A handful of small mistakes account for most .htaccess redirect problems, and they're worth checking specifically before assuming something more complex is wrong.
- Rule placement — a redirect rule placed after an application's own rewrite rules (like WordPress's) may never execute, since the application's rules can match and terminate processing first.
- Missing
RewriteEngine On— every rewrite rule silently does nothing without this line present once, at the top of the relevant block. - 302 instead of 301 — using
[R]or[R=302]instead of[R=301]creates a temporary redirect where a permanent one was intended, which matters for SEO signal passing. - Redirect loops from a missing HTTPS check — a rule that redirects unconditionally, without checking
%{HTTPS} offfirst, redirects an already-secure connection right back to itself.
When debugging, comment out custom rules one at a time and reload, rather than guessing — .htaccess errors sometimes produce a full server error (500) rather than a clear message pointing at the specific line.
Why rule placement relative to application rules matters so much
A redirect rule placed after WordPress's own auto-generated rewrite rules may never actually execute, since WordPress's rules can match and terminate .htaccess processing before reaching your redirect — placing custom rules above the WordPress block, clearly marked, ensures they're evaluated first.
What a 500 error without a clear message usually indicates in this context
An .htaccess syntax error, a missing RewriteEngine On directive, or a malformed regular expression in a rewrite rule commonly produces a generic server error rather than a specific, helpful message — commenting out custom rules one at a time and reloading is often faster than trying to spot the syntax issue by inspection alone.
Why version-controlling your .htaccess file helps prevent repeated mistakes
Keeping .htaccess under version control, even for a WordPress site where it's sometimes treated as disposable, lets you track exactly what changed and when if a redirect issue appears after an update — considerably faster than trying to reconstruct what the file looked like before a recent change.
What a typo in a regular expression pattern typically produces as symptoms
A malformed regular expression in a RewriteRule typically causes either a server error or, more subtly, a rule that silently fails to match anything at all, meaning the redirect appears to have no effect rather than producing an obvious error — testing the specific pattern against sample URLs before deploying catches this.
How conflicting rules from different plugins can interact unpredictably
On a WordPress site with multiple plugins each attempting to write their own .htaccess rules, conflicting or overlapping rules can produce unpredictable, hard-to-diagnose behavior — reviewing the complete, current .htaccess file directly, rather than assuming based on any single plugin's settings, is necessary to understand what's actually being applied.
Why keeping a backup of a known-working .htaccess file saves recovery time
Before making any manual change to .htaccess, saving a copy of the current, working version means you can quickly revert if a change breaks something, rather than trying to reconstruct a working configuration from scratch under time pressure.
A closing thought on .htaccess's ongoing relevance despite its age
Despite being a decades-old configuration mechanism, .htaccess remains genuinely relevant for the large population of sites on shared hosting without access to main server configuration — understanding its common pitfalls remains a practically useful skill rather than obsolete legacy knowledge.
What a minimal, known-working starting template looks like
A minimal, tested .htaccess redirect block, RewriteEngine On followed by the HTTPS condition and redirect rule shown earlier in this guide, is worth keeping as a reference template to start from on any new project, rather than writing the rule from memory each time.
How to safely test a new rule without risking the live site
Testing a new .htaccess rule on a staging copy of the site first, or during a low-traffic window with a quick rollback plan ready, limits the impact if a new rule doesn't behave as expected on the first attempt.