Adding Something to htaccess File
-
When I did a google search for site.kisswedding.com (my website) I noticed that google is indexing all of the https versions of my site.
First of all, I don't get it because I don't have an SSL certificate. Then, last night I did what my host (bluehost) told me to do. I added the below to my htaccess file.
Below rule because google is indexing https version of site - https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/758RewriteEngine OnRewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^kisswedding.com$ [OR]RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^kisswedding.com$RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} ^443$RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.kisswedding.com [R=301,L]
Tonight I when I did a google search for site:kisswedding.com all of those https pages were being redirected to my home page - not the actually page they're supposed to be redirecting to.
I went back to Bluehost and they said and 301 redirect shouldn't work because I don't have an SSL certificate. BUT, I figure since it's sorta working I just need to add something to that htaccess rule to make sure it's redirected to the right page.
Someone in the google webmaster tools forums told me to do below but I don't really get it?
_"to 301 redirect from /~kisswedd/ to the proper root folder you can put this in the root folder .htaccess file as well:_Redirect 301 /~kisswedd/ http://www.kisswedding.com/"
Any help/advice would be HUGELY appreciated. I'm a bit at a loss.
-
Hi Susanna,
Just wanted to post a quick update on this question since I understand the problem was resolved with the suggestions that we made after looking at the content of your .htaccess file.
The major issue with the original redirect was that the $1 had been omitted from the Rule. So the problem actually was not related to the secure protocol - just a coding error
Example code for the secure to non-secure redirect you needed to implement:
redirect away from https to http
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} ^443$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com$1 [R=301,L]Hope that's helpful for anyone who may be looking for help with the same issue in the future.
Sha
-
Hi Susanna,
If you have trouble getting someone to fix the .htaccess for you, feel free to private message the file and we'll be able to sort it out for you.
It is never advisable to treat rules in the .htaccess in isolation as the order in which they appear in the file will determine how things work as Ryan explained. There are also other things that will influence whether the redirects function the way you want them to such as rules added to the file or overwritten by standard installations such as Wordpress, Joomla etc.
Hope your provider can get it sorted out for you. If not, just let us know and we'll be happy to help.
Sha
-
Thanks Ryan. I appreciate that. I had no idea that copy and pasting could cause so many problems. I'll try and see if I can speak with a supervisor.
Have a great night/day!
-
Hi Susan.
I will share two items regarding your situation. First, the modifications to your htaccess file involve a replacement language called Regex. The code you are copying and pasting are regex expressions. Basically they say "when a URL meets this condition, rewrite the URL as follows....". In your case, the original regex expression was not correctly written (a common occurrence) so you did not receive the desired effect.
The changes need to be made in your .htaccess file. The htaccess file controls all access to your website. A single character out of place can mean your entire site is unavailable, URLs are improperly redirected, or security holes are open on your site. On the one hand, you can copy and paste code into your htaccess file and it may work. On the other hand damage can be done. It also makes a difference where you locate the code within the file. Varying the location alters the logic and can lead to different results.
Based on the above it is my recommendation your host make the changes. If your host is unwilling to help, I would recommend asking to be assigned to another tech or a supervisor. Most hosts are very helpful in this area. If the host is not willing to help, perhaps you can ask your web developer to make the change.
If you decide to make the change yourself I recommend you doing some online research into how the htaccess file works. You do not want to fly blind in this file.
Suggested reading: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/other/the-ultimate-guide-to-htaccess-files/
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Losing referrer data on http link that redirects to an https site when on an https site. Is this typical or is something else going on here?
I am trying to resolve a referral data issue. Our client noticed that their referrals from one of their sites to another had dropped to almost nothing from being their top referrer. The referring site SiteA which is an HTTPs site, held a link to SiteB, which is also an HTTPs site, so there should be no loss, however the link to SiteB on SiteA had the HTTP protocol. When we changed the link to the HTTPs protocol, the referrals started flowing in. Is this typical? If the 301 redirect is properly in place for SiteB, why would we lose the referral data?
Reporting & Analytics | | Velir0 -
Adding UTM Tags to business directories?
