WordPress

The blog post will cover what WordPress sticky features are and how you can use them to create a more engaging experience for your readers.  

WordPress Sticky features are everything that remains the same on every page of your website, such as posts, header, footer, sidebar, and blocks. 

Using these tools right, you can promote engagement with potential customers and help them find what they’re looking for faster!

Depending on your WordPress theme, you may need to add a sticky Plugin to access full functionality of sticky features.

Sticky Posts

By default, WordPress only retains the first post on your WordPress blog, which appears at the top of the Post Title listing. 

The rest are shown in descending chronological order. The WordPress “sticky” feature allows you to pin one or more posts to always appear at the very top of your WordPress blog, no matter how new subsequent posts may be.

All other WordPress posts will follow in chronological order below it. 

The WordPress sticky feature is sometimes a hack because it breaks WordPress’s usual assumptions about what should display where on your site’s front page. 

While many themes have this same ability by default, implementing WordPress sticky posts can help if

If you have WordPress Gutenberg, the most recent WordPress editor, this will be easy. In the right column, Under the publishing info, you’ll see an option that reads ‘Stick to the Top of The Blog’.

This option automatically pins that post to the top of the WordPress homepage so people can see it.

With an earlier version of WordPress, this is a bit more complicated, but not too hard either if you follow these steps:

• Write your blog post as usual. 
• Once it’s published, click to edit the post and scroll down to where it says “Publish.”
• Choose “sticky” from the drop-down next to that label. Now look for the link that says “sticky posts” under “archive” on your WordPress dashboard.
• Click that link, and you’ll see the list of WordPress sticky posts. 
• You can edit or delete them from here as well.

If this doesn’t work, take a look at the sticky plugin options below.

Sticky Notification Bar WordPress

If you have Elementor, the page builder, this is easy.

To make WordPress sticky plugin bars:

1) Click ‘add element’ in your Elementor dashboard menu. Then select the Art.

2) Customize text and colors

3) To make it sticky (or floating), click on advanced, motion effects, sticky top

4.) This works best on wide themes if you want it to stay in the column.

Sticky Headers

In WordPress, you can also make a sticky header for your WordPress blog. A sticky header will ensure that your WordPress blog’s header always appears at the top of the WordPress screen, no matter how many blog posts WordPress users load. 

All WordPress blog headers are usually fixed in place.

To make a WordPress sticky header:

1. From the WordPress dashboard, head to “appearance” then “header.”
2. You’ll now see all the options you have for making your WordPress theme’s header. Choose “sticky header” from the list on the left side of this screen.
3. Determine which element should be stickied and click save changes again. Your header is now stickied!

If the header isn’t sticking, you may need to set features within your theme or consider adding a sticky plugin from the list below.

Sticky Footers

Sticky footers are similar, but they keep your footer at the bottom of WordPress pages, so WordPress users don’t have to scroll down forever before reaching a footer.

To make a WordPress sticky footer:

1.  From WordPress dashboard, head to “appearance” then “footer.”
2. Click the check box next to ‘sticky’ below where it says ‘fixed in place’. Scroll down and click save changes.
3. Look for the new link that reads ‘sticky footer’ under “archive” on your WordPress dashboard. You can now add or delete information from here as well.

If your footer isn’t sticking, refer to your theme documentation, or add a sticky plugin. You’ll find options towards the bottom of the post.

Sticky Menus

If you have WordPress 4.2 or later, you can also use the WordPress sticky menu feature to keep your WordPress menus at the top of WordPress pages. 

This option is a great way to give WordPress users quick access to key site features as they navigate through different articles and content on WordPress sites.

To make WordPress Menus Sticky:

1. From the WordPress dashboard, click “appearance” then your “menus.” Click one of your drop-down menus from this list and head to the second pane, which displays a preview of that menu in action.
2. Scroll down until you see an option that says “sticky.” If it’s not there, upgrade your version of WordPress first by going back to Appearance and clicking WordPress version under ‘Updates’.
3. WordPress will add the sticky checkbox for you.

WordPress can make your WordPress menus sticky from a mobile point of view as well.

1. Head to “appearance” then “menus.”
2. Click a drop-down menu and choose your ‘screen options, ‘ which let you toggle between desktop and mobile versions of WordPress pages.
3. Scroll down until you see an option for ‘place sticky menu above smartphone fold,’ click it, then save changes again.
4. That WordPress menu is now stickied no matter how WordPress users access or move around your site!

If your menu still isn’t sticky, look at your theme documentation for instructions, or install a WordPress Plugin from the list below.

Sticky Sidebar

To make WordPress Sidebars Sticky:

1. From your WordPress dashboard, head to “appearance” then “widgets.”
2. Drag and drop a WordPress sidebar from the left column over to the right column. WordPress will place it inside of a draggable box.
3. Hover your cursor next to that WordPress sidebar until you see an option for ‘sticky.’ Then click save changes on this screen. That WordPress sidebar stays on top of other WordPress pages now!

You can also make one element sticky. This option will allow the sidebar to move normally and stop at one element, sticking it to the sidebar. This action is frequently used to feature an ad, form, or offer.

Elementor Sticky Sidebar

• To make a sidebar sticky in Elementor, first, select the sidebar element you wish to be sticky
• Click on Advanced
• Select Motion Effects
• Choose Sticky Top or Bottom
• Toggle the Stay in Column Option On

Take a look at the list of the best sticky plugins for WordPress below if this tutorial didn’t work.

Sticky Gutenberg Block

Gutenberg is a WordPress page builder that has been added to WordPress 5.0. WordPress blocks are a great way for WordPress users to add flashy features and creative elements to their WordPress pages. To make a Gutenberg block sticky, use the Sticky Block Plugin for Gutenberg. 

There is a WordPress plugin made just for making WordPress blocks sticky. WordPress users can use this Plugin to keep certain elements from moving around and visible on the WordPress page.

To use this WordPress plugin:

From the WordPress dashboard, head to “Plugins” then “Add New.” For search type in ‘Sticky Block,’ then install the one with the most stars. Once installed, click on it to activate it.

1. From the WordPress dashboard, head to “Gutenberg” under your WordPress plugins and themes section. Click where it says welcome!
2. Select a Gutenberg block you want to make sticky using either a drop-down menu or by clicking’ select block.’ Then select any options you’d like from the WordPress block editor.
3. Toggle on the “Sticky Block” option under “Blocks.” This WordPress sticky block is now added to your WordPress page! 

Sticky Forms WordPress

Sticky forms can allow you to stick a form to an area on your website, calling attention to your lead magnet, or offer. You can do this with page builders like elementor or add a Plugin from the list below.

To make WordPress Forms Sticky:

1. Insert a WordPress form into a WordPress post or page using one of the following WordPress plugins: “Contact Form 7,” “Gravity Forms,” or WordPress native form creation.
2. Click + icon that says ‘design element me’ on the new WordPress form added onto your WordPress posts and pages. Then click where it says ‘add section.’ This adds a divider between sections in your form.
3. Add another divider after this by clicking add another section again.
4. Hold down the WordPress mouse cursor on the first section you created.
5. Select sticky top/bottom left/right, depending on where you want your WordPress form to be Sticky
6. Toggle on WordPress’ stretch’ if part of your WordPress form goes over an image or content that is smaller than it. This WordPress plugin allows WordPress forms to stretch and fill up more space on any WordPress page but can cause formatting issues with content around it. To avoid this, choose the option without ‘stretch.’
7. Save changes at the bottom once everything looks good!

Sticky Related Posts WordPress

I use sticky-related posts to show posts in the same category (or tag) in the sidebar and at the bottom of a blog post.

With the Elementor page builder, this is easily done. To make WordPress-related posts sticky, view this blog to learn more. With WordPress Gutenberg, you can create a reusable block to add to each post with related posts.

Sticky Notes WordPress

Sticky WordPress notes can be used to take or jot down quick WordPress ideas and thoughts on a WordPress page. They take up less space than WordPress blog posts and can be left anywhere on a WordPress page.

To make WordPress sticky notes:

1. Install the WordPress Sticky Notes plugin.
2. Add the WordPress’ sticky note’ section to the WordPress page where you want WordPress sticky notes to be located. WordPress users can do this by clicking ‘add a section’ then selecting a color for their WordPress sticky note under WordPress’ background color.’
3. Type in any WordPress text into the WordPress box that appears after choosing your background color. You can also upload an image or choose from many pre-made options listed underneath the text field.
4. Save changes. Your WordPress sticky notes are now ready to go! If you’d like, you can now create even more stickies by adding another “section” and typing away!

Sticky Plugins for WordPress

WordPress has plenty of options for making WordPress sticky or sticking WordPress elements that are normally not stuck by default. 

It all depends on what your WordPress blog needs and what WordPress users might want as well! WordPress can be a very flexible blogging platform if you learn how to use its features properly!

My Sticky Elements

WP Sticky Elements (myStickyelements) is a WordPress plugin that allows you to generate more leads with a beautiful floating contact form.

Display social icons for your Facebook page, Twitter page, WhatsApp, Email, open hours, and other social media platforms.

With My Sticky Elements, you can capture more leads and get more followers.

• Using a floating tab for the contact form
• Floating social icons can be shown.
• Show your phone number, email address, and hours of operation.
• Display on any device

What’s In The Pro Plan?

• Send your leads to a designated email
• Infinite icons
• Customization
• Icon Uploads
• Desired position (height)
• Remove Plugin branding

Sticky Menu & Sticky Header

Do you want to make your menus and headers sticky?

The WP Sticky Menu helps you to do just that. You can make any element on your pages “sticky” as it reaches the top of the page as you scroll. 

Although this is most often used to keep menus at the top of your page, there are many other uses for this Plugin. 

For example, make a sticky header, sticky menu, sticky widget (fixed widget), sticky logo, or a floating menu.

MyStickymenu

You can use myStickyMenu in many ways, like: making a Welcome bar for announcements, alerts for promotions, and more. 

The Plugin is lightweight and will help your visitors navigate quickly and reach the navigation menu without wasting time. So, install My Sticky Menu and improve your website’s user experience! 

Sticky Block Plugin for Gutenberg WordPress

Users can use this WordPress plugin to bring back an old function of WordPress where WordPress users could place blocks ‘on the side.’ 

Once the window is scrolled, WordPress Sticky Blocks will remain on the same side it was placed on. WordPress users would have to click on the block again to move it, but they won’t if you don’t want them to!

Once you hit save changes, you are all done! Try scrolling down your page and see your WordPress sticky element or elements stay at their desired location. 

If you want to keep your WordPress element(s) where they are without having them scroll along with the rest of your blog post or page, make sure that there are no negative margins (or padding) or any WordPress CSS styles inside your WordPress element.

Advanced Ads for Sticky Ads WordPress

Do you want to place ads in a prominent position on your website? Sticky Ads are the easiest way to display ads that don’t scroll with the screen. 

You can choose various positions and also shape and style those sticky ads with multiple parameters and effects.

With Sticky Ads, you can create anchor ads that are always visible in a browser window. With Advanced Ads’ add-on, you can display ads that don’t scroll with the screen. 

In addition, it gives you new Placements for your ads – by anchoring them on top or bottom of your website or left or right side of it! The best part about this Plugin is its ease of use! No coding skills are required!

Q2W3 Fixed Widget for WordPress

Q2W3 Fixed Widget WordPress plugin is a versatile yet straightforward WordPress widget that allows you to display your WordPress widgets in an area that stays fixed at the desired location on the page. 

This WordPress Plugin will help you create a floating sidebar, sticky sidebar or bar, WordPress welcome bar (with search box), mobile navigation menu (footer menu), and more.

The WordPress plugin comes with various options for customizing its look and feel. The building blocks also allow you to position the widgets wherever desired – only limited by what’s possible within WordPress! 

You can use this WordPress plugin along with the Q2W3 Responsive Menu for further control over your webpage appearance.

Install this Plugin by going to:

• Appearance
• Plugins
• Add New
• In the search field type: Q2W3 Fixed Widget for WordPress
• Install
• Activate

In Closing,

WordPress Sticky features allow the WordPress user to feature elements on their blog such as sidebars, headers, footers, and widgets. Creating sticky elements can be achieved through the WordPress Platform or with page builders, themes, and plugins.

Does your website suffer from poor visitor engagement and low traffic? While countless factors can affect your website’s performance, one of the most influential is navigation. If visitors struggle to find specific sections or pages of content, they’ll probably leave. You can improve your website’s navigation, however, by using breadcrumb navigation.

What Is Breadcrumb Navigation?

Consisting of links with relevant anchor text, breadcrumb navigation is a graphical representation of a visitor’s location on a website.

It’s typically displayed at either the top or bottom of all or most pages. Breadcrumb navigation shows the visitor’s current page as well as all upper-level category pages and the homepage.

An e-commerce store that specializes in footwear, for example, may feature the following breadcrumb navigation on a category page for open-toe high-heels:

E-Commerce Store Name > Women’s Footwear > High Heels > Open-Toe High Heels

A business-to-business (B2B) digital marketing website, on the other hand, may feature the following breadcrumb navigation on a page about Facebook Ads:

Digital Marketing Website Name > Social Media > Facebook > Facebook Ads

In both examples, the breadcrumb navigation begins with the website’s name and is proceeded by several category pages. If a visitor wants to access an upper-level category page, he or she can click the category’s linked title.

Each of the links in breadcrumb navigation is known as a breadcrumb, which is a reference to “Hansel and Gretel.” Written by the Grimm brothers in the early 1800s, “Hansel and Gretel” tells the story of a boy and his sister who are kidnapped by a witch.

To find their way back home, the siblings leave a trail of breadcrumbs. Breadcrumb navigation works in the same way by showing visitors their exact location on a website while providing clickable links so that they can return to upper-level category pages or the homepage.

Why Your Website Needs Breadcrumb Navigation

Breadcrumb navigation offers several benefits. When included on your website, it offers an alternative form of navigation. Breadcrumb navigation isn’t intended to replace your website’s primary form of navigation.

If you include breadcrumb navigation on your website, you should still use a traditional form of navigation, such as a sidebar menu or below-header menu.

Breadcrumb navigation simply offers a secondary form of navigation, which some visitors may prefer over your website’s primary form of navigation.

You’ll probably discover the use of breadcrumb navigation has a positive impact on your website’s bounce rate. Available to view using Google Analytics, bounce rate is a performance metric that reflects the percentage of single-page visitors to your website.

If your website attracted 5,000 visitors last month, 1,000 of whom only accessed a single page during their session, your website’s bounce rate for that month would be 20 percent.

The descriptive nature of breadcrumb links compels visitors to click them.

Breadcrumb links aren’t just generic or otherwise meaningless URLs; they feature descriptive and concise anchor text. As a result, visitors will often click breadcrumb links to explore other pages.

When a visitor clicks a breadcrumb link, he or she won’t be counted as a bounce, resulting in a lower bounce rate for your website.

Because of its ability to improve user experience (UX) and promote a lower bounce rate, breadcrumb navigation may drive higher search rankings for your website.

Search engines don’t just look at the number and quality of your website’s backlinks to determine where it should rank.

They analyze hundreds of signals, including UX and bounce rate. If your website is difficult for visitors to navigate, search engines will probably rank it lower than similar but better navigation.

Of course, search engines use bounce rate as a ranking signal as well. Websites with a low bounce rate generally rank higher than those with a high bounce rate. With breadcrumb navigation, you’ll promote a better UX and a lower bounce rate for your website, which may result in higher rankings.

How to Include Breadcrumb Navigation on Your Website

To include breadcrumb navigation on your website, you must create a unique string of hierarchical breadcrumb links on each page.

The links should represent the upper-level category pages under which the current page is located. While creating breadcrumb navigation for each of your website’s pages may sound difficult, there are tools that can help.

If you built your website using WordPress, you can download a breadcrumb plugin like Breadcrumb NavXT or Breadcrumb by PickPlugins. Both plugins allow you to easily create and configure breadcrumb navigation.

Your theme may also allow for breadcrumbs. Check your theme settings.

Yoast SEO is another plugin that supports breadcrumb navigation. Although it’s a more versatile plugin — it supports a variety of search engine optimization (SEO) functions — Yoast SEO offers quick and easy implementation of breadcrumb navigation.

It’s important to note many breadcrumb plugins for WordPress, as well as Yoast SEO, automatically create schema markup for search engines. When Google discovers this markup, it may add the breadcrumb navigation to your website’s organic listings.

Even if you built your website using different content management (CMS) than WordPress, you might be able to download and use a similar tool to create breadcrumb navigation. There are breadcrumb extensions available for Joomla, breadcrumb modules available for Drupal, and breadcrumb apps available for Shopify.

Regularly Test Breadcrumb Links

With breadcrumb navigation up and running on your website, you should get into the habit of testing the breadcrumb links regularly to ensure they function as intended.

If you entered the wrong URL when setting up a breadcrumb link, visitors may still see the appropriate anchor text, but clicking it will direct them to a 404 error page.

To ensure your website’s breadcrumb links direct visitors to the appropriate pages, you must test them. Place yourself in a visitor’s digital shoes and click the breadcrumb links.

If a link takes you to a 404 error page or any other page than the intended destination, you should fix it.

As your website grows, it will encompass more pages. Breadcrumb navigation allows visitors to easily navigate your website.

Whether you have 10 or 10,000 pages of content, it offers a visual map of a visitor’s location while simultaneously allowing him or her to return to upper-level category pages or the homepage.

A Website’s navigation can make or break the user experience. Hierarchical website navigation is a type of website navigation that organizes content into a tree structure, where each node in the tree represents an individual page and each link between nodes represents a path from one page to another. The pages are organized such that they form a hierarchy, with the most important pages at the top of the hierarchy. This allows users to easily navigate through the site by following links on the various pages.

What is Hierarchical Navigation

The term hierarchical website navigation was coined by John Allspaw in 1999 as a way to describe how websites organize their content hierarchically. He describes it as “a set of conventions for structuring information on the Web so that its presentation and organization reflect some underlying logical structure.”

In contrast to flat website navigation, which presents all of the available pages in a single list, hierarchical website navigation organizes the site into a tree-like structure. Each level of the tree corresponds to a specific category of information. For example, if you were looking for information about your favorite sports team, you would start at the root of the hierarchy, then drill down through the levels until you found what you were looking for.

The Importance of Hierarchical Navigation

Hierarchical navigation has several advantages over flat navigation:

• It makes navigating large websites easier because there are fewer choices to consider when browsing.
• It helps people find the information they need quickly.
• It provides a more intuitive interface for users who have difficulty remembering URLs .
• It improves search engine optimization because it is easier for search engines to crawl and index the site.
• It increases usability because it reduces cognitive load.
• It encourages people to explore the site rather than just reading.
• It helps people avoid getting lost on the site.
• It helps people learn new things.
• It helps people remember things.
• It helps them locate information faster.
• It helps them get back to where they started.
• It helps them find related information.
• It helps them understand the relationships among different parts of the site.

How to Create Hierarchical Navigation

There are two ways to create hierarchical navigation:

1. Create a separate navigational menu for each section of the site.
2. Create a master navigation menu that contains links to all of the sections of the site.

Creating a Separate Navigational Menu for Each Section of the Site

This method requires creating a separate navigational menu per section of the site. You could use this approach for any number of reasons, including:

• If the site is very large, it may be impractical to create a separate navigational menu.
• You may want to keep the main navigational menu simple.
• You may want a consistent look across the site.
• You may not want to clutter up the main navigational menu with too many options.

This method works well if the site is small and only consists of a few sections. It also works well if the sections are fairly independent of each other.

Creating a Master Navigational Menu That Contains Links to All of the Sections of the Site

This option is better suited for larger sites or sites that contain multiple sections that aren’t really independent from one another. The advantage here is that you can maintain consistency throughout the entire site without having to create a separate navigable menu for every page.

This method works best if the site is large and complex. It’s also good for sites that have lots of subsections.

Creating a Hierarchical Structure

If you are using a content management system like WordPress, this structure is created automatically using categories and posts, or pages and child pages. 

To create a hierarchical structure, follow these steps:

1. Identify the primary categories of content on the site. These will likely include the most popular topics.

2. Create a top-level link that points to the home page.

3. Create an additional set of links that point to the subcategories within the first set of links.

4. Repeat step 3 until you reach the lowest level of the hierarchy.

5. Create a final set of links that point back to the homepage.

6. Add some text above the links to explain what they do.

7. Use CSS styling to make the links stand out visually.

8. Test your navigation to ensure that it works properly.

9. If you need to change anything about the navigation, repeat steps 1 through 8.

When building a WordPress-powered website, you don’t have to place all of your pages on the same level. The content management system (CMS) supports multiple levels of page hierarchy. You can use child pages, for instance. Child pages look like standard pages, but they feature a lower level of hierarchy. Depending on the purpose of your website, you may want to use child pages.

What Is a Child Page?

Not to be confused with a child theme, a child page is a WordPress page that’s assigned under another page. Whether you’re creating a new page or editing an existing page, you can assign it under another page. It will then become a child page.

