chemical that we are handling here which means that with WashZilla, we are basically working with water. Since [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]there is no chemical[/su_highlight] we are handling here, there is no question of WashZilla affecting your sensitive skin in anyway. It is perfectly safe.

HOWEVER, we had one instance where we had kept WashZilla open in the laundry area and noticed our pet dog licking the pellets. We frantically tried cleaning her mouth but it did seem like she swallowed a few of these pellets. We took a bunch of these pellets to our vet to check if they were safe. Our vet confirmed that these are ceramic and are so completely safe. Ceramic is basically sand and your average dog swallows a good amount of sand every time they go licking and sniffing in your neighborhood park. 

Overall, we were extremely happy with what we have got. We will update this article in a few months from now when we complete 1000 washes. But as of now, I can confidently state that WashZilla is worth every penny spent and does, in fact, save you several dollars on each wash. 

[su_button url=”https://www.edlwss.com/6ZL7L49/4Q51T85/” background=”#ed8407″ size=”6″ center=”yes”]Click Here To Get WashZilla @ 40% Discount[/su_button]

Pricing

[usr 5]

Finally, what do we think of the price? When you buy the 150 oz jug of the popular detergent, it will cost you between $11-$17 depending on where you buy it. Compared to this, WashZilla might appear a bit more expensive.

But here’s the thing – the 150 oz jug lasts for 96 washes. In comparison, WashZilla lasts for a 1000 washes – simply because the bio ceramide pellets inside the laundry ball can last technically forever. 

Even if you are not accounting for the additional expenses on water, fabric softeners and dryer sheets, the [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]150 oz detergent jug will cost you $0.17 per wash[/su_highlight]

In comparison, [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]WashZilla will cost you $0.04 per wash[/su_highlight].

That is, the average detergent is 4.25 times more expensive than WashZilla

[su_button url=”https://www.edlwss.com/6ZL7L49/4Q51T85/” background=”#ed8407″ size=”6″ center=”yes”]Click Here To Get WashZilla @ 40% Discount[/su_button]

Our Final Verdict


Here is a summary of our review report – DO NOT buy this product on Amazon. Instead, get it directly from the company website. Delivery should be within 3-4 days. The product itself checks all the claims made in the WashZilla ads – the product does indeed clean your clothes as well as regular detergents. At the same time, this is completely chemical-free and saves you literally tons of water and electricity. 

Our Verdict

[usr 5]

Readers of this blog can avail WashZilla at a good 40% discount from their company website.

But hold on, we already told you about a tiny little trick that can get you [su_highlight background=”#fffc2b”]nearly 50% discount on WashZilla[/su_highlight]. If you missed it earlier in this article, here you go:

Step 1: You may get 40% off on WashZilla by clicking here and visiting the discounted price page. 

Step 2: If you are on desktop, move your mouse towards the top of the screen (make it seem like you are about to close the window). If you are on a mobile phone, scroll down the page and then scroll back up to the top. 

Either way, you will now see a screen that offers you 10% more discount

Step 3: Tap on the green button that reads, “Yes, Give Me An Extra 10% Off” to get a cool 50% on the product price. 

Check out WashZilla and share your reviews in the comments below. We will include the most insightful ones here in this article.

[su_button url=”https://www.edlwss.com/6ZL7L49/4Q51T85/” background=”#ed8407″ size=”6″ center=”yes”]Click Here To Get WashZilla @ 40% Discount[/su_button]

Categories
internet

How to redirect WordPress

So you’ve decided that you want to freshen up your site, maybe by adding or removing a few pages, moving to a new domain, changing your permalink structure, whatever it might be. While researching how to make those changes you also came across instructions saying that you need to follow the changes up with redirects. Suddenly you find yourself lost as to how that is done. 

Maybe you’ve only heard about redirects, maybe you know a thing or two about them, but what you don’t know is how to implement them in WordPress. Since a lot of people find themselves in the same situation of lacking both theoretical and practical knowledge on redirecting, we’ve decided to make this article somewhat of a crash course.

Here, you will learn the basics of redirects and the easiest method of implementing them in WordPress. Without further ado, let’s get started.

The basics of redirects

A good definition for redirects that doesn’t go into too much technical detail is that redirects are basically mapping one URL to another one. Now, why is that mapping necessary? After you make a change on your website that involves changing a URL you end up with broken links. 

Setting up a redirect in that spot is what will fix the broken links and tell a browser that the old URL is no longer available and that a new one is going to be used, permanently or temporarily. After seeing a redirect, a browser knows not to send traffic to the old URL anymore but to the new one instead. 

Redirects are used for both internal and external links since both types are affected by the changes in URLs, but are especially important for external links. When it comes to internal links you can try your best to manually fix them if you have the time, but with external links, you can only hope that the person who runs the site that is now displaying one of your broken links will answer your email in which you are asking them to repair it.

Redirects are also crucial for maintaining your site’s SEO and traffic rates. When they aren’t put in place, your visitors get stranded in 404 pages meaning less traffic is reaching your site and its online reputation and SEO are deteriorating more and more with every non-redirected visitor.

