Redirects
A redirect delivers to a visitor a page from a URL that is different from what the visitor actually requests. For example, a visitor requests the asset at http://brightspot.com/video-integrations
. When detecting this incoming request, the Brightspot server actually sends the asset at http://brightspot.com/video-services
.
Redirects are an important part of maintaining audience engagement and search-engine optimization. For example, audience engagement can suffer if a visitor clicks on a broken link. A visitor may have bookmarked one of your assets, and you subsequently changed the URL for that bookmarked asset. Without redirects, the visitor receives an Error 404 when opening the bookmark, and audience engagement suffers. When you add a redirect for the old URL, Brightspot sends to the visitor the asset at the new URL.
The same is true for search engines. A search engine may have indexed your site 30 days ago, and returns the URLs active at that time in its search results. If you subsequently changed the URL, a visitor clicking on a search result receives an Error 404. With a redirect in place, a visitor clicking on an old search results receives the asset at the new URL.
See also: