•A URL (uniform resource locator or identifier) is address of a resource on the World Wide Web and the protocol used to access it.

•It is used to indicate the location of a web resource to access the web pages.

•For example, to visit the google website, we will go to the URL www.google.com, which is the URL for the google website.

•We can have different resources online such as video, webpage, or other resources while we put the URL.

•When we search any query on Google, it will display the multiple URLs of the resource that are all related to our search query. The displayed URLs are the hyperlink to access the web pages.

•When a user types a URL into the web browser and opens any hyperlink from search results, the browser forwards a request to a webserver to fetch files related to these search query.

•A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) contains several information, such as the port number on the server, a protocol that is used to access the resource, location of the server, etc.

•Space is not allowed in a URL.

•The URL string can contain only symbols ! $-_+*'(), including alphanumeric characters as it is documented in RFC 1738.

Details on the URL

•https://www.google.com/gpt.htm, it indicates the gtp.htm is a file located on the server with the address of google.com.

•http:// or https:// —  The http is a protocol that stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

•It tells the browser to which protocol will be preferred to use for accessing the information that is specified in the domain.

•The https (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is an enhanced protocol as compared to http as it concerned with security.

•It provides the surety that the information, which is transmitted over HTTP is secure and encrypted.

•www.  — The www is used to distinguish the content, which stands for World Wide Web.

•This portion of the URL can be left out many times, as it is not required.

•So, if we type “http://google.com,” will get the google website.

•google.com — The google.com is the domain name for the website, and the .com is called TLD (Top-level domain ) or suffix.

•It helps to identify the location or type of the website.

•For example, “.org” stands for an organization, “.co.uk” stands for the United Kingdom, and “.com” is for commercial.

•There are various types of domain suffixes available; it is required to register the name through a domain registrar to get a domain.

TLDs play an important role in the DNS lookup process. When a user enters a domain name like ‘google.com’ into their browser window, the DNS resolvers start the search by communicating with the TLD server. In this case, the TLD is ‘.com’, so the resolver will contact the TLD DNS server, which will then provide the resolver with the IP address of Google’s origin server.

•gtp.htm — The gtp.htm is the name of the web page, and the .htm is the file extension of the web page, which describes the file is an HTML file.

•There are many other file extensions available on the internet such as .php, .html, .xml, .jpg, .gif, .asp, .cgi, etc.

•A URL performs additional functions and added the parameters (additional information) to the end of the URL when it points to a script.

•For example, when we search any query on any search engine, it points to a search results page, including the additional information with the search query words.

Difference between an IP address and a web address or a URL?

•An IP address is not the same as a web address or a URL, as it is a unique number that is assigned to each device on a network.

•A domain name is assigned a unique IP address on the World Wide Web, and when entered an URL like google.com, it is translated by DNS into an IP address.

•Then routers find the web servers.

•Instead of using an IP address, a domain name is used as it is easy to remember by humans.

•For example, to remember an IP address like 217.57.217.164 is hard, and much easier to remember its website name.

Difference between URL and URI

•URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator that used to describe the identity of an item.

•But URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier, which offers a technique for defining the identity of an item.

•The primary objective of the URL is to get the address or location of the resource.

•But The primary objective is to find a resource and distinguish it from other resources with the help of a name or location.

•URL is a type of URI; therefore, all URLs can be URIs. 

•URI is the superset of URL; thus, all URIs are not URLs as a URI can be a name rather than a locator. It is only used for locating web pages.

•It is used in various languages such as HTML, XML and other files XSLT, and more.

•A URL specifies where a resource is occurring and a way for retrieving a resource.

•A URI identifies a resource either by URL or URN or both.

•In URL, the scheme must be a protocol such as FTP, HTTP, HTPPS, and more. 

•The scheme may be anything in URI like a name, specification, protocol, and more.

•It contains the protocol information in the URL. It does not include protocol information.

•An example of URL: https://google.com .

•An example of URI: urn:isbn:0-486-27557-4

What is URL Redirect?

•A URL redirect is a web server function that takes your URL and points it to another.

•For example, consider, the old URL “myeducation.com,” and you wanted to visitors’ access directly to the new URL “javatpoint.com.” 

•Redirect is the best solution for it; when anyone type “myeducation.com” in the browser would be redirected to the new URL “javatpoint.com.” 

•There are various kinds of redirects for web developers, such as HTTP 3xx series status codes, manual redirects, JavaScript, meta tag refreshes, server-side scripts, frame redirects, and more.

•Furthermore, the URL redirect may also be known as URL forwarding, domain forwarding, HTTP code 3xx redirect, and domain redirection.

Reasons for web users to be redirected from one URL to another :

•Merging of two websites

•Change of business name

•To direct content to a recently updated domain name

•Landing page-split testing for marketing tests

•To direct traffic toward recently updated content

•A URL redirect is also used to cause problems for users and their computers through illegal activities like phishing.

Different types of redirects

1. 301 Redirect

•It is a permanent type of unmasked redirect that instructs web browsers to move from one site destination to another automatically.

•It is one of the most common and searches engine-friendly method for implementing redirects. It should be used when your website was permanently moved to the new address.

302 Redirect

•It is a temporary type of unmasked redirect and not widely used.

•It is a name for an HTTP status code that is used when a certain URL has been changed temporarily to a different address.

•Search engines will not index the destination URL, index the original URL, and display it in search results.

•The browser is redirected from one URL to another with the help of 302 redirects.

303 Redirect

•A 303 redirect is also known as HTTP 303 that is a response to an HTTP status code.

•It is a specific type of redirect as a response to a request for a URI (Unified Resource Identifier).

•It also has its own syntax; the W3C specifies to use a GET method to access the desired destination if a request for a different URI.

1.You have duplicate content

•Duplicate content is that it appears more than once on the page.

•There are multiple pages on Google that contain duplicate content.

•In this situation, it is difficult for Google to understand which page is the correct one.

•You can use a 301 redirect on the duplicate piece of content to direct to the original page.

•It will create a better experience for your users and help to improve your search engine rankings.

You have changed your domain

•The use of redirect is useful when you are making change your domain name and probably do not want to lose any built links.

3. You have multiple domains

•To protect the online brand, some people purchase multiple domain names.

•So, they will need to redirect any of the old domain to the new domain.

•Many companies do this to gain additional traffic from common misspellings.

•Also, they can prevent competitors from buying a similar domain and can redirect them to their own site.