Child pages allow for parent-child hierarchy. Each child page has a parent page. Parent pages are simply the pages under which child pages are assigned.

Benefits of Using Child Pages

You can use child pages to organize your website’s content. Rather than placing all of your pages on the same level, you can assign specific pages under relevant parent pages. If your website sells products, for example, you can create a parent page titled “Products.” You can then create a child page for each product while assigning them under the “Products” page.

For any business-related website, you may want to create a parent page titled “About Us.” You can then assign relevant pages like “Meet Our Team” and “Company History,” under this parent page. With child pages, you can organize your website’s content. If a particular page covers a general topic, you can assign relevant child pages under it.

WordPress supports child categories as well. A child category is a lower-level category that’s assigned under a parent category. But the problem with child categories is that they only work with posts. You can place posts in one or more child categories, but you can’t place pages in them. For a parent-child hierarchy with pages, you’ll need to use child pages.

Child pages offer meaningful search engine optimization (SEO) benefits. When you create a child page, it will retain the URL slug of the parent page under which it’s assigned. The child page will still have a unique URL. Rather than example.com/child-page-name, though, its URL will be formatted as example.com/parent-page-name/child-page-name. In other words, the child page will feature the parent page’s URL slug, followed by its own URL slug.

Because child pages retain their parent pages’ URL slugs, search engines can better understand them. They’ll recognize child pages as being relevant to their parent pages. Search engines will perceive parent pages as covering general topics, and they’ll perceive child pages as covering specific content that’s related to those topics.

How to use Child Pages

Creating child pages in WordPress is a breeze. You can create them like all other pages by using either the Gutenberg or Classic editor. Both editors have an option to assign pages under a parent page, thus allowing you to create child pages.

When using the Gutenberg editor, you can assign a page under a parent page by selecting the “Page Attributes” option in the right-hand column. Clicking the empty field for “Parent Page” will allow you to choose the parent page.

You can assign a child page under a parent page in the Classic editor as well. The Classic editor has a similar “Page Attributes” option in the right-hand column but without the empty “Parent Page” field of its Gutenberg counterpart. Selecting the “Page Attributes” option will reveal a drop-down menu for “Parent.” You can click this drop-down menu to choose the parent page.

Tips for Using Child Pages

If you’re going to use child pages, you should customize your website’s navigation menu to show their hierarchy. Navigation menus in WordPress can be customized with hierarchy. When you create a new navigation menu in the CMS, you can add pages, as well as posts, to it. However, you’ll need to stagger child pages in the navigation menu to show their hierarchy.

After adding a child page directly below the parent page on the navigation menu, click the former and drag it to the right. The child page should snap into place it into place so that it’s slightly to the right of the parent page. WordPress will also give the child page the “sub-item” label.

The “sub-item” label denotes a sub-level page or post, such as a child page. When hovering your cursor over a parent page on the navigation menu, it will expand to reveal links to the child pages with the “sub-item” label. Without the “sub-item” label, visitors may not distinguish between your website’s parent pages and its child pages.

For three or more levels of hierarchy, you can assign child pages under other child pages. Pages can function as both child and parent pages. Pages are neither child nor parent by default. A page becomes a child page when it’s assigned under another page. A page becomes a parent page, conversely, when another page is assigned under it.

You can create three or more levels of hierarchy by assigning a child page under another child page. If your website sells clothing, you may want to create a top-level page for “Products,” followed by two middle-level pages for “Men’s Clothing” and “Women’s Clothing.” You can then create bottom-level pages for your site’s various products while assigning them under the “Men’s Clothing” or “Women’s Clothing” pages.

Keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a child post. You can’t assign posts under other posts. For post hierarchy, your only option is to use child categories. For page hierarchy, on the other hand, you can use child pages.

You don’t have to use a flat, single-level page hierarchy when building a WordPress-powered website. Instead, you can use child pages. Child pages are defined by their lower-level hierarchy. They are assigned under another page, which is the parent page.

Using child pages with WordPress will allow you to neatly organize your website’s content and improve its SEO.

If you are looking to redirect pages on your website, there are many plugins to choose from to help you with this process. In this article, I will be discussing two that I use on a regular basis, and how you can use them on your own WordPress website.

Video

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What is a Redirect?