But users aren’t the only ones hitting the 404 pages. Without redirects, search engine crawlers are also getting the “404 page not found” error while doing their regular checkups. When that happens, they notify Google which will then reconsider if your site deserves its current SERP rank, since it obviously isn’t serving its visitors with the proper user experience.

At this point in the article, I think you have an idea of why redirects should be used. To help you better understand when they are to be used here are some specific use cases.

  • You changed the name of a page, moved it to another section, maybe added a keyword that will improve its SEO, and now its URL is no longer the same.
  • The names of some of your pages get constantly misspelled and you want your visitors to end up on your page regardless of the misspelling.
  • You deleted a page or merged it with another one.
  • A page/site is under maintenance and shouldn’t be accessed until the maintenance process is finished.
  • You moved from HTTP to HTTPS.
  • You changed your domain name.

Now that you know why and when redirects are used, the last thing you need to know about them before jumping into the implementation aspect is that redirects come in different types. The following are the most known and commonly used redirect types.

301 redirects 

A 301 redirect is used for permanent changes when you aren’t planning to use the original page again. 301 redirects might be the most frequently used ones which besides visitors also transfer 90% of the SEO and traffic from the old page to the new one.

302 redirects

302 redirects are used for redirecting traffic to a new page but only for some time, not forever since the change you made is not going to be a permanent one. This type of redirect keeps the SEO and rank on the old page and doesn’t transfer any of it to the new one. They are used for sites/pages that are under maintenance, when doing updates or tests, and also for pages displaying temporary content like sales and special offers.

303 redirects

These redirects are sort of a replacement for the 302 redirects but can also prevent refreshing, resubmissions and bookmarking of pages. 303 redirects are very useful for sites accepting online payments which have a need to redirect people to external resources such as PayPal.

307 redirects

Very similar to 303 redirects, the only major difference is that 307 redirects don’t change the information of POST method requests when redirecting. 307 redirects also fall into the category of temporary redirects.

308 redirects

308 redirects are closely related to both the 303 and 307 redirect type since they are permanent but can also do everything 307 redirects can.

For you, it’s important that you know about and understand the use of 301 and 302 redirects since those two types are the ones you will be using 99% of the time.

Redirecting using a plugin

Redirecting in WordPress can be done in two ways, manually and using a plugin. Since the plugin method is faster, less complicated and more commonly used, in this article, we will only cover that method. The manual one is more for the people who know how and like to deal with code.

The plugin we would recommend for you to use is WP 301 Redirects. WP 301 Redirects is a popular plugin by WebFactory Ltd that was created with the aim of helping you resolve all issues related to redirects and 404 errors in the easiest way possible. Besides being very user-friendly and easy to use, another great thing about this plugin is that it has the ability to monitor your site for changes in the URLs of all its posts and pages.

If a change is registered, the plugin will automatically set up a redirect rule for it without requiring any action from you, meaning that when you have this plugin activated it’s virtually impossible for your visitors to end up on a 404 page. The 404 pages will be reserved only for the bad bots trying to reach your site since this plugin will simply ignore them by turning off automatic redirection in their case. But you don’t have to worry that Google’s bots will be treated the same, they are whitelisted so they will be free to crawl your site even if this plugin is activated.

Along with all the help this plugin will give you when it comes to redirecting, it will also give you a detailed insight on the traffic that is going on your site through its built-in charts, so you can quit using any external analytics tools. For any problem or issue you might face while using this plugin, on disposal you have an in-house support team ready to give you fast answers and guidance at any time. To learn more about the plugin and find a price plan best suited for you, visit https://wp301redirects.com/.

Implementing the redirects 

Since this is a method executed using a plugin, logically the first step will be to install the plugin. Once you have it installed, a section dedicated to the plugin should appear in the Settings section of your WordPress dashboard.

The process of setting up redirects using the 301 Redirects plugin is very simple. Using a spinner box, you will first choose the type of redirect you want to implement. Next, in the “redirect from” input field, you will enter the old URL, and in the “redirect to” field, you guessed it, the new URL. 

Because this plugin wants to make the process of redirecting as simple as it can be, it will also give you a list of your site’s pages from which you can simply select a page(and not have to manually type in its URL) in case you wish to redirect to or from one of them.

After saving the redirect rule, your work is done, and your redirect has been implemented. All redirect rules can, of course, be easily deleted or edited if necessary. Also, using this plugin you have the option of uploading redirect rules in a CSV file and with that set up multiple redirects at once.

Conclusion

Making changes to your site is something that has to be done and that will ensure your site is an up-to-date and highly functioning one. But as much as making the changes is important so is following them up with redirects, otherwise, they might bring more harm than good to your site’s valuable traffic and online reputation. That is why we hope, that with the information this article gave you and with the assistance of the WP 301 Redirects plugin, redirect issues, broken links, loss of traffic and other redirect related issues will be a thing of the past at least in the case of your own site.