If you are looking forward to follow modern web standards, you should avoid plain HTML meta redirects. If you can not create server-side code, you should choose JavaScript redirect instead.
To support JavaScript-disabled browsers add a HTML meta redirect line to a noscript element. The noscript nested meta redirect combined with the canonical tag will help your search engine rankings as well.
If you would like to avoid redirect loops, you should use the location.replace() JavaScript function.
A proper client-side URL redirect code looks like this (with an Internet Explorer 8 and lower fix and without delay):
<!-- Pleace this snippet right after opening the head tag to make it work properly -->
<!-- This code is licensed under GNU GPL v3 -->
<!-- You are allowed to freely copy, distribute and use this code, but removing author credit is strictly prohibited -->
<!-- Generated by http://insider.zone/tools/client-side-url-redirect-generator/ -->
<!-- REDIRECTING STARTS -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://stackoverflow.com/"/>
<noscript>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; URL=https://stackoverflow.com/">
</noscript>
<!--[if lt IE 9]><script type="text/javascript">var IE_fix=true;</script><![endif]-->
<script type="text/javascript">
var url = "https://stackoverflow.com/";
if(typeof IE_fix != "undefined") // IE8 and lower fix to pass the http referer
{
document.write("redirecting..."); // Don't remove this line or appendChild() will fail because it is called before document.onload to make the redirect as fast as possible. Nobody will see this text, it is only a tech fix.
var referLink = document.createElement("a");
referLink.href = url;
document.body.appendChild(referLink);
referLink.click();
}
else { window.location.replace(url); } // All other browsers
</script>
<!-- Credit goes to http://insider.zone/ -->
<!-- REDIRECTING ENDS -->
The following meta tag, placed between inside the head, will tell the browser to redirect:
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="seconds; url=URL">
Replace seconds with the number of seconds to wait before it redirects, and replace URL with the URL you want it to redirect to.
Alternatively, you can redirect with JavaScript. Place this inside of a script tag anywhere on the page:
window.location = "URL"
I use a script which redirects the user from index.html to relative url of Login Page
<html>
<head>
<title>index.html</title>
</head>
<body onload="document.getElementById('lnkhome').click();">
<a href="/Pages/Login.aspx" id="lnkhome">Go to Login Page<a>
</body>
</html>
The simple way which works for all types of pages is just to add a meta tag in the head:
<html>
<head>
...
<meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="seconds; url=your.full.url/path/filename">
...
</head>
<body>
Don't put much content, just some text and an anchor.
Actually, you will be redirected in N seconds (as specified in content attribute).
That's all.
...
</body>
</html>
It would be better to set up a 301 redirect. See the Google's Webmaster Tools article 301 redirects.
You should use JavaScript. Place the following code in your head tags:
<script type="text/javascript">
window.location.assign("http://www.example.com")
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
window.location.href = "http://example.com";
</script>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=http://example.com">
I would also add a canonical link to help your SEO people:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/product.php?item=swedish-fish"/>
This is a redirect solution with everything I wanted but could not find in a nice clean snippet to cut & paste.
This snippet has a number of advantages:
How to use:
If you migrated an entire site then on the old server stop the original site and create another with this file as the default index.html file in the root folder. Edit the site settings so that any 404 error is redirected to this index.html page. This catches anyone who accesses the old site with a link into a sub-level page etc.
Now go to the opening script tag and edit the oldsite and newSite web addresses, and change the seconds value as needed.
Save and start your website. Job done - time for a coffee.
<!DOCTYPE html>_x000D_
<html>_x000D_
<head>_x000D_
<META HTTP-EQUIV="CACHE-CONTROL" CONTENT="NO-CACHE">_x000D_
<META HTTP-EQUIV="PRAGMA" CONTENT="NO-CACHE">_x000D_
<META HTTP-EQUIV="EXPIRES" CONTENT="Mon, 22 Jul 2002 11:12:01 GMT">_x000D_
<style>_x000D_
body { margin: 200px; font: 12pt helvetica; }_x000D_
</style>_x000D_
_x000D_
</head>_x000D_
<body>_x000D_
_x000D_
</body>_x000D_
<script type="text/javascript">_x000D_
_x000D_
// Edit these to suit your needs._x000D_
var oldsite = 'http://theoldsitename.com'_x000D_
var newSite = "https://thenewsitename.com";_x000D_
var seconds = 20; // countdown delay._x000D_
_x000D_
var path = location.pathname;_x000D_
var srch = location.search;_x000D_
var uniq = Math.floor((Math.random() * 10000) + 1);_x000D_
var newPath = newSite + path + (srch === '' ? "?" + uniq : srch + "&" + uniq); _x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_
document.write ('<p>As part of hosting improvements, the system has been migrated from ' + oldsite + ' to</p>');_x000D_
document.write ('<p><a href="' + newPath + '">' + newSite + '</a></p>');_x000D_
document.write ('<p>Please take note of the new website address.</p>');_x000D_
document.write ('<p>If you are not automatically redirected please click the link above to proceed.</p>');_x000D_
document.write ('<p id="dvCountDown">You will be redirected after <span id = "lblCount"></span> seconds.</p>');_x000D_
_x000D_
function DelayRedirect() {_x000D_
var dvCountDown = document.getElementById("dvCountDown");_x000D_
var lblCount = document.getElementById("lblCount");_x000D_
dvCountDown.style.display = "block";_x000D_
lblCount.innerHTML = seconds;_x000D_
setInterval(function () {_x000D_
seconds--;_x000D_
lblCount.innerHTML = seconds;_x000D_
if (seconds == 0) {_x000D_
dvCountDown.style.display = "none";_x000D_
window.location = newPath;_x000D_
}_x000D_
}, 1000);_x000D_
}_x000D_
DelayRedirect()_x000D_
_x000D_
</script>_x000D_
</html>You don't need any JavaScript code for this. Write this in the <head> section of the HTML page:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=example.com" />
As soon as the page loads at 0 seconds, you can go to your page.
