How can I redirect old URLs to new ones?
-
We are trying to optimize our website for search engines and one of the things we have noticed that needs to be changed are the URLs. I know how to modify the URLs but have no idea how I can get the old redirected to the new ones using 301. We have some pages ranking pretty high on Google and we can't loose this traffic.
Our website is hosted on Plesk and it was coded using Cold Fusion. I do have access to the .htaccess file.
Any help would be highly appreciated.
-
Don't forget to escape your hyphens (all of them!) with backslashes:
^pvc-cosmetic-bag-1.html
You will need to escape them before white too:
---white
-
As this URL in particular had a .html extension I thought it was easier to just create a html file and redirect it, so this one is working. But I still would like to know if i had done anything wrong because it didn't work. As most of our URLs don't have a .html extension it would be helpful to create the redirects on .htaccess
-
I just created a .html file for one of the URLs that had this extension thought the system doesn't generate htmls and it worked! Now I need to find a solution to the URLs that don't have an extension...
-
Hi, thanks for your help. The problem with this is that I don't have access to individual pages, the system will load it from the database. I think a .htaccess redirect would be the best solution, the problem is that I don't really know how to do it and how to write a redirect that would work.
Best regards
-
I have tried it but still no luck, I might have done something wrong though.
I need to urgently redirect http://www.personal-products.co.uk/pvc-cosmetic-bag-1.html to http://personal-products.co.uk/resealable-cosmetic-bags---white (I will change this URL in the future too but need it working now...)
I have tried it like this:
RewriteRule ^pvc-cosmetic-bag-1.html /resealable-cosmetic-bags---white [R=301,L]
Is there anything wrong?
Thanks!
-
Hi
maybe this article can help: http://www.quackit.com/coldfusion/tutorial/coldfusion_redirect.cfm
In ColdFusion, redirects can be done via one of two methods. The method you use will depend on the reason for the redirect.
Temporary Redirects (cflocation)
This is the most commonly used of the two - you will probably find yourself using the cflocation tag often.
A temporary redirect is typically used when you need to redirect the user to another page based on some logical rule in your program. For example, straight after they submit a form, the browser might redirect to another page.
ColdFusion includes the cflocation tag for performing temporary redirects. This actually sends HTTP headers to the user's browser indicating a 302 status code, which means "Moved Temporarily".
<cflocation url="/new_location.cfm"></cflocation>
Permanent Redirects
A permanent redirect should be used when a page no longer exists.
Permanent redirects use the 301 HTTP status code, which means, "Moved Permanently". In ColdFusion, a permanent redirect can be achieved using the cfheader tag.
<cfheader statuscode="301" statustext="Moved Permanently"><cfheader name="Location" value="http://www.quackit.com/coldfusion/tutorial"><cfabort></cfabort></cfheader></cfheader>
In case you're thinking, "but users can't see the status code anyway", that's only partially true. The 301 status code can be very useful for search engines. They will actually take notice of your 301 status code and index the correct file.
-
You could try something like this:
RewriteRule ^overnight-toiletry-packs.html /toiletry-travel-bags [R=301,L]
You need to escape the hyphens and periods... and include the switches for the 301 and specify that it's the Last rule.
Let me know how that goes - certainly share some code if you still get stuck.
-John
-
Thanks for your help!
The example would be the same as the one above, do you know what is the best way to do it??
http://personal-products.co.uk/overnight-toiletry-packs.html -> our current url
we have optimized this page to "toiletry travel bags" so i want the url to look something like this:
-
Thanks.. I got that far, but I tried few different 301 redirects and it didn't work.
One example would be this:
http://personal-products.co.uk/overnight-toiletry-packs.html -> our current url
we have optimized this page to "toiletry travel bags" so i want the url to look something like this:
http://personal-products.co.uk/toiletry-travel-bags
I can change the URL manually but I need to create a 301 redirect. Do you have any idea how I can do it? As we use a coldfusion website, the pages don't actually exist, they are all on the database.
i had tried few methods I found on google but no luck =[
-
Hey Flavia-
Check out this article on htaccess magic
http://www.askapache.com/htaccess/list-of-methods-to-redirect-users-to-different-page.html
There is a section on 301 redirects that will get you started. If you want to share any specific examples I'd be happy to help you further.
-John
-
You can do 301 redirects from the old page to the new page using .htaccess..however I would suggest you test the impact by doing it for 1-2 urls first and see if it does indeed help. The reason I am suggesting this is because when you do 301 redirects or canonical urls which also act like 301s, there's a little bit of link juice loss from the old URL. S if you have lots of websites linking to that page, you may loose a little bit of that link juice. Again, you have to do more of a risk/reward analysis and see what makes sense.
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
-
Can I use a 301 redirect to pass 'back link' juice to a different domain?
Hi, I have a backlink from a high DA/PA Government Website pointing to www.domainA.com which I own and can setup 301 redirects on if necessary. However my www.domainA.com is not used and has no active website (but has hosting available which can 301 redirect). www.domainA.com is also contextually irrelevant to the backlink. I want the Government Website link to go to www.domainB.com - which is both the relevant site and which also should be benefiting from from the seo juice from the backlink. So far I have had no luck to get the Government Website's administrators to change the URL on the link to point to www.domainB.com. Q1: If i use a 301 redirect on www.domainA.com to redirect to www.domainB.com will most of the backlink's SEO juice still be passed on to www.domainB.com? Q2: If the answer to the above is yes - would there be benefit to taking this a step further and redirect www.domainA.com to a deeper directory on www.domianB.com which is even more relevant?
