When a website changes, there’s always a shortcut on the table: send every old URL to the new homepage. One rule, done.
Visitors don’t see an error, so it feels safe. But for search engines, and for the people who clicked those links, it’s often the next worst thing to a broken page.
What actually happens
Imagine someone clicks a link to:
oldsite.com/guides/pricing-calculator
They expected a pricing calculator. They land on the new homepage instead, with no calculator in sight. Most of them leave.
Search engines notice the same mismatch. Google’s site move guidance specifically advises against redirecting many old URLs to an unrelated destination such as the homepage. Redirects like that are often treated as soft 404s: Google sees the redirect but doesn’t treat the homepage as a replacement for the old page.
So the old page’s signals, links and rankings may not carry over the way you hoped.
When a homepage redirect is fine
There are cases where the homepage really is the best match:
The old homepage.
oldbrand.com → newbrand.comis exactly right.A parked or campaign domain that never had its own pages.
A typo domain protecting your brand.
A catch-all for leftovers, after you’ve mapped the pages that matter.
That last one is the important distinction. A catch-all is a safety net, not a plan.
What to do instead
For each old URL that matters, pick the closest page that answers the same need:
/guides/pricing-calculator → /pricing
/services/web-design → /services/design
/blog/2021/framer-tips → /blog/framer-tips
If there’s no exact match, redirect to the closest category or section rather than the homepage:
/products/discontinued-widget → /products/widgets
And if nothing relevant exists at all, it can be better to let the URL return a 404 than to send it somewhere misleading. We cover that in should you redirect every 404 page.
How to decide quickly
Start with the URLs that bring value: the ones with traffic, links or rankings. You’ll find them in Search Console, your analytics and your old sitemap. Then for each one, ask:
Is there a page with the same content? Redirect there.
Is there a page that answers the same question? Redirect there.
Is there a section it belongs to? Redirect there.
None of the above? Let it 404, or use the catch-all if it still gets visits.
Set it up with a catch-all last
In Redirect Supply, rules follow a clear order: exact paths first, then wildcards, then the catch-all. So you can map your important pages individually, cover whole sections with wildcards, and still have a global rule for anything you missed.
For a migration with many URLs, import the mapping from a CSV file instead of creating each rule by hand. See how path redirects and global redirects work together.
How to spot it on your own site
If you’ve already sent everything to the homepage, Search Console may show it. Look in the Pages report for old URLs marked as soft 404 or as redirects that weren’t indexed.
Then pick the old URLs with the most traffic or links, map them to better destinations, and update the rules. Start with the top 20. That usually covers most of the value.
The short version
Redirect to the homepage when the homepage is the answer. For everything else, send people to the page they were actually looking for.
