Getting Started
404 to 301 turns the WordPress 404 page into something actionable. Every missing URL is logged, optionally redirected to a destination you control, and optionally emailed to you so the broken link doesn't sit unnoticed.
The plugin ships with four built-in subsystems, each backed by its own page inside wp-admin → 404 to 301:
| Page | What it does |
|---|---|
| Settings | The four tabs — General, Redirects, Logs, Notifications — that control how 404s are handled site-wide. |
| Redirects | A managed list of source → target redirects with per-row match modes and HTTP status codes. |
| Logs | The recorded 404 hits. Filter, search, mark as fixed/ignored, or promote a single log into a custom redirect. |
| Add-ons | Discover and activate first-party extensions (Logs Cleaner, Logs Exporter, etc.). |
A WP-CLI namespace (wp 404-to-301 …) mirrors most of the UI so the same operations are available from a terminal or a deployment script.
How a 404 is processed
When WordPress decides the current request is a 404, the plugin runs an ordered chain of three actions on the template_redirect hook:
- Log — records the hit, increments the per-URL hit counter, and writes the request context (IP, user-agent, referer, method) so you can review it later.
- Email — checks the per-URL hit count against the configured threshold and sends a notification if it has been reached.
- Redirect — looks up a custom redirect for the URL, falls back to the global redirect if one is configured, then calls
wp_redirect()and exits.
The order matters: Log runs first so every 404 is captured even when the Redirect step would exit the request a few microseconds later.
Custom (per-URL) redirects also fire for URLs that aren't 404s — if you deliberately redirect a page that still exists, the rule is honoured. Only logging and the global fallback are reserved for genuine 404s.
What's next
- General settings — site-wide behaviour (URL guessing, slug monitoring, IP masking, admin 404 tracking).
- Redirect settings — the global fallback destination and HTTP status.
- Log settings — what gets recorded and what gets skipped.
- Notification settings — when and where to email.
- Tools — exclude paths and settings import / export.
- Redirects — managing per-URL redirects.
- Logs — reviewing recorded 404 hits.
- Add-ons — first-party extensions (Logs Cleaner, Logs Exporter, Redirects Importer, Email Reports, Telegram Alerts).
- WP-CLI — every CLI command, flag for flag.
- Developer docs — every filter and action the plugin exposes.