URL redirect is a technique to forward website visitors and search engines from one URL to another. Redirects might be useful when you need to move content to a new URL, remove an old product page, or forward users from a specific region to a custom page.

Implementing the appropriate redirects can improve user experience by preventing visitors from hitting a 404 error page.

Check the following section to learn how to create, remove and verify your store's URL redirects.

Step by step

Creating URL redirects

1. Follow our CSV file template and create a new .csv file with the redirects you want to create. You can use Excel or Google sheets, for example.
2. Save the file under a name of your choice.
3. Using the terminal and the VTEX IO CLI, log in to your VTEX account.
4. Import redirects to your account by running the following command:

vtex redirects import {CSVpath}

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️ Replace {CSVpath} with the path to your .csv file.

Once your file is processed, the redirects will take effect. Notice that this might take a while.

Deleting URL redirects

1. Follow our CSV file template and create a new .csv file with the redirects you want to delete. You can use Excel or Google sheets, for example.
2. Save the file under a name of your choice.
3. Using the terminal and the VTEX IO CLI, log in to your VTEX account.
4. Delete redirects from your account by running the following command:

vtex redirects delete {CSVpath}

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️ Replace {CSVpath} with the path to your .csv file.

Verifying URL redirects

1. Using the terminal and the VTEX IO CLI, log in to your VTEX account.
2. Retrieve the full list of your store's redirects into a .csv file by running the following command.

vtex redirects export {fileName}.csv

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️ Replace {fileName} with any name of your choice.

Once you run this command, a file named {fileName}.csv containing all the redirects of your store will be created in your current directory.

Check the CSV file template to understand the meaning of each field of the .csv file generated.

CSV file template

To create or delete URL redirects in your store, you must create a .csv file as in the following example.

Notice that the file must contain a row with four columns, and the following values: from, to, type and endDate.

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️ You must not modify this row. Otherwise, you won't be able to create or delete redirects.

Under the first row of your .csv file, you must enter the from, to, type, and endDate values corresponding to the redirects you want to create or delete, as in the following example:

Check in the following the meaning of each one of these fields:

Keep in mind that:

• The from column can only receive relative paths.
• The to column can receive either relative paths (e.g., /blouse/p?skuId=200) or a full URL (e.g., https://myotherstore.com).
• TEMPORARY redirects receive the 302 status code, while PERMANENT redirects receive the 301 status code.
• The endDate must be left empty if the redirect is PERMANENT.