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How to Redirect WordPress Pages to a Different Domain

How to Redirect WordPress Pages to a Different Domain
// 5 min read DevOps

Overview Using Nginx configuration to achieve: All WordPress frontend pages automatically redirect to another domain (e.g., Vercel frontend) WordPress admin remains accessible API endpoints respond normally Core Principle Use Nginx return directive for 302 redirects: location / { if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) { return 302 https://target-domain.com$uri; } try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args; } Detailed Configuration Steps Step 1: […]

Overview

Using Nginx configuration to achieve:

  • All WordPress frontend pages automatically redirect to another domain (e.g., Vercel frontend)
  • WordPress admin remains accessible
  • API endpoints respond normally

Core Principle

Use Nginx return directive for 302 redirects:

location / {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
return 302 https://target-domain.com$uri;
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

Detailed Configuration Steps

Step 1: Edit Nginx Config

nano /usr/local/nginx/conf/vhost/your-domain.conf

Step 2: Add Redirect Rules

Add this configuration in the location / block:

location / {
# Exclude wp-admin and wp-json, redirect everything else
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

Step 3: Complete Configuration Example

server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name wordpress.yourdomain.com;
root /home/wwwroot/wordpress.yourdomain.com;
index index.php index.html;

# Frontend redirect to Vercel
location / {
# Exclude admin and API
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

# Admin access (unaffected)
location /wp-admin/ {
auth_basic "Admin Area";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd_wordpress;
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

# API access (unaffected)
location /wp-json/ {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

location ~ ^/wp-login\.php {
auth_basic "Admin Area";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd_wordpress;
include enable-php-pathinfo.conf;
}

location ~ \.php$ {
include enable-php-pathinfo.conf;
}

location = /wp-config.php {
deny all;
}
location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
deny all;
}
}

Step 4: Test and Reload

# Test configuration
nginx -t

# Reload
lnmp nginx reload

Redirect Rule Types

Type Status Code Use Case
Temporary 302 Temporary move, keep original links
Permanent 301 Permanent move, SEO friendly
Internal rewrite URL internal transformation 
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
return 301 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
}

Before using 301, confirm:

  • Migration is permanent
  • No need to revert to original domain
  • Search engines have indexed target pages

Using Rewrite for URL Transformation

location / {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
rewrite ^/(.*)$ https://yourdomain.com/blog/$1 permanent;
}
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

URL Path Mapping Rules

Scenario 1: Direct Redirect

Original: https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/hello-world Target: https://yourdomain.com/blog/hello-world

if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}

Scenario 2: Remove Date Prefix

Original: https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/2024/01/hello-world Target: https://yourdomain.com/blog/hello-world

if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
rewrite ^/\d{4}/\d{2}/(.+)$ /blog/$1 permanent;
}
}

Scenario 3: Add Custom Prefix

Original: https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/hello-world Target: https://yourdomain.com/articles/hello-world

if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/articles$uri;
}

Complete Redirect Configuration Template

server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80;
server_name wordpress.yourdomain.com;
root /home/wwwroot/wordpress.yourdomain.com;
index index.php index.html;

# ============ Redirect Rules ============
location / {
# Excluded paths list
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-login\.php) {
# Method 1: Direct redirect (recommended)
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
}
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

# ============ Admin Access (Unaffected) ============
location /wp-admin/ {
auth_basic "Admin Area";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd_wordpress;
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

# ============ API Access (Unaffected) ============
location /wp-json/ {
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

# ============ Login Page ============
location ~ ^/wp-login\.php {
auth_basic "Admin Area";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd_wordpress;
include enable-php-pathinfo.conf;
}

# ============ PHP Processing ============
location ~ \.php$ {
include enable-php-pathinfo.conf;
}

# ============ Security Config ============
location = /wp-config.php {
deny all;
}
location ~ /\.(?!well-known).* {
deny all;
}
}

Testing Redirects

Method 1: curl Testing

# Test homepage redirect
curl -I https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/

# Test post page redirect
curl -I https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/hello-world

# Test admin (should return 401 Basic Auth)
curl -I https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/

# Test API (should be accessible)
curl https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?_embed

Expected Results

# Homepage → 302 redirect
HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: https://yourdomain.com/blog/

# Post page → 302 redirect
HTTP/1.1 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: https://yourdomain.com/blog/hello-world

# Admin → 401 Basic Auth
HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
WWW-Authenticate: Basic realm="Admin Area"

# API → 200 OK
HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Method 2: Browser Testing

  1. Visit https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/
  2. Should auto-redirect to https://yourdomain.com/blog/
  3. Visit https://wordpress.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/
  4. Should show Basic Auth popup

Troubleshooting

Problem 1: Redirect Loop

Cause: Target domain points to same server

Solution:

# Exclude target domain
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($host != "yourdomain.com") {
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
}

Problem 2: Admin Not Accessible

Cause: $uri matches /wp-admin/

Solution: Use more precise regex

location / {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin(/.*)?$) {
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

Problem 3: API Also Redirected

Cause: Didn’t exclude /wp-json/ path

Solution:

location / {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

Advanced Configuration

Add Redirect Logging

# Add outside server block
log_format redirect_log '$remote_addr - $remote_user [$time_local] '
'"$request" $status $body_bytes_sent '
'"$http_referer" "$http_user_agent" redirect_to=$redirect_to';

access_log /var/log/nginx/redirect.log redirect_log;

Redirect Based on User Agent

location / {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-admin/) {
if ($uri !~ ^/wp-json/) {
# Mobile devices redirect to different page
if ($http_user_agent ~* "mobile|android|iphone|ipad|phone") {
return 302 https://m.yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
# PC redirect
return 302 https://yourdomain.com/blog$uri;
}
}
try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}

Use Cases

  • ✅ WordPress as pure data source (CMS)
  • ✅ Frontend using Next.js/Astro/Gatsby
  • ✅ Separate frontend/backend deployment
  • ✅ Hide WordPress frontend, expose only API
  • ✅ Multi-domain unified management

SEO Notes

  1. Before using 301: Confirm migration is permanent
  2. Update sitemap: Ensure new URLs are submitted correctly
  3. Set Canonical: Set canonical URLs in frontend framework
  4. Keep old links: Configure Nginx to handle 404 redirects

Security Recommendations

  • ✅ Admin must have password protection
  • ✅ Sensitive endpoints (like comment submission) should be blocked
  • ✅ Check redirect logs regularly
  • ✅ API should only be accessed by trusted frontend