301 Redirect using rewrite rule in .htaccess
-
Hi guys,
I have these types of URLs with the format below that are seen as duplicate contents
http://www.mysite.com/index.php?a=11&b=15&d=3&c=1
I wanted to permanently redirect them to my homepage. I am thinking if this is possible in .htaccess using rewrite conditions?
Thanks in advance...
-
This is a solutions, but its an ugly one, does anyone really wants a home url of http://www.mysite.com/index.php?a=11&b=16&c=5&d=1&page=2. you then have the problem of people linking to that page.
I believe michael said in a previous post that they were prodused by his CMS, the best idea would be to get rid of them rather then deal wioth them if posible.
-
From memory, I believe Michael has these urls produced by his CMS and are unnecessary, i could be getting him mixed up with someone else.
also doing this in Google does not help other search engines, you would need to do it in all search engines for all possible combinations for each pages, this can become un-manageable. -
I have to say I agree with Sha on this one.
If you are not confident in using .htaccess then I wouldn't bother. I think there is a much easier solution:
1- As Sha said, use webmaster tools to tell Google how to handle these parameters, this should slowly start to take them out of the index.
2- Add rel=canonical to all your pages, this way even if parameters are added, the rel=canonical will always point back to the original and remove any risk of duplicate content.
I hope this helps.
Craig
-
Hi Michael,
You do not need to make any changes to your .htaccess file. Actually, if you 301 these URLs you will break your search so that it no longer works.
The solution I would use is to go into Google Webmaster Tools and tell Googlebot to ignore the parameters you are concerned about.
In your code, the ? says "here come some parameters" and the & separates those parameters. So, in the case you have quoted, the parameters are a, b, c, d.
Be aware of course, that Roger will still see these URLs as duplicates since he doesn't know about your private conversations with Google This means that they will still appear in your SEOmoz report, but as long as you make a note of them so you know they can be ignored that shouldn't be a problem.
Hope that helps,
Sha
-
I disagree more with the level of apprehension, rather than the premise itself. Anyhow I’m off to bed.
-
Alan, we will just have to disagree on this topic.
I too have studied Computer Science in college. I too have a wall filled with MS certifications. I too have been programming since before the internet and even before hard drives existed. I am only 40 but the first PC I used was an Atari 800 and the command to save my work was "csave" which stood for "cassette save". This was before even floppy disks were popular and data was saved to cassette tapes.
I certainly am not forbidding anyone from taking whatever action they deem fit. It is indeed up to Michael or any reader to assess what changes they are comfortable making for their site.
The point I am making is many people grow very comfortable in making changes to their website, especially SEO-related changes. It is relatively safe to do such. If you make a mistake, your site may not rank as well, may not load as fast, may not appear correctly in all browsers and so forth. The consequences are relatively low.
Making changes in an htaccess file is a completely different ballgame. One character out of place and your site can instantly be taken off line. If that happened, it's actually not so bad compared to other problems which can be created. A character out of place can disable your site security and the person making the change would likely not realize the problem until their site was hacked. A character out of place can cause other functionality of your site to not work correctly. It can also cause the fix being implemented to work in some but not all instances.
I highly encourage users to make most changes to their sites according to their comfort level. Htaccess modifications is a clear exception. A user can easily be mislead to believe their site is working fine only to later realize there is a major problem with the site. There are countless instances where a site was exploited due to a vulnerability in the htaccess file. I therefore strongly recommend for users never to touch their htaccess file unless they are extremely confident in the changes they are making. Many websites will offer code snippets which can provide users a false sense of security and lead them to experiment. It is a bad idea to do such with the htaccess file.
-
I have
been programming since before the internet came to be, I have studied Computer
Science at University and passed numerous Microsoft Certifications, and while I
would not discount study, it is my experience that I have never met a great
programmer that did not learn by trail and error, after all this is how you
become experienced. There is no danger in using a backup, RegEx does not work
sometimes and not others, it is not dynamic, it is a static peace of code. You
will not excel at SEO unless you learn these things. I am sure Michael is capable
of deciding if he wants to do it himself, he seems to have got a long way already.
It would seem to me he is learning quite quickly. You may suggest that you
would not try, but I don’t think it is correct to forbid others. -
I'm sorry but the idea of advising users without expertise to modify their htaccess file is completely reckless. The trial & error approach can easily lead to circumstances where the rule works some of the time but not always. Worse, it can negatively impact other rules and site security causing major problems.
Without knowing the details of the site involved, I tend to make the safe assumption the site is important and there are one or more people who's livelihoods depend on the site. Having worked with clients who have recovered from the damage caused by errors in htaccess files I will firmly share my experience that no one other then a qualified expert should ever touch the file. The potential for damage is very high.
