How do you disallow HTTPS?
-
I currently have a site (startuploans.org) that runs everything as http, recently we decided to start an online application to process loan apps. Now, for one certain section we configured ssl to work (https://www.startuploans.org/secure/).
If I go to the HTTPS url for any of my other pages they show up...I was going to just 301 everything from https but because it is in a subdirectiory I can't...
Also, canonical URL's won't work either because it's a totally different system and the pages are generated in an odd manor.
It's really just 1 page that needs to be disallowed..
Is there any way to disallow all HTTPS requests from robots.txt while keeping all the HTTP requests working as normal?
-
Hi Rick,
Your first thought was correct. If you apply the noindex meta tag to every page in the secure part of the site, then all of those pages will be de-indexed and you will have no duplicate content problem.
For Wordpress, you just need to install a plugin that allows you to edit and apply page elements and meta tags. My preference is Yoast SEO. If you do a plugin search from your dashboard you will find it.
Hope that helps,
Sha
-
Perfect. This is the answer I was looking for...I will just use the meta tag globally in HTTPS....BUT...what about the fact that my entire site is duplicated in HTTPS?
It's all good for the /secure/ part, but what about my Wordpress install...how do I handle that? Maybe my best option is to just load 2 different robots.txt files...
-
Hi Rick,
If you wish to use the robots.txt method to disallow all or part of your site's https protocol, you simply need to load two separate robots.txt files.
The http and https protocols are basically viewed by bots as if they were two completely separate root domains (which I guess you already know as you have mentioned the fact that port 443 is used for the secure protocol).
Google's advice is that to use this method, you should have a separate robots.txt file for each protocol with code as follows:
For your http protocol (http://www.startuploans.org/robots.txt
User-agent: *
Allow: /For the https protocol (https://www.startuploans.org/robots.txt
User-agent: *
Disallow: /However, blocking crawlers with robots.txt is not the most reliable method for excluding pages from Search engines. The reason for this is that the page will continue to be indexed if it happens to be found via a link from another page. Basically, the robots.txt is the sign on the front door that says "Please stay out of our house", but it is never seen by the people who enter via the rear exit or climb in a window!
The most reliable method of excluding pages is to add the noindex meta tag as suggested by MagentoWebDeveloper and Alan.When a bot encounters the noindex meta tag it will send a signal to the search engine to de-index the page and there is no further problem.
I would generally use noindex, follow rather than noindex, nofollow as the nofollow tag will stop the flow of link value through your site. In most cases, as long as the noindex is in place, there is no reason to be worried about the links on the pages being followed.
You should NEVER use both methods at the same time.
Hope that helps,
Sha
-
I agree. Best practices dictate that the proper answer is to block the entire folder from indexing.
-
Why not just NO INDEX / NO FOLLOW the page? What is the reason behind this? Do you want Google not to index your https page? Duplicate content? All checkouts have https.
-
I should have added that -the code above goes in the htaccess...that code would deliver two different robots.txt files based on if it's port 443 (secure) or the normal robots.txt file if it's any other port (normal).
Is there any easier way? I feel like one misstep on this and I could block bots from my site.
-
Nope...thanks though
Code is no problem for us...it's just a technical question. Here is what I want:
I want to restrict robots from the HTTPS version (secure) of my site while leaving the HTTP version (unsecure) perfectly normal and accessible by bots.
Basically what I am asking is..is this the best way (below)? Is there a simpler way...to my knowledge robots.txt doesn't support protocols so doing something like disallow:https://......yada yada won't work.
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} ^443$
RewriteRule ^robots.txt$ robots_ssl.txt [L] -
Hello Rick,
First caveat is I am not sure what you want to accomplish: You want it so that once the app is done, the person is no longer in https:// ?? If that is it, then while I am not sure I will be able to help, I want to clarify the issue.
Currently, you have one page that is https: and that is your loan app page with url of https://startuploans.org/secure/site/step1 (I did not get a step two on my test, but the next page was https://startuploans.org/secure/step3.) You want a person to finish the app, and then not be in https when they return to the site?
I am not a coder per se, but I am wondering if y ou change the target on the menu link to the secure pages to open in a new window there would be no option to go back. once finished, page 3 have an option to close to secure my information. Then, they are left at the page they were on before going to application.
Now, if none of this was what you wanted, I owe you a beer.
