Redirects

If redirect_enabled is set to true (the default), the package automatically redirects between localized and non-localized URLs.

Behavior

1. If hide_default_locale is true and the current locale is the fallback_locale, requests to /en/about will redirect to /about.

   This prevents SEO duplicate content (both /about and /en/about pointing to the same page).

2. If the current locale is not the fallback_locale and the route has no locale prefix, the request will be redirected to the localized version. For example, if the user's session locale is de and they open /about, it will redirect to /de/about.

Safe-method only

Non-safe methods (POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE) are not redirected. Browsers downgrade 302 from non-GET methods to GET, dropping the request body, a submitted form would silently lose its payload. The matched route handler runs on whatever URL the client actually hit (with_locale or without_locale variant); both register the same controller, so behavior is identical bar the URL itself.

SEO

Redirecting /about based on the visitor's language is safe for search engines:

• Googlebot usually crawls without Accept-Language and cookies, so it gets the default locale on /about and is not redirected.
• Prefixed URLs like /de/about are never redirected away, so every language version has a stable, crawlable URL.
• Redirects use 302, so search engines don't treat /about as moved.
• Responses carry Vary: Accept-Language, Cookie, so caches and CDNs don't serve one visitor's redirect (or page) to another.

Add hreflang tags so search engines find all language versions, with x-default on the unprefixed URL. See Template Helpers.

Disabling redirects

// config/localizer.php
'redirect_enabled' => false,

Disabling is strongly discouraged for normal web apps

Without redirects, the application may display the wrong locale or produce duplicate URLs. This option is primarily for headless APIs or advanced SPA setups where the client handles locale switching itself.