diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ea6f9030..3239f056 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -162,8 +162,8 @@ There are several ways to fix this:
         - to: "https?://forbidden.com.*"
           on: 307
           outcome: invalid
-        - from: "^http://.*"
-          to: "^https://.*"
+        - from: "http://.*"
+          to: "https://.*"
           outcome: follow
       ```
 
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ There are several ways to fix this:
     * The number of redirects allowed in a single redirect chain is limited and can be configured with the
       `maxRedirectFollows` parameter, also within `networking`. A number smaller than 0 disables the limit.
 
-2. How does `xrefcheck` handle localhost links?
+1. How does `xrefcheck` handle localhost links?
     * By default, `xrefcheck` will ignore links to localhost.
     * This behavior can be disabled by removing the corresponding entry from the `ignoreExternalRefsTo` list in the config file.
 
diff --git a/src/Xrefcheck/Config.hs b/src/Xrefcheck/Config.hs
index 74cfd951..263b4306 100644
--- a/src/Xrefcheck/Config.hs
+++ b/src/Xrefcheck/Config.hs
@@ -128,8 +128,8 @@ overrideConfig config
 
     defScanners = cScanners $ defConfig flavor
     defExclusions = cExclusions $ defConfig flavor
-    defNetworking = cNetworking $ defConfig flavor
-    defRedirectConfig = []
+    defNetworking = cNetworking (defConfig flavor)
+      & ncExternalRefRedirectsL .~ []
 
     overrideExclusions exclusionConfig
       = ExclusionConfig
@@ -150,15 +150,12 @@ overrideConfig config
         , ncMaxRetries                = overrideField ncMaxRetries
         , ncMaxTimeoutRetries         = overrideField ncMaxTimeoutRetries
         , ncMaxRedirectFollows        = overrideField ncMaxRedirectFollows
-        , ncExternalRefRedirects      = externalRefRedirects
+        , ncExternalRefRedirects      = overrideField ncExternalRefRedirects
         }
       where
         overrideField :: (forall f. NetworkingConfig' f -> Field f a) -> a
         overrideField field = fromMaybe (field defNetworking) $ field networkingConfig
 
-        externalRefRedirects :: RedirectConfig
-        externalRefRedirects = fromMaybe defRedirectConfig $ ncExternalRefRedirects networkingConfig
-
 -----------------------------------------------------------
 -- Yaml instances
 -----------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/Xrefcheck/Config/Default.hs b/src/Xrefcheck/Config/Default.hs
index ddaf2115..84b5de3e 100644
--- a/src/Xrefcheck/Config/Default.hs
+++ b/src/Xrefcheck/Config/Default.hs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import Universum
 
 import Text.Interpolation.Nyan
 
+import Fmt (Builder)
 import Xrefcheck.Core
 import Xrefcheck.Util
 
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ exclusions:
   # List of POSIX extended regular expressions.
   ignoreExternalRefsTo:
     # Ignore localhost links by default
-    - ^(https?|ftps?)://(localhost|127\\.0\\.0\\.1).*
+    - (https?|ftps?)://(localhost|127\\.0\\.0\\.1).*
 
 # Networking parameters.
 networking:
@@ -101,18 +102,8 @@ networking:
   #
   # The first one that matches is applied, and the link is considered
   # as valid if none of them does match.
-  #
-  # If a value is provided for 'networking' but not for 'externalRefRedirects',
-  # then it will default to an empty list of rules and every redirect will pass.
   externalRefRedirects:
-    - from: .*
-      to: .*
-      on: permanent
-      outcome: invalid
-    - from: .*
-      to: .*
-      on: temporary
-      outcome: valid
+#{interpolateIndentF 4 externalRefRedirects}
 
