A redirect catches historical links. For links you control on your own website, you can usually use the intended final address directly. This removes an unnecessary detour and makes future migrations easier to maintain.
Start with the component that actually generates the link. A menu item, reusable product block and editorial paragraph have different sources. Updating one article does not automatically correct the matching footer link.
Keep a small replacement record
This fictional example intentionally leaves one decision open:
| Location | Previous link | Checked destination |
|---|---|---|
| Menu | /catalogue/ | /services/ |
| Article | /old/lamp/ | Content match still to assess |
Resolve the second destination before replacing the link. Blindly replacing a path fragment can alter links to other products, translations or downloads.
Inspect the delivered href values afterward. A working JavaScript click handler is not always a substitute for a normal crawlable HTML link. Use link text that explains the destination; repeated “click here” labels make a page harder to navigate.
Test the corrected component with a pointer and keyboard and again after a normal export or deployment. Record any other template still emitting the old address. Keep the old redirect where external references still need it: cleaning internal links and removing historical redirects are separate decisions.