{"id":341140,"date":"2026-07-18T13:30:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T13:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/linkmedic-url-health-redirects-404-monitor\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T13:30:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T13:30:26","slug":"pathcatch","status":"publish","type":"plugin","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/pathcatch\/","author":23525693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"version":"1.0.0","stable_tag":"1.0.0","tested":"7.0.2","requires":"6.2","requires_php":"8.1","requires_plugins":null,"header_name":"PathCatch \u2013 URL Health, Redirects & 404 Monitor","header_author":"Apex Digital","header_description":"Keep every WordPress URL healthy: smart redirects (with chain\/loop\/404 detection), auto-redirect on slug change, 404 monitoring with one-click fixes, importers for CSV & .htaccess, and a URL Health Score.","assets_banners_color":"0b996c","last_updated":"2026-07-18 13:30:26","external_support_url":"","external_repository_url":"","donate_link":"","header_plugin_uri":"https:\/\/apexdigital.company\/wp-plugins","header_author_uri":"https:\/\/apexdigital.company","rating":0,"author_block_rating":0,"active_installs":0,"downloads":39,"num_ratings":0,"support_threads":0,"support_threads_resolved":0,"author_block_count":0,"sections":["description","installation","faq","changelog"],"tags":{"1.0.0":{"tag":"1.0.0","author":"apexdigitalcompany","date":"2026-07-18 13:30:26"}},"upgrade_notice":{"1.0.0":"<p>First stable release. Fixes exact redirect rules that contain a query string so\nthey no longer over-match every request to the same path.<\/p>","0.2.0":"<p>Adds broken-link and sitemap scanning, background redirect destination-health\nmonitoring, multisite support, and security\/reliability hardening.<\/p>"},"ratings":[],"assets_icons":{"icon-128x128.png":{"filename":"icon-128x128.png","revision":3612623,"resolution":"128x128","location":"assets","locale":"","width":128,"height":128},"icon-256x256.png":{"filename":"icon-256x256.png","revision":3612623,"resolution":"256x256","location":"assets","locale":"","width":256,"height":256}},"assets_banners":{"banner-1544x500.png":{"filename":"banner-1544x500.png","revision":3612623,"resolution":"1544x500","location":"assets","locale":"","width":1544,"height":500},"banner-772x250.png":{"filename":"banner-772x250.png","revision":3612623,"resolution":"772x250","location":"assets","locale":"","width":772,"height":250}},"assets_blueprints":{},"all_blocks":[],"tagged_versions":["1.0.0"],"block_files":[],"assets_screenshots":{"screenshot-1.png":{"filename":"screenshot-1.png","revision":3612897,"resolution":"1","location":"assets","locale":"","width":1748,"height":1458}},"screenshots":{"1":"PathCatch Settings: redirect matching behavior, auto-redirect on slug change,\n404 retention, and the Link Scanner and Sitemap Health schedules."}},"plugin_section":[],"plugin_tags":[905,14279,54707,726,1557],"plugin_category":[55],"plugin_contributors":[271417],"plugin_business_model":[],"class_list":["post-341140","plugin","type-plugin","status-publish","hentry","plugin_tags-905","plugin_tags-broken-links","plugin_tags-redirect-manager","plugin_tags-redirects","plugin_tags-sitemap","plugin_category-seo-and-marketing","plugin_contributors-apexdigitalcompany","plugin_committers-apexdigitalcompany"],"banners":{"banner":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/pathcatch\/assets\/banner-772x250.png?rev=3612623","banner_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/pathcatch\/assets\/banner-1544x500.png?rev=3612623","banner_rtl":false,"banner_2x_rtl":false},"icons":{"svg":false,"icon":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/pathcatch\/assets\/icon-128x128.png?rev=3612623","icon_2x":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/pathcatch\/assets\/icon-256x256.png?rev=3612623","generated":false},"screenshots":[{"src":"https:\/\/ps.w.org\/pathcatch\/assets\/screenshot-1.png?rev=3612897","caption":"PathCatch Settings: redirect matching behavior, auto-redirect on slug change,\n404 retention, and the Link Scanner and Sitemap Health schedules."}],"raw_content":"<!--section=description-->\n<p>PathCatch is the URL-health layer for WordPress. It is not an SEO suite \u2014 it keeps\nyour links, redirects, and crawl paths clean, and rolls everything into a single\nURL Health Score so you can see at a glance what needs fixing.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Redirects<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Create and manage 301, 302, 307, and 308 redirects with exact, wildcard, and\nregex matching.<\/li>\n<li>Configurable matching: trailing-slash and case normalization, query-string\nhandling, and rule precedence.<\/li>\n<li>Auto-create a 301 when a published post's slug changes, so old URLs never 404.<\/li>\n<li>\"Redirect intelligence\" flags redirect chains and loops, and \u2014 as a background\ncheck \u2014 redirects whose destination now returns a 404 or a server error, with\none-click \"flatten chain\".<\/li>\n<li>Import from CSV and <code>.htaccess<\/code>; export to CSV, Apache, or Nginx (as text you\ninstall yourself \u2014 PathCatch never writes to your server config).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>404 monitoring<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Log WordPress-routed 404s with hit counts, referrers, and bot filtering.<\/li>\n<li>Turn any logged 404 into a redirect in one click.<\/li>\n<li>Retention control keeps the log from growing without bound.