 # Parameters of scanners for various file types.
 scanners:
@@ -128,7 +119,7 @@ scanners:
 |]
   where
     ignoreLocalRefsFrom :: NonEmpty Text
-    ignoreLocalRefsFrom = fromList $  case flavor of
+    ignoreLocalRefsFrom = fromList $ case flavor of
       GitHub ->
         [ ".github/pull_request_template.md"
         , ".github/issue_template.md"
@@ -141,7 +132,7 @@ scanners:
         ]
 
     ignoreLocalRefsTo :: NonEmpty Text
-    ignoreLocalRefsTo = fromList $  case flavor of
+    ignoreLocalRefsTo = fromList $ case flavor of
       GitHub ->
         [ "../../../issues"
         , "../../../issues/*"
@@ -154,3 +145,20 @@ scanners:
         , "../../merge_requests"
         , "../../merge_requests/*"
         ]
+
+    externalRefRedirects :: Builder
+    externalRefRedirects = case flavor of
+      GitHub ->
+        [int||
+        - on: permanent
+          outcome: invalid|]
+      GitLab ->
+        [int||
+        - on: permanent
+          outcome: invalid
+        # GitLab redirects non-existing files to the repository's main page
+        # with a 302 code instead of answering with a 404 response.
+        - from: https?://gitlab.com/.*/-/blob/.*
+          to: https?://gitlab.com/.*
+          on: 302
+          outcome: invalid|]
diff --git a/tests/Test/Xrefcheck/RedirectConfigSpec.hs b/tests/Test/Xrefcheck/RedirectConfigSpec.hs
index 25043f24..70fa2f31 100644
--- a/tests/Test/Xrefcheck/RedirectConfigSpec.hs
+++ b/tests/Test/Xrefcheck/RedirectConfigSpec.hs
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ test_redirectRequests = testGroup "Redirect config tests"
           [ testCase "Do match" $ do
               setRef <- newIORef mempty
               checkLinkAndProgressWithServer
-                (configMod [RedirectRule Nothing (regex "^.*/ok$") Nothing RROValid] [])
+                (configMod [RedirectRule Nothing (regex ".*/ok") Nothing RROValid] [])
                 setRef
                 mockRedirect
                 (link "/permanent-redirect")
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ test_redirectRequests = testGroup "Redirect config tests"
           , testCase "Do not match" $ do
               setRef <- newIORef mempty
               checkLinkAndProgressWithServer
-                (configMod [RedirectRule Nothing (regex "^.*/no-ok$") (Just RROPermanent) RROValid] [])
+                (configMod [RedirectRule Nothing (regex ".*/no-ok") (Just RROPermanent) RROValid] [])
                 setRef
                 mockRedirect
                 (link "/permanent-redirect")
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ test_redirectRequests = testGroup "Redirect config tests"
           [ testCase "Do match" $ do
               setRef <- newIORef mempty
               checkLinkAndProgressWithServer
-                (configMod [RedirectRule (regex "^.*/permanent-.*$") Nothing Nothing RROValid] [])
+                (configMod [RedirectRule (regex ".*/permanent-.*") Nothing Nothing RROValid] [])
                 setRef
                 mockRedirect
                 (link "/permanent-redirect")
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ test_redirectRequests = testGroup "Redirect config tests"
           , testCase "Do not match" $ do
               setRef <- newIORef mempty
               checkLinkAndProgressWithServer
-                (configMod [RedirectRule (regex "^.*/temporary-.*$") Nothing (Just RROPermanent) RROValid] [])
+                (configMod [RedirectRule (regex ".*/temporary-.*") Nothing (Just RROPermanent) RROValid] [])
                 setRef
                 mockRedirect
                 (link "/permanent-redirect")
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ test_redirectRequests = testGroup "Redirect config tests"
         [ testCase "Do match" $ do
             setRef <- newIORef mempty
             checkLinkAndProgressWithServer
-              (configMod [RedirectRule (regex "^.*/follow[0-9]$") (regex "^.*/ok$") (Just (RROCode 307)) RROInvalid] [])
+              (configMod [RedirectRule (regex ".*/follow[0-9]") (regex "^.*/ok$") (Just (RROCode 307)) RROInvalid] [])
               setRef
               mockRedirect
               (link "/follow3")
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ test_redirectRequests = testGroup "Redirect config tests"
         , testCase "Do not match" $ do
             setRef <- newIORef mempty
             checkLinkAndProgressWithServer
-              (configMod [RedirectRule (regex "^.*/follow[0-9]$") (regex "^.*/ok$") (Just (RROCode 307)) RROInvalid] [])
+              (configMod [RedirectRule (regex ".*/follow[0-9]") (regex "^.*/ok$") (Just (RROCode 307)) RROInvalid] [])
               setRef
               mockRedirect
               (link "/follow2")
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ test_redirectRequests = testGroup "Redirect config tests"
       , testCase "Mixed with ignore" $ do
           setRef <- newIORef mempty
           checkLinkAndProgressWithServer
-            (configMod [RedirectRule Nothing Nothing (Just (RROCode 307)) RROInvalid, RedirectRule Nothing Nothing Nothing RROFollow] (maybeToList (regex "^.*/follow3$")))
+            (configMod [RedirectRule Nothing Nothing (Just (RROCode 307)) RROInvalid, RedirectRule Nothing Nothing Nothing RROFollow] (maybeToList (regex ".*/follow3")))
             setRef
             mockRedirect
             (link "/follow1")
diff --git a/tests/configs/github-config.yaml b/tests/configs/github-config.yaml
index fd758858..adf55523 100644
--- a/tests/configs/github-config.yaml
+++ b/tests/configs/github-config.yaml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ exclusions:
   # List of POSIX extended regular expressions.
   ignoreExternalRefsTo:
     # Ignore localhost links by default
-    - ^(https?|ftps?)://(localhost|127\.0\.0\.1).*
+    - (https?|ftps?)://(localhost|127\.0\.0\.1).*
 
