During the initial transition between an existing site and a new B2C Commerce store, consider creating 301 redirects from the old site to the new site. Over time, create redirects from one page or URL to another.
When to Use the Alias, Mapping Rule, Static Mapping, and URL Redirect Features
Redirecting host-only URLs
Always click App Launcher 
, and then go to Hostname aliases generate 301 redirects for host-only URLs. They also let
you redirect URLs to locale- or device-specific sites.
Redirecting B2C Commerce URLs
If the redirect from a B2C Commerece URL
- Click App Launcher , and then select , which is used for redirects of obsolete pages hosted on B2C Commerce
to current pages on B2C Commerce. For example, if you change the name of a category.
This is the only feature that can be used to redirect B2C Commerce URLs. See Creating a
Redirect from a B2C Commerce URL. For more information about how this
feature works, see URL Redirect Processing and
Examples.
Redirecting legacy Platform URLs
If the redirect is from a legacy platform different than B2C Commerce, mapping depends on the type of redirect URL.
- A content page or unique or unusual - in this case you want to click App Launcher
, and then select , which is used for specific pages, whether they are landing pages or
searches that don't conform to a general pattern. See Static Mappings.
-
A product or category page or conforms to a pattern - in this case you want to click App Launcher
, and then select - mapping rules identify the pattern of an incoming URL and map it
to a pattern for a B2C Commerce URL. Creating a few mapping rules can let you
manage many URLs from a legacy site efficiently.Mappings can be maintained in B2C Commerce for as long as you wish. We don't recommend removing them, because it isn't possible to predict when other site owners or search engines update their links, and removing the mappings prematurely causes you to lose traffic. See Dynamic Mapping.
Legacy Platform URL Redirects and Site Rankings
Most merchants migrate from an existing site to B2C Commerce. Usually, the existing site has built up search rankings and links on other sites to their site that drive traffic to the merchant. Use B2C Commerce to create mappings between old links and new pages so that you don't lose traffic from other sites and search engines. If you don't create these mappings, the old links don't work, and your SEO rankings can be severely impacted.
To create redirects for these links, we have three features: B2C Commerce hostname aliases, B2C Commerce Site URL-Mapping Rules, and Site URL Static Mapping. See Configuring 301 Redirects for Legacy URLs.
Links that become obsolete because you change a category name on B2C Commerce also need permanent redirects so as not to lose customers who have bookmarked products and to retain your rankings.
To create redirects for these links, use the URL redirect feature.
B2C Commerce reserves sitemap*xml as a redirect keyword for XML
sitemaps used by search engines to crawl the site. This string can't be used when
creating redirects using any of the B2C Commerce URL redirect features. However, if you
are redirecting a legacy sitemap page that showed an overview of your old site, you can
set up a redirect using the string sitemap or SiteMap.
See Sitemap Overview.
Error Pages
If a user mistypes a URL or attempts to reach a page that no longer exists, they see a 404 page. You can create custom 404 pages that let them enter the site successfully. See Creating 404 Error Pages with Alternate Paths.