Redirect Types & Concepts
What is a catch-all redirect?
A catch-all redirect is a redirect rule that matches any URL not already handled by a more specific rule and forwards it to a default destination. It is the safety net of a redirect configuration: the rule of last resort that ensures no visitor ever lands on a 404 error regardless of which URL they requested, as long as at least one redirect rule is in place for the domain.
The catch-all sits at the bottom of the redirect rule priority order. More specific rules, exact path matches, section-level wildcard patterns, individual page mappings, are evaluated first. If none of them match the requested URL, the catch-all fires. Every URL that falls through the more specific rules without matching is caught by the catch-all and forwarded to the configured default destination.
Catch-all redirects are sometimes called fallback redirects, default redirects, or wildcard fallbacks. The terms describe the same concept: a redirect rule with the broadest possible source pattern that fires only when nothing more specific has already matched.
How a catch-all redirect works
A catch-all redirect is implemented as a wildcard redirect with the broadest possible source pattern, typically /* matching every path on a domain, configured with the lowest evaluation priority so it only fires after all other rules have been checked.
The priority ordering is what makes a catch-all function correctly. Without it a /* wildcard rule would match every request including those that should be handled by more specific rules, redirecting everything to the default destination and making the more specific rules irrelevant.
When a request arrives the server evaluates redirect rules in priority order: most specific first, most general last. An exact match rule for /about fires before a section-level rule for /section/* which fires before the catch-all /*. If any of the specific rules match the requested URL that rule fires and the catch-all is never reached. Only URLs that match no specific rule fall through to the catch-all.
A complete redirect configuration with a catch-all works like a series of filters:
A request for /about is caught by the first rule. A request for /blog/post-title is caught by the second. A request for /old-obscure-page-nobody-mapped falls through all three specific rules and is caught by the catch-all, sending the visitor to newdomain.com rather than a 404.
Catch-all vs global redirect
Catch-all redirects and global redirects are closely related and often confused. Both use a broad wildcard pattern to match many URLs. Both send all matched traffic to a single destination. But they differ in an important way: their relationship to other redirect rules.
A global redirect is typically the only redirect rule on a domain. It matches everything because there are no other rules to handle anything more specifically. Every URL on the domain goes to the same destination. This is the appropriate configuration for simple domain parking and brand protection scenarios where path-level specificity is neither needed nor possible.
A catch-all redirect exists within a larger redirect configuration alongside more specific rules. It is not the only rule; it is the last rule. Its role is not to handle all traffic but to handle the traffic that no other rule claimed. In a rich redirect configuration with hundreds of specific path mappings the catch-all handles the long tail of unmapped URLs while the specific rules handle the important ones precisely.
In terms of implementation they are often identical: both are /* wildcard rules pointing to a destination. The difference is in the context and intent. A global redirect is a complete redirect strategy. A catch-all is a component of a broader redirect strategy.
Why catch-all redirects matter for SEO
The catch-all redirect is an important tool for SEO preservation during large-scale redirect projects where mapping every URL individually is impractical.
Preventing 404 errors on unmapped URLs: in any large-scale domain migration or URL restructuring project there will be URLs that were not mapped individually: low-traffic pages, old campaign pages, obscure archive content. Without a catch-all these URLs return 404 errors after the migration. With a catch-all they are forwarded to a sensible default destination rather than dead-ending.
Preserving link juice from unmapped backlinks: backlinks exist pointing to URLs that were not identified during redirect mapping. Without a catch-all these backlinks point to 404 errors and pass no equity anywhere. A catch-all redirects those URLs to the destination domain, capturing at least some equity from unmapped backlinks rather than losing it entirely.
Tiered SEO preservation strategy: the most effective approach to large-scale redirect SEO combines specific rules for high-value URLs with a catch-all for everything else. The specific rules maximise equity preservation for the most important pages, the ones with the strongest backlink profiles and highest traffic. The catch-all ensures no equity is completely lost on unmapped URLs.
Crawl budget efficiency: Googlebot and other web crawlers that encounter 404 errors on old URLs waste crawl budget on unresolvable requests. A catch-all converts those 404s to redirects, still consuming some crawl budget but at least resolving to a live destination rather than a dead end.
When to use a catch-all redirect
Domain migrations: the primary use case. A migration moving a large site to a new domain can only practically map the most important URLs individually. The long tail of lower-traffic pages is covered by the catch-all, ensuring no URL on the old domain becomes a permanent dead end.