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
-
Disallow wildcard match in Robots.txt
This is in my robots.txt file, does anyone know what this is supposed to accomplish, it doesn't appear to be blocking URLs with question marks Disallow: /?crawler=1
Technical SEO | | AmandaBridge
Disallow: /?mobile=1 Thank you0 -
My ranking drop after migrating to https
Hey, I have migrated my website from http to https. But, all my ranking is dropped from first page to 3 or 4 page or some keywords are disappeared. I have redirected all my urls to https and done everything properly. Please help me. My website is justinterio.com
Technical SEO | | vikrantrathore1 -
Switching from HTTP to HTTPS and google webmaster
HI, I've recently moved one of my sites www.thegoldregister.co.uk to https. I'm using wordpress and put in the permanent 301 redirect for all pages to false https for all pages in the htaaccess file. I've updated the settings in google analytics to https for the original site. All seems to be working well. Regarding the google webmaster tools and what needs to be done. I'm very confused by the google documentation on this subject around https. Does all my crawl data and indexing from http site still stand and be inherited by the https version because of the redirects in place. I'm really worried I will lose all of this indexing data, I looked at the "change of address" in the settings of webmaster, but this seems to refer to changing the actual domain name rather than the protocol which i haven't at all. I've also tried adding the https version to the console as well, but the https version is showing a severe warning "is robots.txt blocking some important pages". I don't understand this error as it's the same version and file as the http site being generated by all in one seo pack for wordpress (see below at bottom). The warning is against line 5 saying it will ignore it. What i don't understand is i don't get this error in the webmaster console with the http version which is the same file?? Any help and advice would be much appreciated. Kind regards Steve User-agent: *
Technical SEO | | lqz
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /wp-includes/
Disallow: /xmlrpc.php
Crawl-delay: 10 ceLAHIv.jpg0 -
HTTP to HTTPS Transition, Large Drop in Search Traffic
My URL is: https://www.seattlecoffeegear.comWe implemented https across the site on Friday. Saturday and Sunday search traffic was normal/slightly higher than normal (in analytics) and slightly down in GWT. Today, it has dropped significantly in both, to about half of normal search traffic. From everything we can see, we implemented this correctly. 301 redirected all http requests to https (and yes, they go to the correct page and not to the homepage 😉 ) Rewrote hardcoded internal links Registered/submitted sitemaps from https in Bing and GWT Used fetch and render to ensure Google could reach the site and also was redirected appropriately from http to https versions Ensured robots.txt does not block https or secure We also use a CDN (though I don't think that impacts anything) and have had no customer issues with accessing or using the website since the transition.Is there anything else I might be missing that could correlate to a drop in search impressions or is this just a waiting game of a few days to let Google sort through the change we've made and reindex everything (it dropped to 0 indexed for a day and is now up to 1744 of our 2180 pages indexed)?Thank you so much for any input!Kaylie
Technical SEO | | Marketing.SCG0 -
SEO best practice : HTTP to HTTPS
What's the best practice to switch from an all HTTP site to an all HTTPS site ?
Technical SEO | | Crocodesign
No changes to the site structure, just a full site switch to SSL.
Right now, the site is reachable with HTTP and with HTTPS. http://crocodesign.be --> https://crocodesign.be
http://www.crocodesign.be --> https://crocodesign.be
https://www.crocodesign.be --> https://crocodesign.be CMS : Wordpress 3.9
Server type : Apache
Preferred method : .htaccess0 -
Http:// to https:// 301 or 302 redirect
I've read over the Q & A in the Community, but am wondering the reasoning behind this issue. I know - 301's are permanent and pass links, and 302s are temporary (due to cache) and don't pass links. But, I've run across two sites now that 302 redirect http:// to https://. Is there a valid reason behind this? From my POV and research, the redirect should 301 if it's permanent, but is there a larger issue I am missing?
Technical SEO | | FOTF_DigitalMarketing1 -
Proper method of consolidating https to http?
A client has an application area of the site (a directory) that has a form and needs to be secured with ssl. The vast majority of the site is static, and does not need to be secured. We have experienced situations where a visitor navigates the site as https which then throws security errors. We want to keep static visitors on http; (and crawlers) and only have visits to the secure area display as ssl. How is this best accomplished? Our developer wants to add a rule to the global configuration file in php that uses a 301 redirect to ensure static pages are accessed as http, and the secure directory is accessed as https. Is the the proper protocol? Are there any SEO considerations we should make? Thanks.
Technical SEO | | seagreen0 -
Google cached https rather than http
Google is using a secure version of a page (https) that is meant to be displayed using only http. I don't know of any links to the page using https, but want to verify that. I only have 1 secure page on the site and it does not link to the page in question. What is the easiest way to nail down why Google is using the https version?
Technical SEO | | TheDude0