[Resolved] WPML redirects translated WooCommerce product category slugs with 302 instead of 301

We found a suggested workaround online:

add_filter( 'wpml_redirect_response_code', function() {
return 301;
} );

Can you confirm whether `wpml_redirect_response_code` is an official/current WPML filter?

If yes:

* Does it affect all WPML redirects globally?
* Is it safe to use on a WooCommerce Multilingual site with separate domains per language?
* Can it be limited only to WooCommerce product category archives / translated product category slugs?
* Could it negatively affect browser language redirects, language switcher behavior, currency/language cookies, hreflang, or canonical URLs?

We only want to change the redirect status from 302 to 301 for wrong translated product category slugs on the wrong country domain, for example:
`/beheizbare-handschuhe/` on the French domain → `/gants-chauffants/`.

Hi Carlos,

Thank you for the update.

These URLs were not intentional internal links on our website. We originally found these wrong category URLs in the source code of the XML sitemap/hreflang output. We have now removed the incorrect sitemap hreflang output, because it contained wrong alternate URLs/slugs per domain.

We started investigating this because our WooCommerce product category pages are currently ranking poorly, so we checked possible technical SEO issues around WPML, hreflang, canonicals, sitemaps and redirects.

As part of that investigation, we tested translated WooCommerce product category slugs across our country domains using an external redirect/status code checker. The results consistently show a 302 redirect with the header `x-redirect-by: WPML`, followed by a 200 OK on the correct local category URL.

For example, if we manually enter a Dutch category slug on the Norwegian domain:

[hidden link)

WPML redirects it to:

[hidden link)

The redirect checker shows:

302 Found
x-redirect-by: WPML
→ 200 OK on the target URL

The same happens with German category slugs on the French or Dutch domain, for example:

[hidden link)
→ [hidden link)

[hidden link)
→ [hidden link)

So the issue is not that we are deliberately linking to these wrong URLs. The issue is that these wrong language/category slug combinations were present in the XML sitemap/hreflang output and are also accessible, where WPML handles them with a 302 redirect.

We are concerned because Google may have discovered these URLs through the XML sitemap/hreflang output, and may also remember them through old crawls, historic URL signals, image search, external links or manually tested/indexed URLs.

From our perspective, these URLs are not temporary alternatives. They are permanently wrong language slugs on the wrong country domain, so we would expect a 301 redirect to the correct local category URL.

Normal pages, shop pages and product pages appear to be handled by WordPress with 301 redirects. The 302 behavior seems specific to WooCommerce product category archives handled by WPML.

Could your 2nd-tier team please check whether this is expected behavior for WooCommerce product category translations, and whether there is a safe way to make only these category redirects 301 instead of 302?

Kind regards,

Lobke

Hi Carlos,

Thank you for the explanation.

I have one question about the suggested snippet.

Most of the redirects we tested do not switch domains. They stay on the same country domain and only redirect from a wrong translated category slug to the correct local category slug.

For example:

hidden link
→ hidden link

and:

hidden link
→ hidden link

As I understand the snippet, it only changes the redirect to 301 when the target host is different from the current host:

$to_host !== $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST']

Would this snippet therefore still leave these same-domain product category redirects as 302?

Kind regards,

Lobke

Hi Carlos,

Yes please, could you ask the 2nd-tier team for a broader solution?

The main issue for us is same-domain product category redirects, where only the translated slug changes, for example:

hidden link
→ hidden link

These are permanently wrong category URLs, so we would prefer a 301 instead of a 302.

Could they confirm whether it is safe to change only these WooCommerce product category redirects from 302 to 301, without affecting WPML language negotiation, hreflang, canonicals, language switchers or WooCommerce Multilingual?

Kind regards,
Lobke