URL restructuring projects: when a site changes its URL structure, removing date segments from URLs, changing category hierarchies, moving from CMS-generated URLs to clean URLs, the catch-all handles any URLs that were not explicitly mapped in the redirect set.
Site consolidations: merging multiple sites into one generates an enormous number of URLs to redirect. The catch-all ensures complete coverage when individual URL mapping is incomplete.
Newly launched redirect configurations: when setting up redirect management for a domain for the first time, a catch-all provides immediate coverage of all incoming traffic while more specific rules are gradually added for important pages.
Protecting against unforeseen traffic sources: even on well-managed domains, traffic arrives from unexpected sources: old links in email newsletters, links from obscure websites, bookmarks in browsers from years ago. A catch-all ensures these visitors reach a useful destination rather than a 404 regardless of where they came from.
Choosing a catch-all destination
The destination of a catch-all redirect is an important decision. Because the catch-all handles all unmatched URLs, potentially a very diverse set of pages on very different topics, the ideal destination is a URL that is broadly useful and relevant regardless of what the visitor was originally looking for.
Homepage: the most common catch-all destination. Broadly relevant, always live, provides visitors with navigation options to find what they were looking for. The main limitation is that visitors following a specific link to a specific piece of content are delivered to the homepage rather than to the content, which may be frustrating and increases the chance they leave rather than navigating further.
Custom 404-like landing page on the new domain: a dedicated page explaining that the content they were looking for has moved, with search functionality and links to popular sections. This is significantly better for user experience than a raw homepage redirect; it acknowledges the visitor was looking for something specific and provides tools to find it.
Most relevant section page: if the redirected domain had a clear primary topic, the most relevant section page on the destination domain is a better catch-all destination than the homepage. A domain that was primarily a blog redirecting its unmapped URLs to the blog section rather than the homepage delivers a more relevant experience for visitors who were looking for content.
Search results page: some redirect configurations use a search results page as the catch-all destination, with a query parameter populated by the old URL path to provide relevant results. This is sophisticated and requires custom implementation but delivers the best user experience for visitors following specific old links.
Catch-all redirects and HTTPS
Like all redirect rules on a domain, the catch-all needs to handle all URL variants correctly: HTTP and HTTPS, www and non-www.
A catch-all rule handling only HTTP traffic misses all HTTPS requests. A catch-all rule handling only non-www misses www requests. The complete catch-all setup covers all four combinations:
http://olddomain.com/*→ destinationhttps://olddomain.com/*→ destinationhttp://www.olddomain.com/*→ destinationhttps://www.olddomain.com/*→ destination
For the HTTPS variants to work correctly the redirected domain needs a valid SSL certificate. Without SSL on the redirected domain HTTPS visitors receive a certificate error before the catch-all redirect can fire, the same limitation that affects all domain-level redirects that do not provision SSL on secondary domains.
Dedicated redirect management platforms that provision SSL automatically for all connected domains handle this correctly by default, ensuring the catch-all fires for every visitor regardless of which protocol or domain variant they use to reach the old domain.
Catch-all redirects and redirect loops
The broad matching scope of catch-all redirects makes them a potential source of redirect loops if not configured carefully.
The most common catch-all loop scenario occurs when the catch-all destination is on the same domain as the catch-all source. A catch-all rule on example.com redirecting /* to example.com/homepage creates a loop: the catch-all matches /homepage and redirects it to /homepage which the catch-all matches again indefinitely.
The fix is ensuring the catch-all destination is either on a different domain or explicitly excluded from the catch-all rule’s matching scope. Most redirect management tools handle this automatically by not applying redirect rules to URLs that are already returning live content; the catch-all only fires for URLs that would otherwise return 404 errors rather than for all URLs indiscriminately.
A cross-domain catch-all, olddomain.com/* redirecting to newdomain.com, does not have this problem as long as newdomain.com does not redirect back to olddomain.com.
Catch-all redirects in Redirect Supply
In Redirect Supply the catch-all, or fallback redirect, is a core feature of the redirect configuration for each connected domain. It defines where visitors go when they request a URL that has no specific redirect rule defined.
On the free plan the catch-all is the primary redirect mechanism: a single global destination covering all traffic on the domain. On paid plans the catch-all works alongside path-level redirect rules: specific rules handle important URLs precisely while the catch-all ensures complete coverage for everything else.
Setting an appropriate catch-all destination is one of the first configuration steps when connecting a domain, ensuring that no visitor ever lands on a dead end from the moment the domain is connected.