 # Networking parameters.
 networking:
@@ -90,18 +90,9 @@ networking:
   #
   # The first one that matches is applied, and the link is considered
   # as valid if none of them does match.
-  #
-  # If a value is provided for 'networking' but not for 'externalRefRedirects',
-  # then it will default to an empty list of rules and every redirect will pass.
   externalRefRedirects:
-    - from: .*
-      to: .*
-      on: permanent
+    - on: permanent
       outcome: invalid
-    - from: .*
-      to: .*
-      on: temporary
-      outcome: valid
 
 # Parameters of scanners for various file types.
 scanners:
diff --git a/tests/golden/check-ignoreExternalRefsTo/config-check-disabled.yaml b/tests/golden/check-ignoreExternalRefsTo/config-check-disabled.yaml
index df6ea981..351ac3d0 100644
--- a/tests/golden/check-ignoreExternalRefsTo/config-check-disabled.yaml
+++ b/tests/golden/check-ignoreExternalRefsTo/config-check-disabled.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 exclusions:
   ignoreExternalRefsTo:
-    - ^(https?|ftps?)://(localhost|127\.0\.0\.1).*
+    - (https?|ftps?)://(localhost|127\.0\.0\.1).*
 
 scanners:
   markdown:
diff --git a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-code.yaml b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-code.yaml
index b9233a8f..715e8dd9 100644
--- a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-code.yaml
+++ b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-code.yaml
@@ -9,5 +9,4 @@ scanners:
 networking:
   externalRefRedirects:
     - outcome: valid
-      to: ^.*$
       on: 404
diff --git a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-on.yaml b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-on.yaml
index 1c3d85bf..bd56376d 100644
--- a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-on.yaml
+++ b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/bad-on.yaml
@@ -9,5 +9,4 @@ scanners:
 networking:
   externalRefRedirects:
     - outcome: valid
-      to: ^.*$
       on: premanent
diff --git a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/full-rule.yaml b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/full-rule.yaml
index a0f7154d..69ff096a 100644
--- a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/full-rule.yaml
+++ b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/full-rule.yaml
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@ scanners:
 networking:
   externalRefRedirects:
     - outcome: valid
-      to: ^https://.*$
+      to: https://.*
       on: permanent
diff --git a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/no-outcome.yaml b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/no-outcome.yaml
index ff5eab86..9cf856c5 100644
--- a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/no-outcome.yaml
+++ b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/no-outcome.yaml
@@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ networking:
   externalRefRedirects:
     - outcome: valid
       on: temporary
-    - to: ^https://.*$
+    - to: https://.*
       on: temporary
diff --git a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/only-outcome-to.yaml b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/only-outcome-to.yaml
index bcb1dc6a..d5ef9d75 100644
--- a/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/only-outcome-to.yaml
+++ b/tests/golden/check-redirect-parse/only-outcome-to.yaml
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ scanners:
 networking:
   externalRefRedirects:
     - outcome: valid
-      to: ^https://.*$
+      to: https://.*