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
      • MozCon
      • 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.

      Turn SEO data into actionable Content Briefs
      Moz Pro

      Turn SEO data into actionable Content Briefs

      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

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing
      Moz API

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing

      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. Technical SEO
    4. Best & easiest way to 301 redirect on IIS

    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.

    Best & easiest way to 301 redirect on IIS

    Technical SEO
    4
    13
    3674
    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.
    • 2MSens
      2MSens last edited by

      Hi all,

      What is the best and easiest way to 301 redirect URLs on IIS server?

      I got access to the FTP and WordPress back office, but no access to the server admin.

      Is there an easy way to create 301 redirect without having to always annoy the tech in charge of the server?

      Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • 2MSens
        2MSens @MichaelC-15022 last edited by

        Thanks a lot for your answer 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • MichaelC-15022
          MichaelC-15022 last edited by

          You have two options:

          1. Set it up in IIS Manager (best option, least overhead for the server, need no coding skills)
          2. Code it in classic ASP in a global include file that all pages reference before sending content back to the browser.

          Here's a great article that walks you through the IIS config option.  For this, you need access to IIS Manager:

          http://www.proworks.com/blog/2010/02/11/adding-a-301-redirect-in-iis-for-individual-pages-with-non-aspx-extensions/

          Sounds like that option is unavailable to you however.

          For the other option:  your site probably has a file or two that's included at the start of all web pages.  (If not, you can add it).  In that file, you'll want to check the URL passed in like this:

          Dim sThisPage                = Request.ServerVariables("SCRIPT_NAME")

          If (LCase(sThisPage) = "/oldpage.aspx") Then

          Response.Status            = "301 Moved Permanently"
                  Response.AddHeader        "Location", "http://" & sThisServer & "/newpage.aspx"
                  Response.End
          End If

          2MSens 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • 2MSens
            2MSens last edited by

            Any IIS expert around?.. 😃

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Andy.Drinkwater
              Andy.Drinkwater @2MSens last edited by

              There - you can see how often I have worked on IIS servers 😉

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • 2MSens
                2MSens @Andy.Drinkwater last edited by

                there is no .htaccess on IIS servers 😉

                Andy.Drinkwater 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 2MSens
                  2MSens @vmialik last edited by

                  No problem, I'll have a look for another website 😉 thanks

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Andy.Drinkwater
                    Andy.Drinkwater @vmialik last edited by

                    Nor was I.

                    If you have FTP access, you might then have to work in the .htaccess file and build the redirects in there.

                    -Andy

                    2MSens 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • vmialik
                      vmialik @2MSens last edited by

                      Bummer, I was not aware of that, its such an awesome plugin

                      Andy.Drinkwater 2MSens 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • 2MSens
                        2MSens @vmialik last edited by

                        Hi Vadim,

                        Thanks for your answer, however it looks that the redirection plugin works only for apache servers.

                        vmialik 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • 2MSens
                          2MSens @Andy.Drinkwater last edited by

                          Hi Andy,

                          thanks, it works for IIS servers too?

                          • Benoit.
                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • vmialik
                            vmialik last edited by

                            Hi Benoit,

                            Yes, Andy is totally on it. Server side redirects are faster, however if you have Wordpress a plugins make it so much easier and convenient.

                            Also if you want other powerful features like: 404 error monitoring - captures a log of 404 errors and allows you to easily map these to 301 redirects, and more Try Redirection plugin

                            Hope this Helps!

                            2MSens 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Andy.Drinkwater
                              Andy.Drinkwater last edited by

                              Absolutely - Install this plugin: http://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-301-redirects/

                              I use this on a couple of my own sites and it works a treat.

                              -Andy

                              2MSens 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • 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

                              • AL123al

                                Redirect URLS with 301 twice

                                Hello, I had asked my client to ask her web developer to move to a more simplified URL structure. There was a folder called "home" after the root which served no purpose. I asked for the URLs to be redirected using 301 to the new URLs which did not have this structure. However, the web developer didn't agree and decided to just rename the "home" folder "p". I don't know why he did this. We argued the case and he then created the URL structure we wanted. Initially he had 301 redirected the old URLS (the one with "Home") to his new version (the one with the "p"). When we asked for the more simplified URL after arguing, he just redirected all the "p" URLS to the PAGE NOT FOUND.  However, remember, all the original URLs are now being redirected to the PAGE NOT FOUND as a result. The problems I see are these unless he redirects again: The new simplified URLS  have to start from scratch to rank 2)We have duplicated content - two URLs with the same content Customers clicking products in the SERPs will currently find that they are being redirect to the 404 page. I understand that redirection has to occur but my questions are these: Is it ok to redirect twice with 301 - so old URL to the  "p" version then to final simplified version. Will link juice be lost doing this twice? If he redirects from the original URLS to the final version missing out the "p" version, what should happen to the "p" version - they are currently indexed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

                                Technical SEO | | AL123al
                                0
                              • pkontopoulos

                                What is the best way to refresh a webpage of a news site, SEO wise?

                                Hello all, we have a client which is a sports website. In fact it is a veyr big website and has a huge number of news per day. This is mostly the reason why it refreshes some of its pages with news list every 420 seconds. We currently use meta refresh. I have read here and elsewhere that meta refreshes should be avoided. But we don't do it to send to another page and pass any kind of page authority / juice. Is in this case javascript refresh better? Is there any other better way. What do you think & suggest? Thank you!

