{"id":39787,"date":"2026-09-21T19:06:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T17:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainetcare.de\/?post_type=gartenschuppen&p=39787"},"modified":"2026-09-22T10:48:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T08:48:58","slug":"why-does-wordpress-redirect-urls-when-permalinks-are-enabled","status":"publish","type":"gartenschuppen","link":"https:\/\/mainetcare.de\/en\/gartenschuppen\/warum-leitet-wordpress-urls-um-wenn-permalinks-aktiv-sind\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does WordPress automatically redirect URLs when permalinks are enabled?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Symptom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We encountered this issue on a client's website: A URL like \/gift-certificates\/<\/code> landed at 301 \/<\/code>xxx\/gift-certificates-for-singing-workshop\/<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. No redirect plugin was active, <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. in the .htaccess<\/code> And there were no redirects in the nginx configuration\u2014nothing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. All plugins were disabled<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The redirection persisted.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If you set the permalinks to \u201eSimple\u201c\u2014that is, in the format example.test\/?p=123 instead of example.test\/123\/\u2014this issue does not occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The HTTP header clearly points to WordPress as the source:<\/p>\n\n\n

    curl -skI https:\/\/example.test\/coupons\/<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JavaScript<\/span> (<\/span>javascript<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
    provides:<\/p>\n\n\n
    HTTP\/2 301<\/span>\nlocation<\/span>: https:\/\/example.test\/singen-lernen-shop\/gutscheine-fuer-gesangs-workshop\/\nx-redirect-by<\/span>: WordPress<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTTP<\/span> (<\/span>http<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
    x-redirect-by: WordPress<\/code> means: The redirect comes directly from WordPress.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Turn it off right here\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    The reason: WordPress as a \u201cfortune teller\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    You never stop learning with WordPress\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Findet WordPress zu einer URL keinen Inhalt, entsteht ein 404 “Seite nicht gefunden” Fehler. Bevor dieser an den Browser ausgeliefert wird, gibt es noch den Aufruf der folgenden Funktion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    redirect_guess_404_permalink()<\/code> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
    This function searches the database for a published post whose slug begins with the query variable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Here's how you do something like that, in a nutshell:<\/p>\n\n\n
    SELECT ID FROM wp_posts\nWHERE post_name LIKE 'vouchers%'<\/span>\n  AND post_status = 'publish'<\/span>\n  AND post_type IN (\/* Public post types *\/<\/span>);<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JavaScript<\/span> (<\/span>javascript<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
    If there's a match, WordPress redirects there using a 301 redirect. The slug gift-certificates-for-singing-workshop<\/code> begins with gift certificates<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    The redirect isn't explicitly saved. WordPress recalculates it every time a page is loaded. That's why you can search here until you're blue in the face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    The Guess Redirect only works if the permalink structure is set to something other than \u201cSimple\u201d (see above). The rewrite rules for complex permalinks convert \/gift-certificates\/<\/code> the query variable \u201cname=coupons<\/code>\u201d and this is then used in the database query. In the \"Simple\" mode, the post IDs are used, and there is no query variable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Non-deterministic predictions in forwarding are problematic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    In the age of LLMs, probabilities have become the norm instead of exact sequences; however, this does not change the fact that redirects\u2014which sometimes occur and sometimes do not, and are not clearly defined anywhere\u2014impair functionality in various ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    For example, the query above does not specify a sort order. If there are multiple matching posts, the database determines which one appears first. This means that over the course of a website\u2019s lifetime, the redirect may change internally\u2014specifically, when a new, even more similar post is published that appears higher in the sort order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    From our perspective, this is a classic example of \u201cWell-intentioned is the opposite of good.\u201d If I make a typo in the URL, I want to see a specific error message\u2014\u201c404 Page Not Found\u201d\u2014and not be redirected to the next available page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    And when you have to debug the whole thing on top of that, it gets super annoying\u2014and in this case, it took us a really long time to figure it out. :-\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    What else is there: The \u201cOld Slug Redirect\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    WordPress has a second, similar mechanism for internal redirects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    If you change a post's slug, WordPress saves the old one in wp_postmeta<\/code> under _wp_old_slug<\/code> and redirects the old URL. This redirect is also implicit, but at least it performs an exact match rather than a partial string match. You can test this as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n
    WP DB query \"SELECT post_id, meta_value FROM $(wp db prefix)postmeta WHERE meta_key = '_wp_old_slug' AND meta_value = 'gutscheine';\"<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JavaScript<\/span> (<\/span>javascript<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
    If you're facing a similar problem: Diagnosis in three steps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Check the header.<\/strong> It says there x-redirect-by: WordPress<\/code>, the Core is responsible. If not, it's a plugin, or it's specified directly in the .htaccess file.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Exclude Old-Slug<\/strong> using the query above.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Disable installments on a trial basis<\/strong> (see below) and again curl<\/code> Execute. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. If you get a 404 now, the guess redirect is confirmed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      Here's how to turn off the WordPress redirect indicator:<\/h2>\n\n\n
      <?php<\/span>\nadd_filter('do_redirect_guess_404_permalink'<\/span>, '__return_false'<\/span>);<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
      Or, if you only want to allow exact matches:<\/p>\n\n\n
      <?php<\/span>\nadd_filter('strict_redirect_guess_404_permalink'<\/span>, '__return_true'<\/span>);<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
      <\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"class_list":["post-39787","gartenschuppen","type-gartenschuppen","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainetcare.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gartenschuppen\/39787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainetcare.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gartenschuppen"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainetcare.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/gartenschuppen"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainetcare.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}