=== Permalink Finder Plugin ===
Tags: permalinks, move, migrate, 301, 404, redirect, PageRank, seo, forward, index file, blogger, blogspot, MU
Requires at least: 2.8
Stable tag: 1.70
Tested up to: 3.1
Contributors: Keith Graham
Donate link: https://online.nwf.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6620&6620.donation=form1
Never get a 404 page not found again. If you have restructured or moved your blog, this plugin will find the right post or page every time.
== Description ==
The Permalink Finder Plugin detects when Wordpress cannot find a permalink. Before it generates the 404 error it tries to locate any posts with similar words. It does this by searching through the database trying to find any of the word values from the bad link. It takes the best match and then, rather than issuing a 404 error it sends back a redirect to the correct page.
Users will see the page that they are looking for, and search engine spiders will see the 301 redirect and update their databases so that the page appears correctly in searches.
This is especially useful where Wordpress removes words like "the" and "a" from the permalink during conversions from Blogger accounts. It is also useful for migrations that formerly used extensions such as html and shtml, when Wordpress does not.
The search of the database requires a small amount of extra overhead, but it only occurs when Wordpress cannot find the original post and resorts to using this plugin, which should be rare, especially after the search engines fix up their own indexes.
The configuration panel allows a user to select how the plugin finds a missing page. The plugin counts the number of words that match to a post. By default, a two word match is sufficient to cause a redirect to the found page. False positives are possible, especially if the user selects a one word match. Increasing the number of words, however makes it unlikely that the plugin will ever find a match.
Optionally, the plugin will redirect hits on index.html, index.htm, and index.shtml to the blog home page. This is useful when a website previously used a non-php home page.
The plugin will also optionally keep track of the last few 404's or redirects. This is useful to find out what pages are missing or named badly that keep causing 404 errors or forcing redirects.
On Wordpress MU networked installations the plugin can be installed as a network plugin. On Blog #1, the settings can be made so that all other networked blogs will not see the settings. The statistics then will only be visible on the main blog (#1).
Note: The permalink structure on your blog must be set to include postname. This plugin is only for use with postname permalink structures.
Donations:
If you find this plugin useful and you wish to support me, you can buy my book (cheap) Error Message Eyes: A Programmer's Guide to the Digital Soul
At the very least please visit my websites and, if appropriate, add a link to one on your blog:
Blog's Eye (My Wordpress Plugins and other PHP coding projects)
Wandering Blog (My personal Blog)
Resources for Science Fiction (Writing Science Fiction)
The JT30 Page (Amplified Blues Harmonica)
Harp Amps (Vacuum Tube Amplifiers for Blues)
Bee Progress Beekeeping Blog (My adventures as a new beekeeper)