First, let’s see what can be done with a 301 .htaccess Redirect. Well, almost everything!
There’s nothing that a 301 .htaccess Redirect can’t cover thanks to the flexibility (and complexity) of .htaccess.
Via the .htaccess file, you can set any viable option for Domain Forwarding – except for domain masking!
Using this method, you can set a specific page to point to an IP address. You can also redirect an entire website to another and even exclude single or multiple pages! The reverse option is available too; you can redirect only 1 or 2 pages to another website if you want to.
Sounds great, right? But firstly let’s check how to find and edit an .htaccess file,
We need to access our File Manager.
Step 1. Log in to your WPX account
You can log in to your WPX account here.
Step 2. Navigate to your hosting plan
You can find your hosting service through the navigation menu or within your dashboard. Once you log in to your WPX account select My Services (1) → WordPress Hosting (2).
Then you will see all of your hosting services with us. When you find the plan you want to manage, you need to select the Manage service orange button.
Step 3. Open File Manager
Now that you’re in the Hosting Panel, select the File Manager option in the left-hand menu. It will open the file manager in a new tab.
Step 4. Edit the file
Navigate to the folder where the file that you want to be edited is located. In our case, this will be the domains/wpxfilemanager.com/public_html folder:
Once you are in the public_html folder of the site that you want you need to find the .htaccess file. You can open the file by double-clicking on it or clicking on it with the right mouse button and then selecting Edit:
Alright, now we know where our .htaccess file is and how to edit it. Now we need to know how to create a 301 redirect.
Step 5. Create a 301 redirect.
In order to create a simple 301 redirect you can use one of the free 301 generators out there. In our case and for the example we will use this tool.
There are many options and you can select the one that you need:
In our case, we will select to redirect the old domain to a new domain.
You need to fill in the old domain that you want to be redirected to and the new one. Then just click on the “Submit” button and copy the code that will be generated by the tool:
Step 6. Place the 301 redirect in the .htaccess file.
Once we have the 301 redirect and know where the .htaccess file is the only thing to do is to place it there.
So once we are in the Edit mode we need to paste the copied code. The best way to do that is at the top of the file. Once placed there(1) you need to click on the Save button(2):
That’s it. Once you save the changes in the .htaccess file the 301 should take place and start working.
Please keep in mind that to set a 301 .htaccess Redirect, the website must be added to your Manage Websites menu of your Hosting Dashboard. This is the only option that consumes a hosting slot in your account.
If you have any other questions on the topic, don’t hesitate to contact the WPX Support Team via live chat (use the bottom right-hand widget) and they will respond and help within 30 seconds or less.