As defined by Dictonary.com, [su_highlight background=”#ffe966″]a redirect is “to change the direction or focus of.”[/su_highlight] In the case of websites, to redirect is to change the direction from one web page to another, so when someone tries to visit that original page, they are then taken to the page you redirected it to, instead.

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Why Would You Need a Web Page Redirect?

There are many reasons for redirecting a web page. Here are some common reasons for setting up a redirect:

Old Content

If you have old content on your website, and you’ve already created a new page to replace that old content, it’s important to drive traffic that is coming into that old page to the newly created page.

Broken Pages

If you have a broken page, you can redirect that broken page to a newly created page or another page on your website that makes sense based on what that original page was about.

Temporary Sales, Discounts, Promos, etc.

If you have a landing page for a product and you want to redirect traffic to that page to a special landing page for a deal, promo, special, etc. you can set up a redirect from the original page to the special landing page. When the sale or promo has ended, you can simply remove the redirect to allow visitors to return back to the original page when they visit that URL.

[su_icon_text icon=”icon: question” url=”https://loriballen.com/orphaned-content/”]Orphaned Content | Remove it, Redirect It, Or Revive it![/su_icon_text]

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Using Yoast SEO for Redirects

Yoast SEO provides a redirect feature with their premium plugin. You can purchase their premium plugin here. Below,  you can learn how to install the plugin and set up redirects using Yoast SEO.

Installing the Plugin

To install Yoast SEO Premium, you will first need to visit the Yoast SEO website to purchase the premium version of the plugin. Once purchased, you will receive an email with your download code and activation key.

1. Go to “Plugins” on the back-end of your WordPress website
2. Click “Add New” at the top of the page
3. Click “Upload Plugin” at the top of the page
4. Browse your computer for the downloaded Yoast SEO Plugin and select it to begin the installation
5. Once Installed, a button will appear to activate the plugin on your website. Click the activation button to complete this process.
6. Once activated, you may be prompted to enter an activation key. This key can be found in the email sent to you by Yoast directly and is necessary to be able to use the premium features of this plugin.

Setting up a Redirect from a Trashed Page

If you have a page on your website that has been linked to from other pages, Yoast SEO should automatically prompt you for a redirect when moving that page to the trash. Simply paste the URL of the new page you would like the trashed page to redirect to, save it, and the redirect will become active immediately.

Setting up a Redirect from Any Page

1. Click on “SEO” on the left menu bar on the back-end of your WordPress website
2. Click on “Redirects”
3. Here, you will see a list of existing redirects (if you’ve set redirects up previously), as well as a form at the top of the screen to set up your redirect. Complete this form with the redirect details, and save to activate your redirect.

Redirect Type

For the redirect type, it will be rare that you will have to select anything other than “301 Moved Permanently” which is displayed by default.

Old URL

The old URL is the URL for the page that you no longer wish to use and would like to be redirected elsewhere.

URL

The URL is for the page that you would like the old URL to redirect to. This is the page that people will now see instead of the old URL provided in the previous form box.

To Remove or Edit a Redirect

If you wish to remove a redirect and make both pages active as their own live pages, again, simply hover your mouse over the “type” number and two buttons will appear to either edit or delete the redirect. Click “edit” to adjust the Type, Old URL, and URL or click “delete” to remove the redirect entirely.

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Using Quick Page/Post Redirects

The Quick Page/Post Redirects plugin is a free plugin available on WordPress for redirecting pages on your website. You can view more about the plugin directly and download it here.

Installing the Plugin

To install the Quick Page/Post Redirects plugin:

1. Go to “Plugins” on the back-end of your WordPress website
2. Click “Install Plugins” at the top of the page
3. In the upper right-hand corner, there will be a search box. Type in Quick Page/Post Redirects and it will appear at the top of the list for you to download. The plugin is by anadnet.
4. Click “install” to begin the installation
5. Once installed, click the “activate” button to activate the plugin

Where to Find the Plugin Once Installed

Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you can find it on any page/post under the content of the blog post.

How to Use the Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin

1. Visit the page you wish to redirect to another page
2. Scroll down until you see the Quick Page/Post Redirect plugin
3. Check the box that says “Make Redirect Active”
4. Enter the URL that you want this page to redirect to in the “Redirect/Destination URL” Box
5. Leave the type of Redirect 301 Permanent, unless you have a reason to select another redirect option.
6. Update the page to save the changes

Your redirect should be active immediately.

