How to setup redirects

Created by Andrew S, Modified on Tue, 3 Mar at 9:27 AM by Andrew S

Redirects let dealers send visitors from an old or wrong URL to the right page. That keeps old links working and avoids broken pages after a site change. They set a source path and a destination path in the dashboard; the website then sends anyone hitting the source to the destination:/privacy → /privacy-policy

1. What this page is

The Redirects page lets you add and manage URL redirects for your website. When someone visits a source URL, they are sent to a destination URL. This is useful for old links, renamed pages, or sending traffic to a new location.

Where to find it: In the dashboard, open your website, then go to Redirects in the sidebar.

(You need permission to manage menus/redirects for the website.)

Example URL:

https://dashboard.dealerstudio.com.au/websites/test-website/redirects

2. What you see

A short intro: “Add custom redirects to this website”.
A table of redirects with three columns:

Source – the path or URL that visitors will be redirected from.
Destination – the path or URL they will be redirected to.
Actions – Edit, Copy, Delete, and Save for each row.

If you have no redirects yet, the table is empty. Use Add New Redirect to create the first one.

3. Typical workflow

Click Add New Redirect (or Edit on an existing row).
Enter the Source (e.g. /old-url or /legacy-page).
Enter the Destination (e.g. /new-url or https://external-site.com/page).
Use Copy if you need several similar redirects, then adjust each row.
Click Save (on a row or the main Save button).
Wait for the success message.

Redirects are applied when your site is built and deployed. Changes may take a short time to go live depending on your hosting and deployment process.

Below is an example from one of our sites:

4. Source and destination rules

Source

Must be unique – each source can only appear once.
Cannot be the home page (/).
Must start with / (e.g. /old-page, /cars/toyota).
Must not end with / (use /page not /page/).
Can use wildcards for dynamic paths (e.g. /cars/:slug+ to match one or more segments). Support for this may depend on your site setup.

Destination

Local path: Must start with / and not end with / (e.g. /new-page, /search/holden).
External URL: A full address starting with https:// (e.g. https://example.com/page) is allowed.

If a value breaks these rules, the form will show an error under the field and you’ll need to correct it before saving.

5. Table actions (per row)

Action	What it does
Edit	Makes that row’s Source and Destination editable. When you’re done, click Save on that row (or use the main Save) to save all changes.
Copy	Adds a new row below with the same Source and Destination so you can change one of them for a similar redirect.
Delete	Removes that redirect from the list. Save the form to apply the removal.
Save	Saves all redirects. Shown when that row (or any row) is in edit mode.

6. Main buttons (below the table)

Button	What it does
Add New Redirect	Adds a new row with placeholder values (e.g. source /example, destination /). Change them to your real source and destination, then save.
Save	Saves all redirects. This button is only visible when at least one row is in edit mode.

After a successful save, a “Saved Successfully” message appears. If something goes wrong, an error message is shown instead.

7. Tips

Keep sources unique – duplicate sources are not allowed and will show a validation error.
Use Copy for similar redirects – faster than re-typing when only one part changes.
Test after saving – open the source URL on your live site (or a preview) to confirm it redirects to the destination.
External destinations – use the full https://... URL when sending users to another website.

8. If something goes wrong

“A path is required” – Source or Destination is empty; enter a value.
“Invalid path. Must start with '/' and not end with '/'” – Use a path like /my-page, not my-page or /my-page/.
“Redirect source must be unique” – Another row already uses that Source; change or remove the duplicate.
“You cannot use the home page as redirect source” – You cannot redirect / from this screen; use another way to handle the homepage if needed.
“Unable to save” / server error – Check your connection and try again. If it persists, contact support.