If we receive a request on a hostname you have pointed to our URL redirect service and have configured a URL redirect on it, and we do not find a matching URL redirect configuration for that request, you can control how the redirector responds to the visitor.
Every source hostname has Match Not Found Settings. There are 2 main types of responses we can send, each with their own options.
Not Found (404) Response
If you choose a 404 response, we will return a 404 status code to the visitor if we do not find a matching URL redirect configuration.
On applicable plans you can optionally configure a custom 404 page that we will return on your behalf to the visitor. To use this feature ensure you are on a supported plan and paste in the full HTML page you wish us to return to your visitors. We will return that content exactly as you enter it in your dashboard. Please note that the size of your custom 404 error page HTML content is limited to 100kb.
Redirect (301 or 302) Response
You can choose for us to respond with a redirect if we do not find a match for a requested URL. There are a few settings you can configure if you choose a redirect response:
Response Type: you can select whether we return a 301 (permanent) or 302 (temporary) redirect.
Target URL: you must enter the target URL that we will redirect visitors to.
Path Forwarding: select whether you want our URL redirect service to forward the path from the original request to the target URL.
Query Parameter Forwarding: select whether you want our URL redirect service to forward any query parameters found in the original request to the target URL.
Using a redirect in the Match Not Found setting on a hostname gives you a powerful tool to effectively add a "fallback URL redirect" that is useful to capture any missing URL redirect configurations and ensure that no traffic is lost accidentally.
Insider tip: You can apply your source hostname settings on an organizational level through the default hostnames settings. Learn more about it here.
To understand more about how your traffic is served when using Match Not Found Settings check out our article on understanding URL redirection processing. If you have any questions about how to configure Match Not Found Settings, please let us know. We're happy to help you understand how this works.