Change name of directory
-
How can I best change the name of a directory on my website (example: http://www.website.com/nameofdirectory/)?
The directory has lots of content included in it which has links from all over my website. I guess I have to adjust those links? How do I easily collect all of the links?
Which is the code I should use in my htacces?
Thank you!
With kind regards,
Dieter -
A 301 is the code returned by your web server, along with the address of the new page. htaccess (mod_rewrite) is the most powerful tool to do this because it uses regular expressions to filter (which, consequently, also makes it more difficult to use).
You don't have to use htaccess, however. Virtually all server-side programming languages (like PHP, .NET, Ruby on Rails, etc) support telling Apache what headers to return. Here's a PHP example
header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
header("Location:http://www.newsite.com");
exit(); -
You can use a text editor like Notepad++ for it.
-
Is there a software I should use for "Search & Replace"?
-
Download the website and do a search and replace for nameofdirectory to new****nameofdirectory. That should take care of it. Along with that put a 301 in place for any external links going to nameofdirectory. You should be good.
-
I just dont see how I can add a 301 redirect to a page. I thought I could only add it in .htaccess?
How about the pages on my website that link to the old directory?
-
The website itself is static but the directory is a CMS. What would be the best option then?
-
The same principle applies to all rewrites. You can rewrite one page, an entire directory or even your whole site. htaccess is one of Apache's best features and that's why every web server out there offers some version of it.
If I'm still not answering your question then please supply some more details and I can go more in depth.
-
Is your website static or uses some sort of a CMS ? It might be possible to do a search and replace for nameofdirectory or newnameofdirectory and that should work. I would also recommend doing a directory level 301 redirect via .htaccess that will redirect http://www.website.com/nameofdirectory/* to http://www.website.com/new****nameofdirectory/*
//301 Redirect Entire Directory RedirectMatch 301 /nameofdirectory(.*) /newnameofdirectory/$1
-
@ Highland: It is not a page, it is a directory.
-
You need to add a 301 redirect to your new page. This will send a command to your browser (and any bots) to go to the new page. This page describes how to modify your htaccess file.
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
-
Google Search Console 'Change of Address' Just 301s on source domain?
Hi all. New here, so please be gentle. 🙂 I've developed a new site, where my client also wanted to rebrand from .co.nz to .nz On the source (co.nz) domain, I've setup a load of 301 redirects to the relevant new page on the new domain (the URL structure is changing as well).
Technical SEO | | WebGuyNZ
E.G. On the old domain: https://www.mysite.co.nz/myonlinestore/t-shirt.html
In the HTACCESS on the old/source domain, I've setup 301's (using RewriteRule).
So that when **https://www.mysite.co.nz/**myonlinestore/t-shirt.html is accessed, it does a 301 to;
https://mysite.nz/shop/clothes/t-shirt All these 301's are working fine. I've checked in dev tools and a 301 is being returned. My question is, is having the 301's just on the source domain only enough, in regards to starting a 'Change of Address' in Google's Search Console? Their wording indicates it's enough but I'm concerned, maybe I also need redirects on the target domain as well? I.E. Does the Search Console Change of Address process work this way?
It looks at the source domain URL (that's already in Google's index), sees the 301 then updates the index (and hopefully pass the link juice) to the new URL. Also, I've setup both source and target Search Console properties as Domain Properties. Does that mean I no longer need to specify that the source and target properties are HTTP or HTTPS? I couldn't see that option when I created the properties. Thanks!0 -
Best directories for a new(ish) hospital to be listed on?
Just thought I'd throw this question out to the Moz community. Anyone have leads for good, credible directories where I could get a smaller, local hospital listed on? (besides the obvious ones like HealthGrades, etc.,) Thanks!
Technical SEO | | TaylorRHawkins1 -
Domain Change
What is the average organic traffic loss one can expect after switching to a new domain? We went from .com to .org and are seeing 50% decline in organic traffic and 25% in Google news traffic. 301s were implemented from site.com/some-page to site.org/some-page and change site was completed in WMT. This traffic drop seems excessive...
Technical SEO | | SoulSurfer80 -
Wordpress vs. home grown directory
I just moved my blog from a wordpress hosted solution to my owner server and am really hopeful that all the SEO ready wordpress pages plus I downloaded Yoast SEO will move my site. I started with 9000 pages being moz indexed with tons of errors eyerywhere, I have almost fixed everything getting ready to do a google index. One question. I have a directory of businesses and events for my local mountain community that is home grown with about 200 pages. see here: http://www.destinationbigbear.com/directory/bigbeardirectory.aspx which has a PA of 21 which is the same as my DA 21 (I know terrible)... Should I migrate these 200 pages with images to wordpress to take advantage of all the nice SEO possibilities? I have staff and it would probably take about $600 bucks to do it. I would only have to put about ten 301's such as http://www.destinationbigbear.com/directory/contentcat.aspx?ParentID=7 would be http://www.destinationbigbear.com/big-bear-restaurants/ Thank you again to all, I am hopeful I can answer some questions in the future for people... I am learning alot! Nick
Technical SEO | | nickcargill0 -
Best Practices to Choosing a Domain Name
I have the following list of domains to choose from: http://www.xxx.net/ http://www.xxx.uk/ www.es-xxx.com Which of these domain structures seem the best, or are all 3 questionable?
Technical SEO | | theLotter0 -
301 Redirect with an Exact Domain name Match
My Client had a site that ranked for a pretty competitive two word phrase, but for a variety of reasons had to transfer the site to a different domain name (with none of the previous keywords). We've 301'd everything just fine to the new site, but our traffic for that two word phrase, as well as related long tail traffic, is beginning to drop. Could the drop be related to something that we didn't do well in the transfer? Or is it due to the new domain name now not being an exact match? Sitenote question: Our Google Analytics is still set up for the former domain name and shows data just fine. Is there any reason to switch GA to the new domain? What are the pros/cons? Much thanks in advance!
Technical SEO | | TrevorMcKendrick0 -
ECommerce Platform Change
I'm just entering the process of switching web developer companies, and I was wondering what process would be best for redirecting our old product (new and used cars) pages. Our current design leaves much to be desired seo wise (http://www.resslermotors.com/index.asp?cmd=detail&vin=1FTSX30F3XEC01446&stocknumber=123911&sg=ocor5h42d2yhkla&Make=Ford&parCertifiedFlag=&Model=&parVehTypeID=&p=6&page=1), and redirecting all of them seems like it would be pretty complicated. In addition to that, we currently have 35,000 pages. Is there a practical way to do redirects with this many pages?
Technical SEO | | ResslerMotors0 -
Why sudden change in rankings?
I have been working on a domain for site which has only been up for a few months. I have mainly been working on building trust and authority for the site, with only a few links to my keyword phrases, which I was saving for the end, and concentrating on good quality non-spammy type links. It was progressing nicely until last weekend when I went from the first page on Google to the 3rd and 4th pages. Was there some kind of update?
Technical SEO | | waynekolenchuk0