Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. On-Page Optimization
    4. 301 redirect (www.domain.com/index to www.domain.com)

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    301 redirect (www.domain.com/index to www.domain.com)

    On-Page Optimization
    3
    12
    20072
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • eyepaq
      eyepaq last edited by

      Hello,

      Please let me know what are the exact right steps in order to get rid of the duplicate content issues related with:

      www.domain.com/index.html same as www.domain.com  without creating an infinite loop.

      Do you have a step by step guide posted within seomoz including 301 redirect for non www to www for all urls and index.whatever to main domain name without going into a infinite loop ?

      btw how to you spot the loop ? is it obvious like never ending refresh of the home page ?

      thanks a lot !

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • StalkerB
        StalkerB @eyepaq last edited by

        Well, I would recommend you alter the internal links to just point to the new '/' default, but in the meantime...

        I would have thought your code would have worked, but every time I try it my site falls over. It might work for you though. Give it a try but test it straight away 🙂

        I'll see if I can get a different version working on my test site for you if not 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
        • eyepaq
          eyepaq @eyepaq last edited by

          seomoz tool is showing duplicate pages for those 3. Each of the version has at least 1 internal and even external links.

          all 3 respond in the browser with the same layout/page

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • StalkerB
            StalkerB @eyepaq last edited by

            Hmm, maybe, I doubt the index.php is doing anything as if there's a index.html and index.php the .html takes precedence.

            Check what's in the .php file, might be easier just to delete it.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • eyepaq
              eyepaq @StalkerB last edited by

              Can I use a code like this ? (i've added one entry for index.php as it looks like the site has both an index.html and an index.php)

              JourneymanBarry Smith
              Journeyman264 mozpoints
              6 helpful answers
              1 SEOmoz endorsed answers

              | Selected AnswerHelpful Answer | Barry Smith, Head of SEO at Gaming Media Marketing | about 2 hours ago |

              Probably the simplest way to redirect the non-www to the www is to put this in your .htaccess file

              RewriteEngine On Options +FollowSymLinks

              RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
              RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

              RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^./index.html
              RewriteRule ^(.
              )index.html$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

              RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^./index.php
              RewriteRule ^(.
              )index.php$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

              StalkerB eyepaq 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • eyepaq
                eyepaq @eyepaq last edited by

                Thanks mate !

                More then helpful.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • StalkerB
                  StalkerB @eyepaq last edited by

                  Yeah, if it doesn't work you'll probably be faced with a blank page or you may get a 500 server error or maybe a 310. It should be obvious pretty fast 🙂

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • eyepaq
                    eyepaq @eyepaq last edited by

                    how it will behave if the redirect is not correct ? It will be visible ? (like a never-ending refresh of the main page)

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • Getz.pro
                      Getz.pro @eyepaq last edited by

                      I agree with Barry, but watch out for that last snippet. I've got caught when hosting companies redirect on their side. So test before walking away for more coffee : )

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • StalkerB
                        StalkerB @eyepaq last edited by

                        The last part redirects index.html to /

                        There would only be a loop if you redirected / to index.html

                        99.9% sure this'll work for you 🙂 I'm using the exact code on a small site right now and it's working fine 🙂

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • eyepaq
                          eyepaq @StalkerB last edited by

                          is the last part safe ? as far as the infinite loop things that some are afraid of..

                          StalkerB Getz.pro eyepaq 5 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • StalkerB
                            StalkerB last edited by

                            Probably the simplest way to redirect the non-www to the www is to put this in your .htaccess file

                            RewriteEngine On Options +FollowSymLinks

                            RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com
                            RewriteRule (.*) http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

                            RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^./index.html
                            RewriteRule ^(.
                            )index.html$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=301,L]

                            For reference the .htaccess file goes in the root of your domain via whatever file transfer program you use and of course replace example.com with your domain 😉

                            If you get stuck, let me know 🙂

                            eyepaq 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 4
                            • 1 / 1
                            • First post
                              Last post

                            Got a burning SEO question?

                            Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                            Start my free trial


                            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.

                            • See all categories

                            Related Questions

                            • ahislop574

                              Moz bar not working on https://www.fitness-china.com/gym-equipment-names-pictures-prices

                              Moz bar not working on our website about gym equipment names https://www.fitness-china.com/gym-equipment-names-pictures-prices How long fix it?

                              On-Page Optimization | | ahislop574
                              0
                            • baystatemarketing

                              My site auto redirects http to https. This is causing redirect chains. What can I do?

                              I noticed that Moz flags a lot of redirect chain issues on my site. I realized that this is mostly because the site automatically redirects http to https, and when I create a new URL (when a URL changes, for example) it is automatically flagged as a chain. Example: http://www.example-link Auto directs to: https://www.example-link Which is then redirected to: https://www.example-link-changed (when the address actually changes) I don't seem to have any control over changing where the initial http redirect goes. Any advice on fixing this problem?

