10-minute recipe: bulk-upload redirects

For marketing managers and SEO agencies handling a site migration or a large clean-up. Time: about 10 minutes.

Use this when you have more than a handful of old URLs to point somewhere new: after a move from another website provider, a model-year clean-up, or a Search Console report full of 404s. You build a spreadsheet, check it, and upload it in one go. For one or two URLs, 2-minute fix: add a redirect is quicker.

1. Build the list

The best source is Google Search Console → Pages → Not found (404). It shows what Google is still trying to reach. Your analytics' landing-page report tells you which of those still get visits, so do those first.

2. Make the spreadsheet

Create a sheet with exactly these five column headings in the first row:

Redirect From,Redirect To,Regular Expression,Type,Status
/used-cars-springfield,/used,no,permanent,enabled
/2024-holiday-event,/specials,no,permanent,enabled
/service-coupons,/service-specials,no,temporary,enabled

• Redirect From is the old path, starting with /. Don't include your domain, anything after ?, or a trailing slash. Use only letters, numbers and / . - ~ _. Spaces, + and % are rejected.
• Redirect To is a path on your site, or a full URL.
• Regular Expression is no for ordinary URLs. See the pattern notes in the 2-minute redirect fix before using yes.
• Type is permanent (301) or temporary (302).
• Status is enabled or disabled.

Save it as .csv. In Excel or Google Sheets, that's File → Download / Save as → CSV.

3. Check the file before uploading

This step saves the most time.

• If one row is invalid, every row after it fails too. Rows above the bad row are still created. Scan for spaces, ?, full URLs or blank cells in Redirect From before you upload.
• Point each URL at its closest equivalent, not the homepage.
• No chains. If /a goes to /b and /b goes to /c, point /a straight at /c.
• Load a few destinations in a browser to be sure they exist.

4. Upload

1. Go to Website → Settings → Redirects and click Upload CSV.
2. Choose your file. When the upload finishes you'll see a summary: "CSV upload complete. Added N. Skipped N duplicates. N rows failed validation."
3. If any rows failed, a Redirect Upload Errors window lists them. Fix those rows, and every row below the first failure, in your file. Then upload again. Rows that were already added are skipped as duplicates, so re-uploading the whole file is safe.

5. Test

Paste five or six of the old URLs into a private window, including a couple from the bottom of the list. Each should land on its new page.

Good to know

• A live page with the same address wins over a redirect. Unpublish the old page if you want the redirect to fire.
• Old addresses ending in / are handled automatically. The trailing slash is stripped first, then your rule runs.
• Query strings can't be redirected. An old /inventory?make=honda is matched as /inventory. If your old site relied on query-string inventory links, send us examples and we'll suggest the best destination.
• The Type column in the list shows anything that isn't 301 as "Temporary".

Migrating from another provider and would rather hand the list over? Email the spreadsheet to support@overfuel.com with the rooftop name, and we'll process it for you.