                                Technical SEO | | pkontopoulos
                                0
                              • Houdoe

                                CNAME vs 301 redirect

                                Hi all, Recently I created a website for a new client and my next job is trying to get them higher in Google. I added them in OSE and noticed some strange backlinks. To my surprise the client has about 20 domain names. All automatically poiting to (showing) the same new mainsite now. www.maindomain.nl www.maindomain.be
                                www.maindomain.eu
                                www.maindomain.com
                                www.otherdomain.nl
                                www.otherdomain.com
                                ... Some of these domains have backlinks too (but not so much). I suggested to 301 redirect them all to the main site. Just to avoid duplicate content. But now the webhoster comes into play: "It's a problem, client has only 1 hosting account, blablabla...". They told me they could CNAME the 20 domains to the main domain. Or A-record them to an IP address. This is too technical stuff for me. So my concrete questions are: Is it smart to do anything at all or am I just harming my client? The main site is ranking pretty well now. And some backlinks are from their copy sites (probably because everywhere the logo links to the full mainsite url). Does the CNAME or A-record solution has the same effect as a 301 redirect, from SEO perspective? Many thanks,
                                Hans

                                Technical SEO | | Houdoe
                                0
                              • twotd

                                301 redirect not working

                                Hi there! I have recently moved a domain that has been indexed by google and setup redirects so that it forwards to the new domain. It seems like the only redirect that actually is working is the canonical and main domain but every other page and or page nested within a folder are not working. Here is an example of some of the redirects. Am I doing this wrong? It seems to be going to the new domain but can't find the actual pages.... RewriteEngine On
                                RewriteBase /
                                RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !agoodsweep.com$ [NC]
                                RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://agoodsweep.com/$1 [L,R=301]
                                redirect 301 woodstoveservicerepair.html http://agoodsweep.com/woodstoveservicerepair/
                                redirect 301 /westchesterchimney.html http://agoodsweep.com/west-chester-chimney/ Thanks in advance for any help!!

                                Technical SEO | | twotd
                                0
                              • aactive

                                Simple 301 redirect a subfolder to another subfolder

                                Hi, I have a number of sub-folders that I have to move, each of which contains a number of files. subfolder A has files a, b & c subfolder B has files d, e & f
                                subfolder C has files g, h & i A, B & C folders need to be X, Y & Z Will the following work? RewriteRule ^subfolder-A/* http://www.domain.com/subfolder-X/ [R=301,L]
                                RewriteRule ^subfolder-B/* http://www.domain.com/subfolder-Y/ [R=301,L]
                                RewriteRule ^subfolder-C/* http://www.domain.com/subfolder-Z/ [R=301,L] will this result in visitors to http://www.domain.com/subfolder-B/f.html being redirected to http://www.domain.com/subfolder-Y/f.html? All on the same domain. in reality we are talking hundreds of sub folders and thousands of files so we don't want to have to reference every file individually in the htaccess. Thanks

                                Technical SEO | | aactive
                                0
                              • Juandbbam

                                301 redirect from Blogger

                                Hello, I have a client with a Wordpress network of blogs, each blog is owned by a different blogger. Many of them were migrated time ago from Blogger. I have seen that the way used to redirect them is a meta refresh, so no authority is being passed. I cannot find any reliable way of making a 301 from Blogger, There are some plugins, but I'm afraid of using them. Any of you have experience with this situation please? I have even thought about placing a global rel canonical before the meta refresh, but I think that here the problem is the meta refresh itself.... Thank you in advance

                                Technical SEO | | Juandbbam
                                0
                              • w0lfiesmithUK

                                Switching from a .org to .io (301 domain redirect)

                                I'm considering switching my main site from a .org to .io address; the .org is an exact match domain which helped to kickstart it a few years ago and now has about 50% repeat visitors, but was thrown off the Apple affiliation program for trademark infringement. I've found and purchased a nice (non-infringing) .io domain, and I've read the advice here on how to properly 301 the old domain; but my question is - does it matter that it's .io? Is this going to significantly hurt my rankings, even when everything has been 301'd properly? Another thought I had is that I may actually come out better off in the long run, what with Google penalties being applied to exact match domains. Is this a ranking suicide? If so, I'm tempted to leave it as is; even without the affiliation, it's making a good amount every month in ad fees that I don't want to disrupt. Thanks all!

                                Technical SEO | | w0lfiesmithUK
                                0
                              • briankb

                                301 Redirect vs Domain Alias

                                We have hundreds of domains which are either alternate spelling of our primary domain or close keyword names we didn't want our competitor to get before us. The primary domain is running on a dedicated Windows server running IIS6 and set to a static IP. Since it is a static IP and not using host headers any domain pointed to the static IP will immediately show the contents of the site, however the domain will be whatever was typed. Which could be the primary domain or an alias. Two concerns. First, is it possible that Google would penalize us for the alias domains or dilute our primary domain "juice"? Second, we need to properly track traffic from the alias domains. We could make unique content for those performing well and sell or let expire those that are sending no traffic. It's not my goal to use the alias domains to artificially pump up our primary domain. We have them for spelling errors and direct traffic. What is the best practice for handling one or both of these issues?

                                Technical SEO | | briankb
                                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
                              • Digital Marketers
                              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.