How to Remove the Redirect

If you no longer want a page to redirect, simply find the page that is currently redirecting to another page on the back-end of your website. You can do this by:

1. Go to “Pages” on the back-end of your website (or posts if it’s a blog post that is redirecting)
2. In the upper-right hand corner, use the search box to find the page you are looking for. You can also manually look through the list of pages to find the page you are looking for.
3. Once the page has been found, click on the title to view the edit screen for that page.

Once you’ve found the page that you wish to remove the redirect for, scroll down to the Quick Page/Post Redirect plugin and uncheck the box that says “Make Redirect Active,” then click the “Update” button to save your changes. The redirect should stop immediately.

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How Do I Know Which Pages Have Redirects?

If you’re not sure which of your pages have redirects set up and which ones don’t, both the Yoast SEO and Quick Page/Post Redirect plugins provide an easy one-glance area to see which pages are redirecting, and where they are redirecting to.

If You Are Using Yoast SEO

1. Click on “SEO” on the back-end of your WordPress website
2. Click on “Redirects” on the sub-menu that appears under “SEO”

This will take you to a page where you can easily see the redirect type, Old URL, and New URL.

If You Are Using Quick Page/Post Redirect

1. Click on Pages or Posts depending on which you would like to see the redirects for

From there, you will see a column for “redirects” which displays the type of redirect and the URL that the page is redirecting to.

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1. Use Strong Passwords

According to Wikipedia, here is a list of the top 20 most common passwords from 2017.

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4. qwerty
5. 12345
6. 123456789
7. letmein
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14. login
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16. starwars
17. 123123
18. dragon
19. passw0rd
20. master

If you’re using a password that’s even remotely close to any of these, you should change them as soon as possible. The strongest passwords are those that have a random assortment of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.

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2. Update Themes and Plugins

Outdated themes and plugins may have security vulnerabilities that put your website at risk. Check your themes and plugins on a regular basis and update them when updates are available.

If you use free plugins from the WordPress.org repository, it’s a good idea to occasionally check to make sure those plugins have not been removed. Sometimes a plugin is removed from the repository because of security risks, so if you find that one of your plugins is no longer available, or if the developer of the plugin has stopped releasing updates, it may be best to remove that plugin from your website and use an alternative.

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3. Delete Unused Themes and Plugins

If a theme or plugin contains a security vulnerability, your website could still be at risk even if the theme or plugin is inactive, so it’s a good idea to delete items that are no longer in use.

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4. Limit Login Attempts

One of the most common methods that hackers use to gain access to your website is through a brute force attack. This is where a hacker uses automated software to repeatedly guess your login credentials, over and over, until it guesses correctly. By using a plugin that limits login attempts, incorrect logins will be blocked from repeated attempts.

Ballen Brands offers managed WordPress hosting, which automatically has a Limit Logins plugin activated. You can view the settings for this plugin by going to Settings > Limit Login Attempts.

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5. Backup Your Website on a Recurring Schedule

Keeping backups of your website files and database are an important step for website security so that if your website does become compromised, you can restore it to a previous version without losing all of your data.

Ballen Brands managed WordPress hosting includes scheduled website backups every day, and the backups are stored for 30 days. If you’re using an unmanaged web hosting service that doesn’t offer automatic backups, you can use a plugin such as Updraft Plus to schedule backups yourself.

For more great videos and tutorials, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you found this video helpful, please give it a thumbs up and we’ll see you next time.

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Transcript

Now if your theme is out of date, then you may notice that there are certain functionalities of that theme that may not work properly on your website at that time, and it also makes your website more susceptible for hackers.

To update your themes, you’re going to go to appearance, then themes from the backend of your WordPress site, and it will show you which themes are available for an update. From here, you can go ahead and just click on that update now button on any themes that need updated.

And I’m going to leave this one for now. And once it’s done, you’ll get these little green updated bars, basically saying that your theme update has been successful. After that, there’s nothing else that you need to do.

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Contact

If you have any questions, you can contact us at team@ballenbrands.com. If you liked this video, feel free to go ahead and [eafl id=”12782″ name=”Youtube Lori Ballen” text=”subscribe to our channel.”] And if you want to learn more about online marketing, go ahead and head over to ranklikeaboss.com and check out our online training course. Thanks for watching.