-
All he needs to do is keep a back up, and he can have as many tries as he wants. He simpley has to replace the file with his back up if he goes wrong.
There is little danger here. -
htaccess rewrite rules are based on Regex expressions. Your current Regex rewrite rules can be modified to adjust for the specific URLs. You need to locate an experienced programmer to write the expressions for you.
-
Hi Mchael.
Yes, you can use htaccess to rewrite or redirect the URL.
Where do these URLs presently lead to? If these URLs are duplicates for pages on your site, I would suggest using a 301 redirect to send the traffic to the proper URL rather then your home page.
If your server uses cPanel, there is a Redirect tool you can use. This tool makes the process of adding a redirect easier and safer then modifying your htaccess file. Your htaccess file controls various aspects of your site's security, accessibility and SEO. The slightest error can cause your site to instantly be inaccessible. I would not recommend making any changes to your htaccess file except by an experienced programmer. Even using the correct code in the wrong order can lead to problems.
-
I work on microsoft servers, i dont use .htaccess
but this is the rule i woudl write to fix all urls stating with index.php, no mater what the querystreing
<rule name="DefaultRule" stopprocessing="true"><match url="^index.php"><action type="Redirect" url="/" appendquerystring="false"></action></match></rule>
but try this let me know if it works i have a few other ideas
RewriteRule ^/index.php / [R=301,L]
-
Hi Alan,
I think it's now clear to me that they should be rewritten. Thanks for pointing me to the right direction.
I have a classified site and in my .htaccess I have these rewrite rules by default
RewriteRule ^/?(new)/(1_day)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=4 [L] ##category newest 1day
RewriteRule ^/?(new)/(1_week)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=1 [L] ##category newest 1week
RewriteRule ^/?(new)/(2_weeks)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=2 [L] ##category newest 2weeks
RewriteRule ^/?(new)/(3_weeks)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=3 [L] ##category newest 3weeksRewriteRule ^/?(new)/(1_day)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+)/([0-9]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=4&page=$5 [L] ##category newest 1day pages
RewriteRule ^/?(new)/(1_week)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+)/([0-9]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=1&page=$5 [L] ##category newest 1week pages
RewriteRule ^/?(new)/(2_weeks)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+)/([0-9]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=2&page=$5 [L] ##category newest 2weeks pages
RewriteRule ^/?(new)/(3_weeks)/([0-9]+)/([^./\"'?#]+)/([0-9]+).html$ index.php?a=11&b=$3&c=65&d=3&page=$5 [L] ##category newest 3weeks pagesunfortunately, these rules could not handle all URLs of the same format with different variables like the following below
http://www.mysite.com/index.php?a=11&b=15&d=3&c=1
http://www.mysite.com/index.php?a=11&b=15&d=3&c=2
http://www.mysite.com/index.php?a=11&b=16&c=5&d=1
http://www.mysite.com/index.php?a=11&b=16&c=5&d=1&page=2
http://www.mysite.com/index.php?a=11&c=5&d=1&b=230
Any idea on how I can solve this problem to avoid duplicate content?
Thanks in advance...
-
rewrite and redirect are not the same thing. you want to 301 them, but better still why do you have them?
Do you have a wordpress site?If these errores were found by a crawler it means that you have the links on your site somewhere. the best thing to do is correct the links. 301's leak link juice you want to limit their number.