Hi, I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts are on adding UTM tags to your business directories such as google my business, yelp, yellow pages ect. Would it be beneficial in sorting the data in GA? That way I can easily see which directories are performing the best. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | Sally940 -
Something does not add up with WMTs search analytics data
we recently replatformed our main site and switched to https. For the first 2-3 weeks after we moved organic traffic was great, we did not lose any ( increased a little), but then it dropped off significantly. Attached is a screenshot from one of our main keywords that dropped off. You can see click (blue) and impressions (red) dropped off, and the position became unstable, but in the last week it has stabilised to about the same position it was before, but the clicking and impressions are still very low. The keyword is generic (for our industry) and there would not be any major seasonal changes in the search volume. I can't make sense of this data, could be be wrong? Kd3p5f9.jpg
Reporting & Analytics | | PaddyDisplays1 -
Google Ad referral
I was wondering if someone could decode the jumble of a referral - this is supposedly the referal that led to a click through to my site via a product listing ad. I am trying to figure out how www.nextag.com comes in to the picture as we do not have refurbexperts even listed there? Thanks to anyone who tries/does work it out. http://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=CGXud6DmDU_qeL5THygHpuICwCaTZwMYD_Nvvv0bEwMS50wEIBhAEIOn5-gEoBVCl7P7f-v____8BYMnu8omYpPQSoAHAhIv9A8gBB8gDG6oEJ0_QwcNc5zNun_d7S5KNcMT6uPjjH_mMDkKFFgBCQ6aKICRPJVVa7MAFBYgGAaAGJoAHqPv0ApAHAeASupqdo-ypit0m&ohost=www.google.com&cid=5GhZEzUCSC6x9n2wxOdz3-mrAfSUkvHKPN3wD5yLInnlNil_&sig=AOD64_1D1z1JPYbFP0UnUglJVOfvd25RfA&adurl=http://refurbexperts.com/product/527/HP-LaserJet-P2015-Laser-Printer-RECONDITIONED%3Futm_source%3Dproductlistingads%26utm_medium%3Dadwords%26utm_campaign%3Dadwords&ctype=5&nb=0&res_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nextag.com%2Fhp-p2015-laserjet%2Fproducts-html%3Fnxtg%3D116d0a1c0504-9FFEB16DE52A7E2A&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nextag.com%2Fgoto.jsp%3Fp%3D3652%26search%3Dhp%2520p2015%2520laserjet%26t%3Dag%253D1384181795%26crid%3D48271786%26gg_aid%3D20169721025%26gg_site%3D%26gclid%3DCjgKEAjwzIucBRDzjIz9qMOB3TASJABBIwL1LHK7GcAPS6yHGpd9Kq3wsZrcPORAWD8QCWivr4W75PD_BwE&nm=11&nx=43&ny=12&is=700x181&clkt=187
Reporting & Analytics | | henya0 -
Why Pre roll Youtube video ads are being recorded into Organic Traffic?
Hi Mozzers, Last month, one of our clients(appliance and kitchen design) has started a video ad campaign on Youtube for a specific Appliance brand, since then I have noticed Organic traffic has been inflated. I was able to figure it out thanks to some keywords that we never ranked for. How is this possible? Google Analytics should at least be able to segment that into a Youtube Referral traffic.
Reporting & Analytics | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
IP address changed, subdomains added - how will affect?
Hello, Two weeks ago we have changed IP address of our website, also we've added new subdomains for static content (like img.domain.com & js.domain.com) and changed the links on the site accordingly. The old IP is also working and the old links are accessible too. For some reason, since the change, we see a SE (google) traffic constant drop everyday. I've read only Google's support (http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=34437) that such change shouldn't affect the ranking anyhow. On the other hand I've consulted with SEO people and was told that such change may affect in the close new feature (for couple of weeks) and then bring the ranking back. I would like to hear another opinion, I want to get back to our board with approved answers. Please advice. Thanks.
Reporting & Analytics | | maddogx0 -
Adding More Brand Rules
I'd really love if SEOMoz would let us add more than 10 brand rules. In GA, I've set up approximately 25 Advanced Segment Keyword Exclusions (using Regular Expressions) in order to filter out all the mispelled branded keywords sending us traffic. It's just a shame I can't do the same in SEOMoz, which essentially renders the branded/non-branded feature useless for me. Any suggestions?
Reporting & Analytics | | TeachersMutualBank0