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Broken-link &amp; sitemap scanning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Scan posts and pages for broken links and images, on demand or on a schedule,\nwith an optional email digest.<\/li>\n<li>Detect and validate your existing sitemap (WordPress core, Yoast, Rank Math,\nAIOSEO) for unreachable or error URLs \u2014 PathCatch complements those plugins and\ndoes not generate a competing sitemap.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>Built to be safe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Safe by default and reversible: nothing changes your content or server config\nwithout you choosing to.<\/li>\n<li>Hardened: redirect targets are validated against open-redirect abuse, outbound\nlink checks are guarded against SSRF, and all admin actions are capability- and\nnonce-protected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>External services<\/h4>\n\n<p>PathCatch's link and sitemap scanners make outbound HTTP requests <strong>from your\nserver<\/strong> to check whether URLs found in your content and sitemap are reachable.\nFor internal links these hit your own site; for external links they contact the\nthird-party sites you link to (just like a visitor's browser would). No data about\nyour site is sent to any PathCatch-operated service \u2014 the plugin has no external\nservice of its own and does not \"phone home\".<\/p>\n\n<!--section=installation-->\n<ol>\n<li>Upload the <code>pathcatch<\/code> folder to <code>\/wp-content\/plugins\/<\/code>, or install it from\nPlugins \u2192 Add New in your dashboard.<\/li>\n<li>Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen.<\/li>\n<li>Open the <strong>PathCatch<\/strong> menu in your admin. Redirects and 404 Watch are on by\ndefault; enable the Link Scanner and Sitemap Health under PathCatch \u2192 Settings.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<!--section=faq-->\n<dl>\n<dt id=\"does%20this%20replace%20my%20seo%20plugin%20%28yoast%2C%20rank%20math%2C%20aioseo%29%3F\"><h3>Does this replace my SEO plugin (Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO)?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>No. PathCatch is the operational URL-health layer beneath them. It manages\nredirects and 404s and <em>validates<\/em> your existing sitemap rather than generating\none, so it works alongside your SEO plugin instead of competing with it.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"will%20the%20redirects%20slow%20down%20my%20site%3F\"><h3>Will the redirects slow down my site?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>No. Redirect rules are cached, and a request that doesn't match a rule performs no\nextra database query beyond the ones WordPress already runs.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"does%20the%20scanner%20send%20my%20data%20anywhere%3F\"><h3>Does the scanner send my data anywhere?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>No. Scans run on your own server and only request the URLs found in your content\nand sitemap to see if they resolve. There is no external PathCatch service.<\/p><\/dd>\n<dt id=\"is%20it%20multisite%20compatible%3F\"><h3>Is it multisite compatible?<\/h3><\/dt>\n<dd><p>Yes. On a network activation the plugin creates its tables for every site, and new\nsites are provisioned automatically.<\/p><\/dd>\n\n<\/dl>\n\n<!--section=changelog-->\n<h4>1.0.0<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>First stable release.<\/li>\n<li>Fix: exact-match redirect rules whose source contains a query string (e.g.\n\"\/?p=51\") now match only that query, instead of matching every request to the\nsame path.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>0.2.0<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>New: background redirect destination-health monitoring (detects redirects that\nnow land on a 404 or server error) with one-click chain flattening.<\/li>\n<li>New: Link Scanner \u2014 scan posts and pages for broken links and images, on demand\nor on a schedule, with an optional email digest.<\/li>\n<li>New: Sitemap Health \u2014 detect and validate your existing sitemap for unreachable\nor error URLs.<\/li>\n<li>New: multisite-safe activation, upgrade, and uninstall.<\/li>\n<li>Hardening and reliability: SSRF-guarded outbound checks (incl. IPv4-mapped IPv6),\nopen-redirect validation, a robust background-job queue, and 404-log retention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4>0.1.0<\/h4>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Initial release: Redirect Center, 404 Watch, redirect chain\/loop detection,\nauto-redirect on slug change, CSV\/.htaccess import, server-rule export, and the\nURL Health Score.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","raw_excerpt":"Find and fix broken links, 404 errors, and redirect problems: smart redirects, broken-link and sitemap scanning, and a URL Health Score.","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin\/341140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/plugin"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341140"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wporg\/v1\/users\/apexdigitalcompany"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"plugin_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_section?post=341140"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_tags?post=341140"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_category?post=341140"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_contributors?post=341140"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_business_model","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_business_model?post=341140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}