Random 302 Redirect (Wordpress CMS)
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So this new project that i am working on is a redesigned CMS site using Wordpress (php based). Before i started on the project they made a few major updates that include:
- Changed from ID based URLS to SEO friendly URLS
- Added multiple languages in directories
- Due to the new languages they wanted to have the previous home page, www.domain.com, redirect to the proper language based on their IP address. Currently they are using a 301 redirect through a php header. So if i was visiting the site from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and i type www.domain.com into the browser. I would automatically redirect to www.domain.com/en and i would have the option to switch languages if needed.
The issue:
When i first added their site into SEOMoz the crawl returned a large amount of 302 redirects coming from their old homepage www.domain.com. So i took a look at the header calls using IE's webmaster tools and Firebug in Firefox. In both profilers it showed the same problem.
- Before the 301 header redirect there was a 302 redirect called first
- When viewing the response header it mentioned an x-pingback of some file that didn't even exist on the site: www.domain.com/xmlrpc.php
This is obviously a huge issue because any link value from the old homepage will be lost due to the 302 not passing the value. I have tried search the almighty Google for help but it has gotten me no where. I have a hunch it is something to do with Wordpress but that is based on nothing but my gut. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I got to get that 302 gone or changed to a 301
Regards - Kyle
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Interesting, not sure. Did you ever check out the theme?
-Brent
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The funny thing is, i didn't find a solution nor did i mark this as anwsered...
It looks like someone on the SEOMoz staff thought it was done?
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Hey Kyle,
I see you set the question as answered. What did it end up being?
-Brent
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Brent - thank you for finding my post, i thought it was forever lost!
They had created a custom template, however i will still suggest them try the TAC plugin just incase. I will post the results once i get them.
Thanks again - Kyle
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Hi Kyle,
Did they build the Wordpress template themselves? The pingback is a little suspicious, download the plugin called TAC and see if it brings up any hidden code. I had a similar problem where I was working on a site that was using a free theme and had a 302 in the header which made the site struggle in rankings. As soon as I figured out that it was in fact the free theme causing the issue I got it removed and traffic 10x'ed (not much as they were getting like 5 visitors a day) in roughly a week.
It's hard to help without seeing the site but let me know what TAC reports and if it's clean we'll dig deeper.
-Brent
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