Very strange HTML docs - what should I do with them through site migration?
-
I've just been looking at a website and it includes numerous web pages with addresses like this. I click on the URL and it takes me to a fully functional web page (not an image) and when I run it through Screaming Frog this comes up as an HTML page. The site has around 150 unique pages and over 450 pages like this one - how should I deal with these pages during an SEO migration (only a few are backlinked to)? I look forward to reading your thoughts.
http://www.[companyname].co.uk/property/caravan-sleeps-4/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/images/cottageTypes/blank.png
-
Or should I fix the issue first via htaccess rule before attempting the migration
I quite honestly think that the problem is WITH htaccess, not that you have to fix something else with htaccess.
And as an answer to your question - you always can migrate with issues and hope that nothing breaks during the process, or try to patch it up so it seems to be working fine and, again, hope that it doesn't break on you, OR you can get it fixed at the root of the problem and don't worry about it in the future.
-
Thanks Dmitrii - I will take a look - as the client is migrating on Tuesday, would you think I could get away with ignoring these during migration, or perhaps I should redirect the pages (very few are backlinked - I can redirect those that are backlinked and leave the rest).
Or should I fix the issue first via htaccess rule before attempting the migration? The web developer has disappeared (before my arrival on the scenes), and nobody has any access, so not sure if I can make much progress - no access to hosting at the mo, or anything.
-
Hi there.
It looks like some problems with htaccess rewrite rule or redirects. Most likely rewrite rule, since you say that it takes you to html page, not image.
Check that out.
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
-
My site is being deindexed for unknown reason
A few days ago I noticed that my site gusty.se was not showing up in google, only the subpages. There is no message in the google search console. I requested the site to be reindexed and about a day later the site was showing up in google again. Now another day has past and the site is now again not indexed in google. Question is why the site is being deindexed??? I have worked a bit with getting backlinks to the site and I did recently gain 3 backlinks within a few days (about a week has past since I gained these links). Still I can't believe Google would count this as unnatural link building, especially since I guess it will take some time for Google to detect new incoming links. Another thing I've notice though is that my site about two weeks ago got a high number of incoming links from different spam sites with .gq TLD's (see the attached screenshot). The majority of these sites have however not linked to my main page but to a sub page which still is indexed by Google. Can all these spamlinks be the reason to why Google has deindexed the main page of my site? I've read that Google in general ignore links from spam sites, still I have taken action against these spam sites by submitting a disavow text file containing all these spam domains. I submitted this file about 2 days ago. I have now again requested the site to be reindexed so perhaps will it soon be listed again. Still, I can't keep having my site deindexed and having me reindexing it every second day. I would really appreciate if someone could give me some insight in this problem. moz.jpg
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Grodan21 -
Site Migration of 4 sites into 1?
Hi Guys, I have a massive project involving a migration of 4 sites into 1. 4 sites include: **www.MainSite.com ** www.E-commerce.com www.Membership.com www.ResearchStudy.com Goal of this project is to have 1-4 regrouped into Main Site I will be following the best practice from this post https://moz.com/blog/web-site-migration-guide-tips-for-seos which has an awesome checklist. I am actually about to start Phase 3: URL redirect mapping. Because all of these sites have hundreds of duplicates, I figured I should first resolve the Main Site dup issues before creating the URL redirect mapping but what about the other domains (2,3,4) though? Should I first resolve the Dup issues on those ones as well or it is not necessary since they will be pointing into the Main Site new domain? I want to make sure I don't overwork the programming team and myself. Thanks For sharing your expertise and any tips on how should I move forward with this.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
New Section On Site Worth It?
We have been kicking around this idea for a while now, and I wanted to get the communities honest opinion before we begin building it. So we create a lot of posts on social media showcasing articles we find on SEO, tips and tricks, reviews, etc. We were thinking rather than always linking out to the other sites, we are going to create a section on our site called "From Around The Web" and have brief breakdowns of what was covered, then provide a link to the full article. Most of these would be between 300-500 words, and be optimized around what we were linking to and writing about. So since the content would not be "in-depth" would this hurt us in any way? To me, it doesnt not make sense to send people to the other article right away, when we can summarize it and link to the full articles from our site. (Most people dont want to read a 3000 word article on SEO, especially small business owners who just want the breakdown) Thoughts? Think it will help, or not be useful enough to invest labor in?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | David-Kley0 -
HTML for URL markup
Hi, We are changing our URLs to be more SEO friendly. Is there any negative impact or pitfall of using <base> HTML-tag? Our developers are considering it as a possible solution for relative URLs inside HTML-markup in the Friendly URL context.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | theLotter0 -
Site Transfer and Downtime
If I want to transfer my website from yahoo to another web host without having any down time how would I do that?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bronxpad0 -
Similar sites on same IP address
Hello, A client has a small number (3) of large price comparison sites which have been launched on separate subdomains - BUT all on the same hosting IP address. The roll out of the sites was not ideal from an SEO perspective - as basically cloned versions of the sites were initially launched and indexed - and are only now being customised i.e. unique content added to each of the category and sub category pages. The first site initially got some traffic - and so did the 2nd in the early days - but then they both bombed (especially number 2). So we think there has probably been some kind of slap / sandboxing. We are starting to see some very early signs of recovery now some months after. My questions is - would it be a wise move to migrate each of the sites to a separate IP address as we start to evolve and optimise each site. Or are they ok to be left on the same hosting / IP address? The sites in question are : shop.deliaonline.com shop.ivillage.co.uk rewards.bestforfilm.com Thanks in advance for your help. Richard
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RichBestSEO0 -
Linking to bad sites
Hi, I just have a quick question. Is it very negative to link to "bad" sites, such as online pharmacies, dating, adult sites, that sort of stuff? How much does linking to a "bad" site negatively affect a "good" site? Thank you.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | salvyy0 -
How to see which site Google views as a scraper site?
If we have content on our site that is found on another site, what is the best way to know which site Google views as the original source? If you search for a line of the content such as "xyz abc etc" and the other site shows before yours in search results, does that mean that Google views that site as the original source?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nicole.healthline0