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
-
.Com version of my site is ranking better than .co.uk for my UK Website for branded search. 301 redirect mess
Dear Mozzers, I have an issue with my UK Website (short url is - http://goo.gl/dJ7IgD ) whereby when I type my company name in to google.co.uk search the .com version returns in Search as opposed to the .co.uk and from looking at open site explorer the page rank of the .com is higher than the .co.uk ?. Infact I cant even see the .co.uk homepage version but other pages from my site. The .com version is also 301'd to the .co.uk. From looking at Open Site Explorer, I have noticed that we have more links pointing to .com as opposed to .co.uk. Alot of these are from our own separate microsites which we closed down last year and I have noticed the IT company who closed them down for some reason 301'd them to the .com version of our site as opposed to the .co.uk but If I look in http://httpstatus.io/ (http status checker tool) to check one of these mircosites it shows - 301 - 302 - 200 status codes which to me looks wrong ?. I am wondering what it should read ... e.g should it just be a 301 to a 200 status code ?. My Website short url is - http://goo.gl/dJ7IgD and an example of some of 10 microsites we closed down last year which seems to be redirected to .com is http://goo.gl/BkcIjy and http://goo.gl/kogJ02 As these were redirected almost a year ago - it is okay if I now get them redirected to the .co.uk version of my site or what should I do ? They currently redirect to the home page but given that each of the microsites are based on an individual category of my main site , would it be better to 301 them to the relevant category on my site. My only concern is that , may cause to much internal linking and therefore I wont have enough links on my homepage ? How would you suggest I go about building up my .co.uk authority so it ranks betters than the .com- I am guessing this is obviously affecting my rankings and I am losing link juice with all this. Any advice greatly appreciated . thanks Pete
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PeteC120 -
Client would like to 301 redirect the homepage to a category page
Hello MOZ Community!!! I would like your expert opinions on a scenario, please! My client is an ecommerce company, and currently has one of its category pages outranking its homepage for a few key phrases. The homepage, however, has a better conversion rate. So, the client is asking that we make the homepage the category URL, so http://www.theirsite.com/blue-clothes. The existing homepage URL - http://www.theirsite.com - would 301 REDIRECT to the category page - which would render the current version of the homepage. Therefore, there would be nothing, ZERO content, on the MAIN URL: http://www.theirsite.com Has anyone ever done this before? What are the pros and the cons of this practice? Here is my same client, for reference: https://moz.com/community/q/issue-with-category-ranking-on-page-1-vs-homepage-ranking-on-page-2
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | accpar0 -
Clarity needed on 301 redirects
Looking to get a bit of clarity on redirects: We're getting ready to launch a new website with a simplified url structure (we're consolidating pages & content) & I already know that I'll have to employ 301 redirects from the old url structure to the new. What I'm not clear about is how specifc I should be. Here's an example of my file structure: Old website: www.website.com
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JSimmons17
New website: www.website.com Old website: www.website.com/vacations
New website: www.website.com/vacations Old website: www.website.com/vacations/costa-rica
New website: www.website.com/vacations/central-america Old website: www.website.com/vacations/costa-rica/guanacaste
New website: www.website.com/vacations/central-america Old website: www.website.com/vacations/mexico
New website: www.website.com/vacations/central-america Old website: www.website.com/vacations/mexico/cancun
New website: www.website.com/vacations/central-america Old website: www.website.com/vacations/bolivia
New website: www.website.com/vacations/south-america Old website: www.website.com/vacations/bolivia/la-paz
New website: www.website.com/vacations/south-america Do I need to redirect each and every page or would just redirecting just the folder be enough to keep my SEO juice? Many thanks in advance for any help!0 -
Htaccess redirect veriables
Hey, I'm trying to redirect all instances of "/archive_details.php?id=*" to "/public-affairs-job-archive.php". Is the below code correct? Redirect 301 /archive_details.php?id=* /public-affairs-job-archive.php Thanks, Luke.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NoisyLittleMonkey0 -
Help understanding 301 domain redirect
Can anyone help me understand a specific process of a 301 redirecting a domain. Here is what I would like to know.... When you 301 redirect a site, most if not all the links follow to your new site. But how does this process happen? 1.When Google sees the new domain does it simply apply the backlink profile of the old site to the new one? 2. Does it have to re-crawl all the links one by one and apply them to the new domain? 3. or something else?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | gazzerman10 -
301 to 404
Hello Everybody, I've got a technical question about server responses. Imagine this scenario: www.domain.com/not-existing-page/ --> 404 & domain.com/not-existing-page/ --> www.domain.com/not-existing-page/ --> 404 I use Wordpress for my websites and I can't seem to be able to configure it (or the server where I have total control) to stop it doing this. Ideally, a non-existent url should return 404 instantly, not first redirect to the "corect" url and then return 404. Anyone experiencing this and can help? Here's a neat tool that allows you to quickly check server response codes - for those of you who are new to this: http://responsetester.appspot.com/ Much appreciated! Alex
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | pwpaneuro1 -
Reverse Proxy better than 301 redirect?
Are reverse proxies that much better than 301 redirects? Should I invest the time in doing this? I found out about reverse proxies here: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/what-is-a-reverse-proxy-and-how-can-it-help-my-seo
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | brianmcc0 -
301 Redirect - How Long Until Recovery?
How long after one moves a page and sets up the 301s should the site take to regain its previous rankings? Context: i've ported a site to a new framework. Along the way, several high ranked pages needed to have new URLs setup, as well as the site moved from www.domain.com to simply domain.com. About 1 week after the change, the site's traffic went down 70% and has been there for about another 2 weeks. I suppose it could be something about the new framework that is causing problems though according to SEOMoz tools, the new framework is checking out pretty well. I assume the problem is reconciling all those old www inbound links with the new non-www location. It is all 301'd however ... so it should be working, but is not. So my questions are: 1. How long should it take Google to reconcile these changes and put us back to original SERP positions 2. is there something inherently problematic with switching from www to non-www?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NealCabage0