.htaccess code
-
I've got a .htaccess file set up on a site to redirect specific old pages to specific new pages on a different site:
eg
Redirect 301 /oldpage.html https://www.newsite.co.uk/newpage.html
Redirect 301 /oldpage2.html https://www.newsite.co.uk/folder/
I have two questions:
1. Is that all the file needs? Or does it need any "rewrite engine on" type code?
2. I would also like to include code to "mop up" any other URLs and redirect them to the root, so that
/anyotherpage.html redirects to newsite.co.uk
Is there a way to do this?
-
What I'm looking to do is pass the link juice on from about 5,000 backlinks still pointing at our old site (which exists in domain form only a present) to the new site. Are these links pointed to the home page? Or are these pointed at relevant landing pages? If to the home page (and page is same on new site) nothing is needed. If these links are pointed to a landing page, you will need to route them to a related page on the new site and 301.
Are you saying there's not point in using a 301 if the page doesn't exist? Yes, no point unless there is a new landing page that is some-how related.
I don't really understand why you'd use a 301 if the page still existed...? If the page is on the new site and is the same url, no 301 is needed.
-
Thanks Kevin - I'm not sure I completely understand though.
What I'm looking to do is pass the link juice on from about 5,000 backlinks still pointing at our old site (which exists in domain form only a present) to the new site.
Are you saying there's not point in using a 301 if the page doesn't exist? I don't really understand why you'd use a 301 if the page still existed...?
-
Not really, since the resource doesn't exist anymore. If the resource exists (or something close to it) it would be a 301 and link juice will be passed (although not 100% of it).
If you have a relevant page, you should always 301 them. I would go through analytics and makes sure any "valuable" page has a relevant landing page. If no relevant landing page exists, you should 404 the result will eventually fall off.
I would also advise on creating a custom 404 page that explains what they are looking for and doesn't exist and show alternative pages/search bar. Users may get confused if they were looking for something specific and land at your home page.
-
Hi Kevin
Many thanks for this. Is a 404 as effective in passing on link juice as a 301?
-
2.) Are you talking about a catch-all? You can use 404 and redirect them to whatever. Try to redirect as much as possible though. Good luck!
ErrorDocument 404 /index.html
-
Thanks Andy, much appreciated. I'll look forward to the code
-
Your current redirects are fine and the best way is if its live to test it. Even thought I knew I had done it right recently when i went to https, I still do several random checks. They all came back as working - but no harm in testing.
Your point 2 is doable and as I am not on my laptop I don't have the code to hand. I will update in a few hours when back in the office for you, but your point 1 is correct.
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
-
How to redirect 302 status to 301 status code using wordpress
I just ran the link opportunity option within site explorer and it shows that 31 pages are currently in a 302 status. Should I try to convert the 302's to 301's? And what is the easiest way to do this? I see several wordpress plugins that claim to do 301 redirects but I don't know which to choose. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Technical SEO | | vmsolu0 -
Does Title Tag location in a page's source code matter?
Currently our meta description is on line 8 for our page - http://www.paintball-online.com/Paintball-Guns-And-Markers-0Y.aspx The title tag, however sits below a bunch of code on line 237 Does the location of the title tag, meta tags, and any structured data have any influence with respect to SEO and search engines? Put another way, could we benefit from moving the title tag up to the top? I "surfed 'n surfed" and could not find any articles about this. I would really appreciate any help on this as our site got decimated organically last May and we are looking for any help with SEO. NIck
Technical SEO | | Istoresinc0 -
Help creating a 301 redirect in my htaccess file
Hi Guys, I'm trying to build a 301 file with the file requirements: It should be visible only for Google and other Search Engine Agents. It will have a few direct redirects. A few URL must be dynamic redirect. For example each page the starts with olddomain.com/category and is not in the list of of direct redirects should be redirect for newdomain.com/category Here is my start point: #301 Starts here Set the agents RewriteEngine On
Technical SEO | | Felip3
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Googlebot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} msnbot [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Slurp Make the direct redirect. Redirect 301 /category/sub1 http://www.newdomain.com/category/sub1
Redirect 301 /category/sub2 http://www.newdomain.com/category/sub2 Redirect everything else Redirect 301 /category/* http://www.newdomain.com/category #End of my 301 Will that work how I want? is there anything wrong?0 -
Removing URL Parentheses in HTACCESS
Im reworking a website for a client, and their current URLs have parentheses. I'd like to get rid of these, but individual 301 redirects in htaccess is not practical, since the parentheses are located in many URLs. Does anyone know an HTACCESS rule that will simply remove URL parantheses as a 301 redirect?
Technical SEO | | JaredMumford0 -
Do You Have To Have Access to Website Code to Use Open Graph
I am not a website programmer and all of our websites are in Wordpress. I never change the coding on the backend. Is this a necessity if one wants to use Open Graph?
Technical SEO | | dahnyogaworks0 -
My .htaccess has changed, what do i do to avoid it again...?
Hello Today i notice that our site did not auto changed from without www to with, when i checked the .htaccess file i notice # in-front of each line and i know we did not insert it in there, after i removed it it worked fine. The only changes that we did recently was to a mobile version to the site but the call to autodirect is in a JS and not in the .htaccess, could it be the server..? is there any way that anything else might cause this...? The site is HTML and WP could it be because of that...? Thank's Simo
Technical SEO | | Yonnir0 -
Limits to 301 in htaccess?
I'm about to launch a redesign of my company's main website, and we've updated most of the URLs to be more user friendly and SEO optimized. I've just finished editing my spreadsheet, and see that I'll need to implement 244 redirects. My question is: Are there performance issues with loading your .htaccess file up with almost 250 301 redirect commands? I've heard a bloated htaccess file can really slow down apache, should I be approaching this a different way, maybe with php?
Technical SEO | | AdoptionHelp0 -
Schema coding
Hi, I was wondering if you may know if you have to keep to the and coding when adding schema code to the site. For example if I'm already using H and P tags can I add the "itemprop" to those or do they have to be in aor as in the example below: <span itemprop="name">Kenmore White 17" Microwavespan>
Technical SEO | | DragonSearch
Product description:
<span itemprop="description">0.7 cubic feet countertop microwave. Has six preset cooking categories and convenience features like Add-A-Minute and Child Lock.span> So could I code it like this? <h1 itemprop="name">Kenmore White 17" Microwaveh1>
Product description:
<p itemprop="description">0.7 cubic feet countertop microwave. Has six preset cooking categories and convenience features like Add-A-Minute and Child Lock.p> Thank you,
Etela0