How to 301 redirct all incoming requests to a domain to another domain?

Question

I have a WordPress blog running on an Apache2 server currently that I need to completely move to a new domain name.

http://www.somesite.com/ to http://www.someothersite.com

I need all requests to that domain to be redirected to a new domain name. Can this be done with .htaccess? If so what's the rule to be used?

Answer 1

If URLs are exactly the same and the only difference is the domain name, then it is very easy to do. Just place this line in .htaccess in website root folder of www.somesite.com:

Redirect 301 / http://www.someothersite.com/

The above rule will redirect (301 Permanent Redirect) ALL requests to a new domain using the same URL and preserving the query string.

At the same time you may need to disable any existing rewrite rules in that .htaccess file, otherwise WordPress may be processing all rules before such redirect occurs (RewriteRule has higher priority than Redirect).

Answer 2

LazyOne beat me to it :) .... So what he said.... PLUS:

In the Wordpress Dashboard you have to find the setting where you put the domain name of your blog and change it to the new domain name. Otherwise, most links will point to the old domain.... which of course get directed back but it will obviously be inefficient.

Answer 3

The simplest way is to use a 301 redirect in a .htaccess file on the old domain which will point to the new domain. Use the following code:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.newdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Rememer to change www.newdomain.com to your actual new domain name. This code is dependant on mod_rewrite being installed in the Apache server. It usually is.

Another alternative is to use Rewritematch e.g.

RedirectMatch 301 (.*) http://www.abookaboutchina.com/$1