Razor engine for a 5 second delay:
<meta http-equiv="Refresh"
content="5; [email protected]("Search", "Home", new { id = @Model.UniqueKey }))">
I found a problem while working with a jQuery Mobile application, where in some cases my Meta header tag wouldn't achieve a redirection properly (jQuery Mobile doesn't read headers automatically for each page so putting JavaScript there is also ineffective unless wrapping it in complexity). I found the easiest solution in this case was to put the JavaScript redirection directly into the body of the document, as follows:
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=myURL" />
</head>
<body>
<p>You are not logged in!</p>
<script language="javascript">
window.location = "myURL";
</script>
</body>
</html>
This seems to work in every case for me.
Just use the onload event of the body tag:
<body onload="window.location = 'http://example.com/'">
As soon as the page loads, the init function is fired and the page is redirected:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Example</title>
<script>
function init()
{
window.location.href = "www.wherever.com";
}
</script>
</head>
<body onload="init()">
</body>
</html>
This is a sum up of every previous answers plus an additional solution using HTTP Refresh Header via .htaccess
1. HTTP Refresh Header
First of all, you can use .htaccess to set a refresh header like this
Header set Refresh "3"
This is the "static" equivalent of using the header() function in PHP
header("refresh: 3;");
Note that this solution is not supported by every browser.
2. JavaScript
With an alternate URL:
<script>
setTimeout(function(){location.href="http://example.com/alternate_url.html"} , 3000);
</script>
Without an alternate URL:
<script>
setTimeout("location.reload(true);",timeoutPeriod);
</script>
Via jQuery:
<script>
window.location.reload(true);
</script>
3. Meta Refresh
You can use meta refresh when dependencies on JavaScript and redirect headers are unwanted
With an alternate URL:
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="3; url=http://example.com/alternate_url.html">
Without an alternate URL:
<meta http-equiv="Refresh" content="3">
Using <noscript>:
<noscript>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="3" />
</noscript>
Optionally
As recommended by Billy Moon, you can provide a refresh link in case something goes wrong:
If you are not redirected automatically: <a href='http://example.com/alternat_url.html'>Click here</a>
Resources
Redirect using JavaScript, <noscript> in case JS is disabled.
<script>
window.location.replace("https://google.com");
</script>
<noscript>
<a href="https://google.com">Click here if you are not redirected automatically.</a>
</noscript>
Place the following code between the <HEAD> and </HEAD> tags of your HTML code:
<meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0; url=http://example.com/index.html">
The above HTML redirect code will redirect your visitors to another web page instantly. The content="0; may be changed to the number of seconds you want the browser to wait before redirecting.
You can do it in javascript:
location = "url";
As far as I understand them, all the methods I have seen so far for this question seem to add the old location to the history. To redirect the page, but do not have the old location in the history, I use the replace method:
<script>
window.location.replace("http://example.com");
</script>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Redirect to a page</title>
</head>
<body onload="window.location.assign('http://example.com')">
</body>
</html>
You could use a META "redirect":
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://new.example.com/address" />
or JavaScript redirect (note that not all users have JavaScript enabled so always prepare a backup solution for them)
<script language="javascript">
window.location = "http://new.example.com/address";
</script>
But I'd rather recommend using mod_rewrite, if you have the option.
I would use both meta, and JavaScript code and would have a link just in case.
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html lang="en-US">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://example.com">
<script type="text/javascript">
window.location.href = "http://example.com"
</script>
<title>Page Redirection</title>
</head>
<body>
<!-- Note: don't tell people to `click` the link, just tell them that it is a link. -->
If you are not redirected automatically, follow this <a href='http://example.com'>link to example</a>.
</body>
</html>
For completeness, I think the best way, if possible, is to use server redirects, so send a 301 status code. This is easy to do via .htaccess files using Apache, or via numerous plugins using WordPress. I am sure there are also plugins for all the major content management systems. Also, cPanel has very easy configuration for 301 redirects if you have that installed on your server.
Just for good measure:
<?php
header("Location: [email protected]", TRUE, 303);
exit;
?>
Make sure there are no echo's above the script otherwise it will be ignored. http://php.net/manual/en/function.header.php
Put the following code in the <head> section:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://address/">
You can auto redirect by HTTP Status Code 301 or 302.
For PHP:
<?php
Header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
Header("Location: http://www.redirect-url.com");
?>
Source: Stackoverflow.com