                              On-Page Optimization | | baystatemarketing
                              0
                            • HireSpace

                              Alt text / internal linking

                              Hi everyone A question about best practice when linking from pictures on our homepage - hirespace.com We have an option of using divs with background images (nicer in terms of design) but it means that we can't use anchor text or alt text to show Google what these internal links are about. The other option is to use images which do not allow us as much flexibility in terms of CSS but would allow us to use alt text. There is also an opinion that we should have separate text links at the bottom of the homepage to get the anchor page in. What is best practice in this situation - is alt text worth sacrificing some CSS flexibility for? How important is anchor/alt text for internal linking? Thanks guys.

                              On-Page Optimization | | HireSpace
                              0
                            • alicaomisem

                              Multiple domains for the same business

                              My client purchased over 500 URLs for targeting various customers and ranking for different keywords. It is for the same business though. What is the best strategy to deal with this kind of approach in your opinion. They use different meta data for each of the URLs starting with brand name in meta title. Are there any other points to keep in mind when developing strategy for all those URLs. Is this  a good approach?

                              On-Page Optimization | | alicaomisem
                              1
                            • lbohen

                              State Abbreviations and/or Fully Spelled Out?

                              Should State names be abbreviated and/or fully spelled out in title tags, meta descriptions and body content? Does Google know that VT = Vermont?

                              On-Page Optimization | | lbohen
                              0
                            • dgalassi

                              Multiple domains vs single domain vs subdomains ?

                              I have a client that recently read an article that advised him to break up his website into various URL's that targeted specific products. It was supposed to be a solution to gain footing in an already competitive industry. So rather than company.com with various pages targeting his products, he'd end up having multiple smaller sites: companyClothing.com companyShoes.com Etc. The article stated that by structuring your website this way, you were more likely to gain ranking in Google by targeting these niche markets. I wanted to know if this article was based on any facts. Are there any benefits to creating a new website that targets a specific niche market versus as a section of pages on a main website? I then began looking into structuring each of these product areas into subdomains, but the data out there is not definitive as to how subdomains are viewed by Google and other search engines - more specifically how subdomains benefit (or not!) the primary domain. So, in general, when a business targets many products and services that cover a wide range - what is the best way to structure the delivery of this info: multiple domains, single domain with folders/categories, or subdomains?  If single domain with folders/categories are not an option, how do subdomains stack up? Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions!

                              On-Page Optimization | | dgalassi
                              0
                            • Earthsaver

                              Http://www.xxxx.com does not re-direct to http://xxx.com

                              When typing in my website URL  www.earthsaverequipment.com  successfully re-directs to earthsaverequipment.com as specified in robot. However if you type http://www.earthsaverequipment.com it brings up a 404 error Is this a potential issue? if so is there a way to fix it? thanks

                              On-Page Optimization | | Earthsaver
                              0
                            • MeghanPrudencio

                              Would it be bad to change the canonical URL to the most recent page that has duplicate content, or should we just 301 redirect to the new page?

                              Is it bad to change the canonical URL in the tag, meaning does it lose it's stats? If we add a new page that may have duplicate content, but we want that page to be indexed over the older pages, should we just change the canonical page or redirect from the original canonical page? Thanks so much! -Amy

                              On-Page Optimization | | MeghanPrudencio
                              0

                            Get started with Moz Pro!

                            Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                            Start my free trial
                            Products
                            • Moz Pro
                            • Moz Local
                            • Moz API
                            • Moz Data
                            • STAT
                            • Product Updates
                            Moz Solutions
                            • SMB Solutions
                            • Agency Solutions
                            • Enterprise Solutions
                            Free SEO Tools
                            • Domain Authority Checker
                            • Link Explorer
                            • Keyword Explorer
                            • Competitive Research
                            • Brand Authority Checker
                            • Local Citation Checker
                            • MozBar Extension
                            • MozCast
                            Resources
                            • Blog
                            • SEO Learning Center
                            • Help Hub
                            • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                            • How-to Guides
                            • Moz Academy
                            • API Docs
                            About Moz
                            • About
                            • Team
                            • Careers
                            • Contact
                            Why Moz
                            • Case Studies
                            • Testimonials
                            Get Involved
                            • Become an Affiliate
                            • MozCon
                            • Webinars
                            • Practical Marketer Series
                            • MozPod
                            Connect with us

                            Contact the Help team

                            Join our newsletter
                            Moz logo
                            © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                            • Accessibility
                            • Terms of Use
                            • Privacy

                            Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.