Technical SEO | | DGAU
ie. redirect www.domainA.com to www.domainB.com/categoryB - passing the link juice deeper.0 -
Moving to old site to new domain sub directory
Hi, we've moved our old site to a new domain but in a subdirectory (the shopping site has been consolidated into overarching company website's shopping section, thus the move to sub dir). Are 301 redirects from old URLs to new domain's subdirectory ex newsite.com/shopping/page-1/ sufficient for site migration? I wasn't able to use Google's site address change tool since we're moving to a subdirectory on the new domain. Thanks
Technical SEO | | SoulSurfer80 -
New URL Structure
Hi Guy's, For our webshop we're considering a new URL structure because longtail keywords to rank so well. Now we have /category (main focus keywords)
Technical SEO | | Happy-SEO
/product/the-product345897345123/ (nice to rank on, not that much volume) We have over 500 categories and every one of them is placed after our domain. Because i think it's better to work with a good structure and managed a way to make categories and sub-categories. The 500 categories may be the case why not every one of them is ranking so well, so that was also the choice of thinking about a new structure. So the new URL structure will be: /category (main focus keywords)
/category/subcat/ (also main focus keywords) Everything will be redirect (301, good way), so i think there won't be to much problems. I'm thinking about what to do with the /product/ URL. Because now it will be on the same level as the subcategories, and i'm affraid that when it's on that level, Google will give the same value to both of them. My options that i'm considering are: **Old way **
/product/the-product-345897345123/ .html (seen this on big webshops)
/product/the-product-345897345123.html/ Level deeper SKU /product/the-product/345897345123/ What would you suggest? The new structure would be 20 categories 500+ sub's devided under main categories 5000+ products Thanks!0 -
I have made my new website live. But while checking in Google it is not showing in search result ( site: www.oomfr.com ). Can anybody please advice.
Hi Team, I have made my new website live. But while checking in Google it is not showing in search result ( site: www.oomfr.com ). Can anybody please advice.
Technical SEO | | nlogix0 -
Redirects - How Best to do this ?
Hi I am looking to close Website A which has many pages. I would like to keep the home page and add some great content to it with a link pointing to Website B. As for all the other pages excluding the home page , how is it best to approach them on Website A. Should I redirect them all to the home page of Website A which will tell Google thoose Pages are no longer needed and to prevent the visitors from seeing a 404? My Main aim here is to not lose any visitors to Website A by sending them to Website B but also to hopefully pass any Page strength from Website A to Website B Thanks Adam
Technical SEO | | AMG1000 -
How do I use only one URL
my site can be reach by both www.site.com and site.com. How do I make it only use www?
Technical SEO | | Weblion0 -
Do search engines treat 307 redirects differently from 302 redirects?
We will need to send our users to an alternate version of our homepage for a few hours for a certain event. The SEO task at hand is to minimize the chance of the special homepage getting crawled and cached in the search engines in place of our normal homepage. (This has happened in the past so the concern is not imaginary.) Among other options, 302 and 307 redirects are being discussed. IE, redirecting www.domain.com to www.domain.com/specialpage. Having used 302s and 301s in the past, I am well aware of how search engines treat them. A 302 effectively says "Hey, Google! Please get rid of the old content on www.domain.com and replace it with the content on /specialpage!" Which is exactly what we don't want. My question is: do the search engines handle 307s any differently? I am hearing that the 307 does NOT result in the content of the second page being cached with the first URL. But I don't see that in the definition below (from w3.org). Then again, why differentiate it from the 302? 307 Temporary Redirect The requested resource resides temporarily under a different URI. Since the redirection MAY be altered on occasion, the client SHOULD continue to use the Request-URI for future requests. This response is only cacheable if indicated by a Cache-Control or Expires header field. The temporary URI SHOULD be given by the Location field in the response. Unless the request method was HEAD, the entity of the response SHOULD contain a short hypertext note with a hyperlink to the new URI(s) , since many pre-HTTP/1.1 user agents do not understand the 307 status. Therefore, the note SHOULD contain the information necessary for a user to repeat the original request on the new URI. If the 307 status code is received in response to a request other than GET or HEAD, the user agent MUST NOT automatically redirect the request unless it can be confirmed by the user, since this might change the conditions under which the request was issued.
Technical SEO | | CarsProduction0 -
Can anyone tell me where my site can be improved
My website is www.theradiatorgallery.com I have been trying to get on 1st page for designer radiators. I am currently ranked 21st just dropped to the 3rd page within the past hour, i was 20th before this. There are some sites that i would think i would rank better than due do i have better on page optimization, higher PA, DA and PR based on seo moz reports. Is there something wrong with my site that i am missing? the sites i feel i should rank better than are; radsnrails.co.uk, warmrooms.co.uk and a couple others Any help would be great! Thanks Guys
Technical SEO | | myloseo0